Copyright for Staff: Creative Commons

You see a photograph, cartoon, video clip, textual document or other work with a Creative Commons licence and wish to use it.  What can you do?  Check the relevant licence!

The simplest licence allows you to copy, distribute, display, perform, edit, remix and build upon a work for commercial or non-commercial purposes, provided you attribute the creators.

Find out more about the different licences.

There are a range of free resources you may wish to use in your content creation.  With appropriate attribution, these can be time saving.

To find Creative Commons licensed works:

How to Find Creative Commons Licensed Material (from SmartCopying)

Where to Find OER (Open Education Resource) Materials (from SmartCopying)

The same principles apply to providing attribution across all CC licences. You should:

• Credit the creator
• Include the title of work
• Provide the URL where the work is hosted (in full for print, hyperlink for online material)
• State the type of licence it is available under and provide a link to the licence so others can find the licence terms
• Keep intact any copyright notice associated with the work.

Do I have to attribute the work in a particular style? We use the APA Referencing style at SM TAFE.  This also includes the above required elements. Sometimes a creator may specify how they want their work to be attributed.

What is a derivative work?  If you remix the work in any way, for example, by cropping it, adjusting brightness or replacing words, you have created a 'derivative work' of the original.

How do I attribute a work I've adapted? A simple way to attribute the original work is "This work is a derivative of..." and attribute the work as you normally would. See example below.

This text is a derivative from Attributing Creative Commons Materials (n.d). factsheet by Creative Commons Australia & the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation / CC BY 2.5. AU