What is Creative Commons?

The global network includes many volunteers and a small staff of the non profit. Together they work on the technology, licenses, and supporting the movement.

The Creative Commons global network is a community dedicated to collaborations and connections created around shared content.

The Creative Commons needs you! <a href="https://network.creativecommons.org/">Join today</a> to fight for the freedom to create, collaborate and share.

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/35034362831@N01/2235721396">Lawrence Lessig</a> photo by Joi Ito <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en">CC BY 2.0</a>

<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Boyle_and_Eric_Eldred.jpg">James Boyle and Eric Eldred</a> photo by Joi Ito <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY 2.0</a>

<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Knowledge-sharing.jpg">Knowledge-sharing </a>image by Ansonlobo <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/biwook/145765624">A copyright will protect you from pirates</a><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Knowledge-sharing.jpg"> </a>image by Ioan Sameli <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42438955@N05/8722982992/">Korea_President_Park_US_Congress_20130507_03</a><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Knowledge-sharing.jpg"> </a>photo by Republic of Korea <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>

Rising like a Phoenix from the ashes, Lessig and others were inspired to create a non profit organization - <a href="https://creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons</a>!

In the fight to harness the sharing potential of the internet, they created unique weapons designed to create rather than destroy - THE <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/">CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSES</a>.

The Internet unleashed unprecedented collaboration and sharing! But...

...Copyright law is designed to restrict sharing.

In 1998, the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) extended copyright by 20 years!

CTEA?! More like the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act"!

Eric Aldred (pictured above with James Boyle) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lessig">Lawrence Lessig</a> fought back challenging the constitutionality of CTEA, bringing their case all the way to the US Supreme Court.

More than <a href="https://stateof.creativecommons.org/">1.4 billion</a> graphics, photos, videos, journals, books, and more are being shared using CC licenses.

This work is licensed under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>

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