Three Main Copyright Licenses

There are 3 main types of copyright licenses: Creative Commons, Royalty-Free, and Rights Managed...

Creative Commons

Creative Commons is arguably the most popular public copyright license. The creative commons is when the creator gives the public the right to share, use, and repurpose their work (1). The Creative Commons license is actually a nonprofit organization. It provides a less restrictive way to share content. There is no price to pay for use of content under the creative commons license. There are four different kinds of Creative Commons the first one is Attribution (BY). Attribution is where anyone and everyone can use the product whether it be a video, music, a picture or whatever it may be but they have to give credit to the person that originally posted it.

​The second Creative Commons is Share-alike (SA). Share-alike is where licensees are able to use the product only under a license that is identical to the license that is in effect for the original. The third Creative Commons is Non-commercial (NC). Non-commercial is where licensees are able to use the product and do whatever they want to it whether it be remixes of it, derivative works of it, or copy it as long as they use it for non-commercial purposes. The fourth and last Creative Commons is No Derivative Works (ND). No Derivative Works is where licensees may not make any remixes or derivative works of it

Royalty-Free

Royalty-free is the right to use intellectual property without the need to pay for use (2). Unlike the creative commons license, a royalty-free license is a fee for each commercial use of the content. Many royalty-free images are also known as “stock images” found in collection service websites such as shutterstock. Royalty-Free has Computer Standards where these royalties are typically charged “per port” or “per device” basis. The manufacturer of the end-user devices has to pay a fixed fee for each product that is sold and they also have to pay a substantial annual fixed fee. Royalty-Free also has Photography and Illustrations where the user has to pay a one time fee to the licensor and then when they pay the licensor they can use the photography or illustration without having to buy another license

Rights Managed

Rights Managed is a one-time use by someone other than the creator under the condition of payment or multiple uses, but paid for each usage (3). The terms of use are normally determined between the image owner and image publisher for commercial transactions

Other Sources: (4)