CC Search

http://search.creativecommons.org will help you find photos, music, text, books, educational material, and more that is free to share or build upon utilizing Creative Commons enabled search services at Google, Yahoo!, and Flickr. You can also access this tool via the Firefox web browser. Find out more about Firefox and CC Search.

Why is this important?

Copyright applies fully and automatically to any work -- a photograph, a song, a web page, an article, pretty much any form of expression -- the moment it is created. This means that if you want to copy and re-use a creative work you find online, you usually have to ask the author's permission.

This "all rights reserved" protection is a good thing for many authors and artists. But what about those who want you to use their work freely without permission -- but on certain conditions?

This search service helps you quickly find those authors and the work they have marked as free to use with only "some rights reserved." If you respect the rights they have reserved (which will be clearly marked, as you'll see) then you can use the work without having to contact them and ask. In some cases, you may even find work in the public domain -- that is, free for any use with "no rights reserved."

Examples

Looking for a picture of a giraffe for a school report? Type "giraffe," choose the Flickr tab, and " see what you find.

Interested in music free to download and put in a movie? Type the kind of music you're looking for, choose the Google or Yahoo! tabs, and browse results from across the web.

Try it out. Look for books, weblogs, audio recordings, and more.

You can also browse specific repositories of Creative Commons licensed content by clicking on Content Directories.

What is Creative Commons?

We're a nonprofit, so this search tool is free to use. Learn more about us at http://creativecommons.org.

Disclaimer

This search tool accesses search engines that identify websites that either contain metadata of or a link back to a Creative Commons license. By facilitating these search results, we are not making any representation that the linked content is actually or is lawfully offered under a Creative Commons license. You must independently verify the terms under which the content is made available and make your own assessment as to whether these terms are lawfully applied to the content.