Reference Glossary
Creative Commons licence
One of six standardized public licences (CC BY, BY-SA, BY-ND, BY-NC, BY-NC-SA, BY-NC-ND) — or the CC0 public-domain dedication — that a rights holder attaches to a work to pre-authorize specific reuse.
Why it matters in a DAM
A DAM ingesting Creative Commons content has to record which of the six licence variants and which version (the current suite is 4.0, released in 2013) applies per asset, because the difference between BY, NC, and SA is the difference between an image that's safe for a commercial campaign and one that legally isn't. Tagging everything generically as "Creative Commons" instead of by variant is how an NC-restricted (non-commercial-only) photo ends up in a paid ad.
A worked example
Common mistake
Storing "Creative Commons" as a single flat tag instead of the specific variant, so an editor filters for "CC-licensed, free to use" and pulls a BY-NC-SA image into a commercial product without realizing NC forbids that and SA would require the resulting work to be licensed the same way.
Creative Commons licences are a set of six standardized public copyright licences — CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-ND, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-SA, and CC BY-NC-ND — built from four conditions that combine: Attribution (BY, required in all six), ShareAlike (SA), NoDerivatives (ND), and NonCommercial (NC). A separate tool, CC0, lets a rights holder waive copyright entirely and dedicate a work to the public domain. The current version of the licence suite is 4.0, released in November 2013.
The variants aren’t interchangeable in a DAM’s rights logic. CC BY is the most permissive of the six and allows commercial use with attribution; CC BY-NC forbids commercial use outright; CC BY-SA and its NC variant require any derivative work to carry the same licence forward, which matters if the asset gets edited and republished. A DAM that only stores “Creative Commons: yes/no” as a boolean has thrown away the information that actually determines whether an asset is usable for a given project.
Version also matters less for practical reuse than the letter combination does, but it’s worth capturing because older 2.0 and 3.0 licences have minor jurisdiction and wording differences from 4.0 that occasionally matter for legal review. The DAM field should store the full designation — “CC BY-SA 4.0,” not just “CC BY-SA” — so it’s unambiguous.
Frequently asked
How many standard Creative Commons licences are there, and what conditions do they combine?
There are six standard Creative Commons licences: CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-ND, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-SA, and CC BY-NC-ND. Each combines two or more of four conditions — Attribution (BY), which is mandatory in every licence and requires crediting the creator; ShareAlike (SA); NoDerivatives (ND); and NonCommercial (NC). The specific combination determines exactly what a reuser is permitted to do with the asset.
What's the difference between a Creative Commons licence and CC0?
The six standard Creative Commons licences let the creator keep copyright while granting the public conditional reuse rights — attribution, share-alike, non-commercial, or no-derivatives terms may all apply. CC0, by contrast, is a distinct legal tool: the creator waives copyright and related rights entirely, dedicating the work to the public domain. Reusers of CC0 assets owe no attribution and face no licence conditions at all, unlike any of the six named licences.
Why is it a mistake to tag an asset simply as "Creative Commons" in a DAM?
Because the specific variant determines what's actually allowed — a BY-NC image forbids commercial use while BY alone permits it. A flat "Creative Commons" tag hides that distinction and can let an NC-restricted photo end up in a paid ad.
What does the ShareAlike (SA) condition require if an asset is reused?
ShareAlike requires that any derivative work built from the licensed asset be released under the identical Creative Commons licence, or one deemed compatible by Creative Commons — the reuser cannot switch to a more restrictive or more permissive variant. This matters whenever an asset is edited, translated, cropped, or otherwise adapted and then republished: the resulting work inherits the same SA obligation, so the share-alike condition effectively propagates forward through every downstream reuse.
What version of the Creative Commons licence suite is current, and does it matter?
Version 4.0 is current, published on 25 November 2013 as Creative Commons' latest generational revision of the licence suite. It replaced the earlier version-specific national ports (used through 1.0–3.0) with a single international licence text applicable across jurisdictions. For DAM purposes the version matters less than the letter combination, but it should still be recorded: earlier versions carry jurisdictional variations and different termination and sublicensing terms that can affect legal review.
What's the correct way to store a Creative Commons licence in DAM metadata?
Store the full designation — for example 'CC BY-SA 4.0' — rather than just the letter combination or a generic 'Creative Commons' flag. Include the version number, since obligations and jurisdiction-specific terms can differ between releases. A dedicated, structured licence field (not a free-text caption or keyword) keeps the value consistent, machine-readable, and searchable, and lets automated workflows filter assets correctly by permitted use before they leave the DAM.
Sources
- The six Creative Commons licences combine the Attribution, ShareAlike, NoDerivatives, and NonCommercial conditions; CC0 is a separate public-domain dedication tool. checked 2026-08-07 — Creative Commons, License Types
- Creative Commons released version 4.0 of its licence suite in November 2013. checked 2026-08-07 — Creative Commons Wiki, License Versions