Modifying the CC licenses

CC recognizes that we cannot control or prohibit separate agreements or understandings that involve or affect our standard licenses. After all, CC is not a party to the licenses – they are agreements between licensors and licensees. However, we have long insisted that CC trademarks and branding not be used in connection with separate agreements, understandings, and interpretations that may cause confusion for the public, or create any ambiguity in or inconsistency with the standard terms and conditions offered by a Creative Commons license.

CC’s policy prohibiting use of our trademarks and branding in connection with such arrangements has been a long-standing part of our Trademark Policy. This page provides additional details on the scope of the policy, as well as guidelines for proper and improper use of our trademarks and branding in connection with any such separate agreements, understandings, or modifications. Note that this policy and guidelines also apply to CC’s other legal tools, such as the CC0 Public Domain Dedication.

License Modification Policy

1. If you make a change to the text of any CC license, you may no longer refer to it as a Creative Commons or CC license, and you must not use any CC trademarks (including the Creative Commons name) or branding in connection with the license.
2. If you place any restriction on use of a CC-licensed work that has the effect of limiting or further conditioning the permissions granted to the public under the standard CC license, you must not use any CC trademarks (including the Creative Commons name) or branding in connection with the license or in any way that suggests the work is available under a CC license. These restrictions often appear in terms of use on websites where CC-licensed content is hosted, or as part of terms for downloading CC-licensed content.

• Example of impermissible extra restriction: You may not use our trademarks or branding if your terms of use prohibit downloading of the CC-licensed work or provides an interpretation of a license term that contradicts the plain meaning of the standard CC terms, such as stating an interpretation of NonCommercial that hinges on the type of reuser (CC licenses do not differentiate on this basis) as opposed to the type of use. (Note that this does not require website or application providers to enable downloading functionality, only that downloading is not prohibited as a condition of using the website or application.)

It is permissible, however, to have trademark guidelines that govern how your logo or other trademark may be used in connection with the CC-licensed work. It is also permissible to impose website terms of use that restrict access to the website by minors pursuant to applicable law. In neither case is use of CC’s trademarks or logo problematic so long as our Trademark Policy is followed.

• Example of impermissible extra restriction: You may not use our trademarks or branding if your terms of use prohibit sharing of the CC-licensed work in certain formats.

It is permissible, however, to distribute your own CC-licensed work in a format that is not easily shared [though CC strongly discourages this) or to put your CC-licensed content behind a paywall.

• Example of impermissible extra restriction: You may not use our trademarks or branding if your website terms of use impose attribution requirements that are more elaborate than those found in the standard CC license.

It is permissible, however, to impose terms of use that have the effect of increasing (or removing the conditions on) the permissions granted to the public under the standard terms, such as waiving the attribution condition or allowing translations of an ND-licensed work (see CC+)

CC does recognize that providing clarification, as opposed to modification, can make sense intuitively, and is arguably useful in a few limited circumstances, but only when doing so:

• is consistent with, and not contrary to, the terms of the CC license, and does not alter the usage permissions or alter the conditions imposed by the CC license
• does not require a particular class of users to contact the licensor in advance for permissions the CC license has already granted to all users
• does not otherwise increase transaction costs for any potential class of licensee

Rationale for the CC policy: ‘‘the beauty of standardization’’

The above guidelines are designed to preserve the underlying principles and benefits of public licensing for licensors and licensees, by reducing conflicts and confusion that may ensue. One of the fundamental design principles of CC licensing is granting permission to the public in advance, thereby reducing transaction costs and facilitating reuse. CC licenses achieve this result through terms and conditions that are ‘’standard,’’ meaning the same terms and conditions apply for all content licensed under a particular CC license. The result is reduced friction for creators who want to allow certain reuses without negotiating and granting lots of individual permissions, and for reusers who want to make use the licensed content with minimal hassle.