Creative Commons

CC Certificate alum Professor Gregory Beyrer shares how using Creative Commons licenses supports his anti-racist teaching practices. This powerful essay began as an assignment for the CC Certificate. Register for an upcoming Certification Course to deepen your understanding of open licensing while connecting it directly to your current work through practical assignments and connections with like-minded colleagues around the globe! Read the article: https://buff.ly/JAvA8Cp Register for the CC certificate: https://buff.ly/OKFO1BN

CC Certificate alum Professor Gregory Beyrer shares how using Creative Commons licenses supports his anti-racist teaching practices. This powerful essay began as an assignment for the CC Certificate. Register for an upcoming Certification Course to deepen your understanding of open licensing while connecting it directly to your current work through practical assignments and connections with like-minded colleagues around the globe! Read the article: https://buff.ly/JAvA8Cp Register for the CC certificate: https://buff.ly/OKFO1BN

Read our latest issue brief, which explains how the generative AI training process works, why it raises copyright questions, and the factors that courts and policymakers are considering.

What does Tanya Richard from the Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War Museum think about the importance of open heritage? "Without these connections, these sparks, we wouldn't know how to cater to our public. We wouldn't be asking our artists the important questions. This sometimes messy and boisterous and chaotic work can be challenging, but it's always worth it." Sign the Open Heritage Statement to join this rewarding work! https://lnkd.in/gRRScbcX

We recently reflected on our work in 2025—the achievements and the road ahead. That reflection reaffirmed our purpose and sharpened our priorities in this age of AI. In 2026, we’ll continue to work in service of our three strategic goals: 🌐 Strengthen the open infrastructure of sharing: In the long term future, we will know we’ve been successful when a strong and resilient open infrastructure empowers sharing and access in the public interest. 🏛 Defend and advocate for a thriving creative commons: In the long term future, we will know we’ve been successful when a thriving creative commons exists to solve the world’s greatest challenges. 🌏 Center community: In the long term future, we will know we’ve been successful when communities leverage CC’s open infrastructure to share knowledge in the public interest. Read our newest blog post for more info on how we're working toward these goals in 2026:

In Q4, CC continued our work in international fora that shape cultural rights and copyright, including engagement with the World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, as well as our advocacy for AI policies that serve the public interest. Last quarter, CC contributed to the EU's development of a Code of Practice for general purpose AI developers, and this work continued in Q4 with an expression of interest to participate in the European Commission's new consultation on the "technical feasibility and uptake of different Text and Data Mining opt-out solutions."

This week, we're celebrating Public Domain Day 2026 in the Netherlands 🎉 Join us this Friday, January 9, as we celebrate works entering the public domain from creators who died in 1955. Their work can now be freely used, shared, and built upon. Paul Keller will represent Open Future in two sessions: 🕐 12:10–12:30: Presentation of CommonsDB, our registry for public domain and openly licensed works 🕒 15:15–16:00: Discussion panel on "Restrictions to the public domain" with Prof. Dr. Dirk Visser, Maarten Zeinstra, Daniëlle Jansen, and KB National Library 🏛️ Where: Academy Building, Leiden University. The event will be held in Dutch. Since in-person registration is limited, you can sign up to watch the livestream:  https://lnkd.in/eUa5hbEn This cultural heritage initiative is organized by the Public Domain Working Group, featuring Netwerk Digitaal Erfgoed, Beeld & Geluid, KB nationale bibliotheek, Rijksmuseum, Wikimedia Nederland, Universiteitsbibliotheken Leiden, Open Nederland, and copyclear.

There’s still time! You can make a gift to Creative Commons before the new year. We know that opening up knowledge is key to addressing the world’s most pressing challenges. But new challenges—like the advent of mainstream, commercial AI—have posed new threats to the commons and brought with them risks of enclosure. More than ever, we need resources and tools to respond to new challenges and keep knowledge open, accessible, and thriving for everyone. Your support makes this possible. Please make your year-end gift today and join us in protecting the global commons. https://buff.ly/sbZgGBL Image: Photo by Jocelyn Miyara/Creative Commons, 2025, CC BY 4.0.

Open science is under threat. Research that was once freely available online is being wiped from the internet or locked behind paywalls, hindering scientific advancement and progress for all. CC provides tools and frameworks that empower researchers to share their work openly and securely. Today, over a million scientific preprints are licensed CC BY, making them accessible and shareable, and we’re working to grow that number. Your support is crucial in helping us expand these efforts and protect the future of open science. Will you join us in this mission with a gift today? https://buff.ly/sbZgGBL Image: “Science Center” by slava, CC BY 2.0, Flickr.

CC has big things coming in 2026! Stay up to date with all the news, events, and updates to come by signing up for our newsletter. https://buff.ly/UzzUvyS