{"id":120,"date":"2025-12-18T18:42:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/chapter\/applying-a-cc-license-and-sharing-ones-own-work\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T15:04:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T20:04:46","slug":"applying-a-cc-license-and-sharing-ones-own-work","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/openscholarship\/chapter\/applying-a-cc-license-and-sharing-ones-own-work\/","title":{"raw":"Applying a CC License and Sharing One\u2019s Own Work","rendered":"Applying a CC License and Sharing One\u2019s Own Work"},"content":{"raw":"Now that you have learned about the six different types of Creative Commons licenses (and the public domain dedication tool, CC0), how would you apply a CC license to works you create?\r\n

Considerations Before You Use a CC License<\/h2>\r\nFirst, be sure you understand the terms of the licenses and CC0, including what others can do with the work once you apply one of these. Review the Creative Commons licenses<\/a> chapter.\r\n\r\nHere are some other questions to consider.\r\n\r\n What would happen if you decide to use a CC license and later change your mind?<\/strong> The original license cannot be revoked, and if someone finds the work under that license they can still use it according to those terms. Creators can remove their original works with the earlier licenses from where they posted them, and re-share with a new license, but earlier versions with the earlier license may still be accessible in some places. See \u201cThings to Consider after CC licensing<\/a>\u201d from the CC Certificate for Educators and Librarians for more information.\r\n\r\nWhat if someone uses your CC licensed work in a way you don\u2019t approve of?<\/strong> The only restriction on purpose of use in Creative Commons licenses is in the\u201dNonCommercial\u201d licenses that restrict the use of works to non-commercial purposes. For works with any other CC license, others are allowed to use them for any purpose (though perhaps with other restrictions depending on the license, such as no adaptations allowed (ND) or that adaptations must be shared with a compatible license (SA)). All CC licenses that allow adaptation, however, require that adaptors clearly mark that the work is an adapation, and do so in a way that does not suggest the creator agrees with the changes. A creator can also ask that attribution to them be removed from someone else\u2019s use of the work. See \u201cThings to Consider after CC licensing<\/a>\u201d from the CC Certificate for Educators and Librarians for more information.\r\n\r\nWhat happens if someone violates the terms of the license?<\/strong> In brief, their right to use the work ends immediately and they could be liable for copyright infringement (unless they use the work under fair dealing or another limitation or exception to copyright). In the current 4.0 versions of the CC licenses, if users comply with the license within 30 days of learning they have infringed the license terms, their right to use the work under the license is automatically reinstated. In recent years, there have been an increase in cases of \u201ccopyleft trollling<\/a>\u201d which involves the intentional use of older versions of Creative Commons licenses that do not have the 30 day grace period. In such cases, a copyright holder may license a work with complex attributions and user who does not provide a proper attribution could be liable for copyright infringement and have to pay a fee.\r\n\r\nSee \u201cLicense Enforceability<\/a>\u201d from the CC Certificate for Educators and Librarians for more information.\r\n

Choosing and Applying a CC License<\/h2>\r\nIf you decide you do want to use a CC license, you need to choose which one based on what you would like others to be able to do with the work without asking your permission. The Creative Commons license chooser<\/a> can be helpful in making this choice.\r\n\r\nHow do you apply a license or CC0 to your work? There are several ways to do so:\r\n