10 Combining CC Licences

Combining CC licenses

When adapting an open textbook (or other OER), you may want to incorporate other people’s works into your adaptation. In order to do that, you must ensure that any existing licences on the work you’re adapting or including are compatible with each other.

For example, as explained in the chapter on Creative Commons licensing, the CC BY licence is the least restrictive and is compatible with all of the other CC licences. However, if you want to include a work that has a CC BY-SA licence, you must use that same licence with your adaptation (which may conflict with other licences already attached to the work). Creative Commons provides more information about CC BY-SA licence compatibility.

The Orange Grove repository’s video below further explains how CC licenses can be combined.

For further help, you can use the use the Creative Commons Choose a License tool or the Wiki/cc license compatibility chart, or contact your institution’s Library or Teaching & Learning Centre.