When reusing CC-licensed content, the most important thing to remember is to provide attribution. Refer to the TASL method (title, author, source, license).
Another important consideration is the NonCommercial restriction. If the work you want to reuse is licensed under one of the NC licenses, you must ensure that your use is non-commercial.
NOTE: You can always contact the creator to gain extra permissions beyond what the license allows.
Many CC licensed works encourage the adaptation of works, but there may be limitations depending on the license.
An adaptation or derivative is "a work based upon one or more preexisting works" (17 USC §101). Creating adaptations or derivative works is one of the rights granted under copyright. Examples: translations of books, abridged books, and films based on books.
All CC licenses allow for adaptations, but the two licenses that use the No Derivatives (ND) condition don't allow the sharing or distribution of such adaptations. The CC BY-ND (No Derivatives) or the CC BY-NC-ND (Non-commercial, No Derivatives) licenses state that "[i]f you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material."
Not all changes to a work create an adaptation. Changes that are not considered adaptations:
See When is my use considered an adaptation?
A remix is very similar to an adaptation, but things like a translation are not considered remixes.
Using the Smoothie Example, a remix is taking licensed materials (e.g. yogurt, strawberries, and banana) to remix into a new product (strawberry banana smoothie). You often can't tell where one part ends and another begins. Examples: musical remixes and some of Andy Warhol's works.
All CC licenses allow for remixes, but the two licenses that use the No Derivatives (ND) condition don't allow the sharing or distribution of such remixes. The CC BY-ND (No Derivatives) or the CC BY-NC-ND (Non-commercial, No Derivatives) licenses state that "[i]f you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material."
A collection is "a grouping together of discrete works into one work such that each component work is distinguishable from one another." Examples: an anthology of one author's collective works; a playlist of songs from different artists; a selection of book chapters from various books. The works themselves have not been changed; they are simply gathered together or curated in a potentially new way. A collection is a TV Dinner rather than a Smoothie.
All CC licenses, including the above CC BY-ND and CC BY-NC-ND licenses, allow the creation of collections because collections are not considered derivative works.
When selecting works to reuse, you must take the license and license compatibility into account. Not all licenses are compatible with other licenses.
When discussing compatibility, there are a few situations that can be referred to:
Additionally, you will need to take the reused works' licenses into consideration when selecting the license for your work.
Use this chart to see which licenses are compatible with each other and which are not compatible with each other.
