How is the Creative Commons Different than Public Domain?
Works fall into the public domain when their copyright license has expired. Creative Commons licenses permit the holders of copyright to define more clearly how their works may be used. The Creative Commons organization was founded in 2001 as a means of permitting creators to license their work for public use under conditions they specify. A creative commons license is not an alternative to copyright, nor is it an indication that a work is part of the public domain.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Sections of this guide are reused or adapted from Florida State University Libraries and Bentley University Library with permission.
