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Protect Your Work with Creative Commons Licenses

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The Creative Commons license protects creative works with more flexibility than a standard US copyright.

“Creative Commons helps you publish your work online while letting others know exactly what they can and can’t do with your work. When you choose a license, we provide you with tools and tutorials that let you add license information to your own site, or to one of several free hosting services that have incorporated Creative Commons.” Learn more at the Creative Commons site.

The licenses are all very simple to understand, and make it easy to share your work while keeping the level of control you want. They also explain exactly what rights you retain.

And the CC licenses have just received their first court victory, that confirms their status as a true international license. CNET reported on March 21 that a court in the Netherlands ruled that a Creative Commons license is binding internationally.

This is one of the first times that the license–which offers more flexibility than traditional copyright licenses–has been tested in a court of law, according to legal Web site Groklaw.
…
Creative Commons Canada said the ruling is important as it makes it clear that it is the user’s responsibility to find out about and adhere to the license.

So if you have worried about publishing your work online, investigate a Creative Commons license to protect your rights.

About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.

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