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Public domain
Public domain is not really a license, it's the lack of applicable copyright. It can be viewed as a permission for everyone to do anything with a work, without copyright restrictions. Usually a work is not released into public domain, but if the copyright runs out (depending on the country of origin) it's in the public domain. A work ineligible for copyright is also in the public domain.
A work released in this way grants all the four freedoms listed in the definition of free cultural works:
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The freedom to use and perform the work: The licensee must be allowed to make any use, private or public, of the work. For kinds of works where it is relevant, this freedom should include all derived uses ("related rights") such as performing or interpreting the work. There must be no exception regarding, for example, political or religious considerations. |
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The freedom to study the work and apply the information: The licensee must be allowed to examine the work and to use the knowledge gained from the work in any way. The license may not, for example, restrict "reverse engineering". |
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The freedom to redistribute copies: Copies may be sold, swapped or given away for free, as part of a larger work, a collection, or independently. There must be no limit on the amount of information that can be copied. There must also not be any limit on who can copy the information or on where the information can be copied. |
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The freedom to distribute derivative works: In order to give everyone the ability to improve upon a work, the license must not limit the freedom to distribute a modified version (or, for physical works, a work somehow derived from the original), regardless of the intent and purpose of such modifications. However, some restrictions may be applied to protect these essential freedoms or the attribution of authors. |
Additonally, a work released in this way will have:
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No RestrictionsAdditional conditions are not guaranteed to be in place. |
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See also
- Country-specific laws (a guideline on Wikimedia Commons)
- Creative Commons CC0 Universal Public Domain Dedication
Attribution 4.0 International
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Creative Commons Corporation ("Creative Commons") is not a law firm and does not provide legal services or legal advice. Distribution of Creative Commons public licenses does not create a lawyer-client or other relationship. Creative Commons makes its licenses and related information available on an "as-is" basis. Creative Commons gives no warranties regarding its licenses, any material licensed under their terms and conditions, or any related information. Creative Commons disclaims all liability for damages resulting from their use to the fullest extent possible.
Using Creative Commons Public Licenses
Creative Commons public licenses provide a standard set of terms and conditions that creators and other rights holders may use to share original works of authorship and other material subject to copyright and certain other rights specified in the public license below. The following considerations are for informational purposes only, are not exhaustive, and do not form part of our licenses.
Considerations for licensors: Our public licenses are
intended for use by those authorized to give the public
permission to use material in ways otherwise restricted by
copyright and certain other rights. Our licenses are
irrevocable. Licensors should read and understand the terms
and conditions of the license they choose before applying it.
Licensors should also secure all rights necessary before
applying our licenses so that the public can reuse the
material as expected. Licensors should clearly mark any
material not subject to the license. This includes other CC-
licensed material, or material used under an exception or
limitation to copyright. More considerations for licensors:
wiki.creativecommons.org/Considerations_for_licensors
Considerations for the public: By using one of our public
licenses, a licensor grants the public permission to use the
licensed material under specified terms and conditions. If
the licensor's permission is not necessary for any reason--for
example, because of any applicable exception or limitation to
copyright--then that use is not regulated by the license. Our
licenses grant only permissions under copyright and certain
other rights that a licensor has authority to grant. Use of
the licensed material may still be restricted for other
reasons, including because others have copyright or other
rights in the material. A licensor may make special requests,
such as asking that all changes be marked or described.
Although not required by our licenses, you are encouraged to
respect those requests where reasonable. More considerations
for the public:
wiki.creativecommons.org/Considerations_for_licensees
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License
By exercising the Licensed Rights (defined below), You accept and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License ("Public License"). To the extent this Public License may be interpreted as a contract, You are granted the Licensed Rights in consideration of Your acceptance of these terms and conditions, and the Licensor grants You such rights in consideration of benefits the Licensor receives from making the Licensed Material available under these terms and conditions.
Section 1 -- Definitions.
a. Adapted Material means material subject to Copyright and Similar
Rights that is derived from or based upon the Licensed Material
and in which the Licensed Material is translated, altered,
arranged, transformed, or otherwise modified in a manner requiring
permission under the Copyright and Similar Rights held by the
Licensor. For purposes of this Public License, where the Licensed
Material is a musical work, performance, or sound recording,
Adapted Material is always produced where the Licensed Material is
synched in timed relation with a moving image.
b. Adapter's License means the license You apply to Your Copyright
and Similar Rights in Your contributions to Adapted Material in
accordance with the terms and conditions of this Public License.
c. Copyright and Similar Rights means copyright and/or similar rights
closely related to copyright including, without limitation,
performance, broadcast, sound recording, and Sui Generis Database
Rights, without regard to how the rights are labeled or
categorized. For purposes of this Public License, the rights
specified in Section 2(b)(1)-(2) are not Copyright and Similar
Rights.
d. Effective Technological Measures means those measures that, in the
absence of proper authority, may not be circumvented under laws
fulfilling obligations under Article 11 of the WIPO Copyright
Treaty adopted on December 20, 1996, and/or similar international
agreements.
e. Exceptions and Limitations means fair use, fair dealing, and/or
any other exception or limitation to Copyright and Similar Rights
that applies to Your use of the Licensed Material.
f. Licensed Material means the artistic or literary work, database,
or other material to which the Licensor applied this Public
License.
g. Licensed Rights means the rights granted to You subject to the
terms and conditions of this Public License, which are limited to
all Copyright and Similar Rights that apply to Your use of the
Licensed Material and that the Licensor has authority to license.
h. Licensor means the individual(s) or entity(ies) granting rights
under this Public License.
i. Share means to provide material to the public by any means or
process that requires permission under the Licensed Rights, such
as reproduction, public display, public performance, distribution,
dissemination, communication, or importation, and to make material
available to the public including in ways that members of the
public may access the material from a place and at a time
individually chosen by them.
j. Sui Generis Database Rights means rights other than copyright
resulting from Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of
the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases,
as amended and/or succeeded, as well as other essentially
equivalent rights anywhere in the world.
k. You means the individual or entity exercising the Licensed Rights
under this Public License. Your has a corresponding meaning.
Section 2 -- Scope.
a. License grant.
1. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Public License,
the Licensor hereby grants You a worldwide, royalty-free,
non-sublicensable, non-exclusive, irrevocable license to
exercise the Licensed Rights in the Licensed Material to:
a. reproduce and Share the Licensed Material, in whole or
in part; and
b. produce, reproduce, and Share Adapted Material.
2. Exceptions and Limitations. For the avoidance of doubt, where
Exceptions and Limitations apply to Your use, this Public
License does not apply, and You do not need to comply with
its terms and conditions.
3. Term. The term of this Public License is specified in Section
6(a).
4. Media and formats; technical modifications allowed. The
Licensor authorizes You to exercise the Licensed Rights in
all media and formats whether now known or hereafter created,
and to make technical modifications necessary to do so. The
Licensor waives and/or agrees not to assert any right or
authority to forbid You from making technical modifications
necessary to exercise the Licensed Rights, including
technical modifications necessary to circumvent Effective
Technological Measures. For purposes of this Public License,
simply making modifications authorized by this Section 2(a)
(4) never produces Adapted Material.
5. Downstream recipients.
a. Offer from the Licensor -- Licensed Material. Every
recipient of the Licensed Material automatically
receives an offer from the Licensor to exercise the
Licensed Rights under the terms and conditions of this
Public License.
b. No downstream restrictions. You may not offer or impose
any additional or different terms or conditions on, or
apply any Effective Technological Measures to, the
Licensed Material if doing so restricts exercise of the
Licensed Rights by any recipient of the Licensed
Material.
6. No endorsement. Nothing in this Public License constitutes or
may be construed as permission to assert or imply that You
are, or that Your use of the Licensed Material is, connected
with, or sponsored, endorsed, or granted official status by,
the Licensor or others designated to receive attribution as
provided in Section 3(a)(1)(A)(i).
b. Other rights.
1. Moral rights, such as the right of integrity, are not
licensed under this Public License, nor are publicity,
privacy, and/or other similar personality rights; however, to
the extent possible, the Licensor waives and/or agrees not to
assert any such rights held by the Licensor to the limited
extent necessary to allow You to exercise the Licensed
Rights, but not otherwise.
2. Patent and trademark rights are not licensed under this
Public License.
3. To the extent possible, the Licensor waives any right to
collect royalties from You for the exercise of the Licensed
Rights, whether directly or through a collecting society
under any voluntary or waivable statutory or compulsory
licensing scheme. In all other cases the Licensor expressly
reserves any right to collect such royalties.
Section 3 -- License Conditions.
Your exercise of the Licensed Rights is expressly made subject to the following conditions.
a. Attribution.
1. If You Share the Licensed Material (including in modified
form), You must:
a. retain the following if it is supplied by the Licensor
with the Licensed Material:
i. identification of the creator(s) of the Licensed
Material and any others designated to receive
attribution, in any reasonable manner requested by
the Licensor (including by pseudonym if
designated);
ii. a copyright notice;
iii. a notice that refers to this Public License;
iv. a notice that refers to the disclaimer of
warranties;
v. a URI or hyperlink to the Licensed Material to the
extent reasonably practicable;
b. indicate if You modified the Licensed Material and
retain an indication of any previous modifications; and
c. indicate the Licensed Material is licensed under this
Public License, and include the text of, or the URI or
hyperlink to, this Public License.
2. You may satisfy the conditions in Section 3(a)(1) in any
reasonable manner based on the medium, means, and context in
which You Share the Licensed Material. For example, it may be
reasonable to satisfy the conditions by providing a URI or
hyperlink to a resource that includes the required
information.
3. If requested by the Licensor, You must remove any of the
information required by Section 3(a)(1)(A) to the extent
reasonably practicable.
4. If You Share Adapted Material You produce, the Adapter's
License You apply must not prevent recipients of the Adapted
Material from complying with this Public License.
Section 4 -- Sui Generis Database Rights.
Where the Licensed Rights include Sui Generis Database Rights that apply to Your use of the Licensed Material:
a. for the avoidance of doubt, Section 2(a)(1) grants You the right
to extract, reuse, reproduce, and Share all or a substantial
portion of the contents of the database;
b. if You include all or a substantial portion of the database
contents in a database in which You have Sui Generis Database
Rights, then the database in which You have Sui Generis Database
Rights (but not its individual contents) is Adapted Material; and
c. You must comply with the conditions in Section 3(a) if You Share
all or a substantial portion of the contents of the database.
For the avoidance of doubt, this Section 4 supplements and does not replace Your obligations under this Public License where the Licensed Rights include other Copyright and Similar Rights.
Section 5 -- Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability.
a. UNLESS OTHERWISE SEPARATELY UNDERTAKEN BY THE LICENSOR, TO THE
EXTENT POSSIBLE, THE LICENSOR OFFERS THE LICENSED MATERIAL AS-IS
AND AS-AVAILABLE, AND MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF
ANY KIND CONCERNING THE LICENSED MATERIAL, WHETHER EXPRESS,
IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHER. THIS INCLUDES, WITHOUT LIMITATION,
WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ABSENCE OF LATENT OR OTHER DEFECTS,
ACCURACY, OR THE PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF ERRORS, WHETHER OR NOT
KNOWN OR DISCOVERABLE. WHERE DISCLAIMERS OF WARRANTIES ARE NOT
ALLOWED IN FULL OR IN PART, THIS DISCLAIMER MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
b. TO THE EXTENT POSSIBLE, IN NO EVENT WILL THE LICENSOR BE LIABLE
TO YOU ON ANY LEGAL THEORY (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION,
NEGLIGENCE) OR OTHERWISE FOR ANY DIRECT, SPECIAL, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, EXEMPLARY, OR OTHER LOSSES,
COSTS, EXPENSES, OR DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THIS PUBLIC LICENSE OR
USE OF THE LICENSED MATERIAL, EVEN IF THE LICENSOR HAS BEEN
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSSES, COSTS, EXPENSES, OR
DAMAGES. WHERE A LIMITATION OF LIABILITY IS NOT ALLOWED IN FULL OR
IN PART, THIS LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
c. The disclaimer of warranties and limitation of liability provided
above shall be interpreted in a manner that, to the extent
possible, most closely approximates an absolute disclaimer and
waiver of all liability.
Section 6 -- Term and Termination.
a. This Public License applies for the term of the Copyright and
Similar Rights licensed here. However, if You fail to comply with
this Public License, then Your rights under this Public License
terminate automatically.
b. Where Your right to use the Licensed Material has terminated under
Section 6(a), it reinstates:
1. automatically as of the date the violation is cured, provided
it is cured within 30 days of Your discovery of the
violation; or
2. upon express reinstatement by the Licensor.
For the avoidance of doubt, this Section 6(b) does not affect any
right the Licensor may have to seek remedies for Your violations
of this Public License.
c. For the avoidance of doubt, the Licensor may also offer the
Licensed Material under separate terms or conditions or stop
distributing the Licensed Material at any time; however, doing so
will not terminate this Public License.
d. Sections 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8 survive termination of this Public
License.
Section 7 -- Other Terms and Conditions.
a. The Licensor shall not be bound by any additional or different
terms or conditions communicated by You unless expressly agreed.
b. Any arrangements, understandings, or agreements regarding the
Licensed Material not stated herein are separate from and
independent of the terms and conditions of this Public License.
Section 8 -- Interpretation.
a. For the avoidance of doubt, this Public License does not, and
shall not be interpreted to, reduce, limit, restrict, or impose
conditions on any use of the Licensed Material that could lawfully
be made without permission under this Public License.
b. To the extent possible, if any provision of this Public License is
deemed unenforceable, it shall be automatically reformed to the
minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable. If the provision
cannot be reformed, it shall be severed from this Public License
without affecting the enforceability of the remaining terms and
conditions.
c. No term or condition of this Public License will be waived and no
failure to comply consented to unless expressly agreed to by the
Licensor.
d. Nothing in this Public License constitutes or may be interpreted
as a limitation upon, or waiver of, any privileges and immunities
that apply to the Licensor or You, including from the legal
processes of any jurisdiction or authority.
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Creative Commons is not a party to its public licenses. Notwithstanding, Creative Commons may elect to apply one of its public licenses to material it publishes and in those instances will be considered the “Licensor.” The text of the Creative Commons public licenses is dedicated to the public domain under the CC0 Public Domain Dedication. Except for the limited purpose of indicating that material is shared under a Creative Commons public license or as otherwise permitted by the Creative Commons policies published at creativecommons.org/policies, Creative Commons does not authorize the use of the trademark "Creative Commons" or any other trademark or logo of Creative Commons without its prior written consent including, without limitation, in connection with any unauthorized modifications to any of its public licenses or any other arrangements, understandings, or agreements concerning use of licensed material. For the avoidance of doubt, this paragraph does not form part of the public licenses.
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