What do you think?
Kalinda is a creator who wants to share her work and for it to be seen widely by others. She doesn't mind if people make copies, use it and even adapt and change it.
However, she wants to be acknowledged as the original creator and doesn't want others to sell the copies.
How can Kalinda easily licence her work the way she wants?
The purpose of a licence
Copyright owners can choose to license their rights in copyright material. A licence will allow someone else to reproduce, publish, perform, communicate or adapt the material, typically under certain conditions. The Copyright Act does not compel a copyright owner to license their rights.
Typically, licences are either:
- granted to the specific needs of the user through negotiation, or
- openly licenced for set purposes.
Licences for specific needs
The copyright owner can give someone a licence to use a work. These come in a variety of forms.
Formal legal contract
The copyright owner enters a formal legal contract in writing which gives the other person a licence to the copyright works. The licence is flexible and can have any number of conditions, but they are complex and time consuming to organise. These licences are legally enforceable.
Permission
The copyright owner gives permission by email or phone to use their works. This permission is quick to organise, but may not be legally enforceable.
Subscription licence
The copyright owner licenses the work through a subscription service like Netflix or Apple Music. Use of content will be set out in the terms of use of the service. These licenses are usually non-negotiable and are legally enforceable.
Openly licenced material
Openly licenced material can be found by reading the copyright statements for publications, and the terms and conditions for websites. For example https://unsplash.com/license
A commonly used open licence structure is Creative Commons.
Creative Commons (CC) is a public copyright licence that allows people to legally use copyright works, subject to pre-determined licence terms. Creators are provided with a simple, standardised way to give permission to share and use their creative work under conditions of their choice. These licenses are free of charge to both the creator and user.
If you licence your work using Creative Commons you cannot change your mind and undo it later.
To assist in using a CC work correctly, Deakin has a Creative Commons attribution builder to assist you.
What do you think now?
What do you think is the best way Kalinda can share her work to enable others to copy, use and adapt it, whilst ensuring she is acknowledged and her work isn't sold?
Kalinda could use a Creative Commons licence to share her work. For example, the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY NC) includes all the conditions she wants, including attribution, non-commercial restriction and it allows modifications.
To ensure the licence conditions are made clear to others, Kalinda should include the CC BY NC notation on the work itself.