26 Licensing Considerations for Adaptations

Licensing considerations when creating an adaptation of a CC licensed work or works

When licensing an adaptive work, you need to consider license compatibility. License compatibility is the term used to address the issue of which types of licensed works can be adapted into a new work.

→ In all cases, you have to attribute the original work when you create an adaptation.

Applying a license to an adaptive work is called the Adapter’s License.

• Remember that your rights in your adaptation only apply to your own contributions.
• The original license continues to govern reuse of the elements from the original work that you used when creating your adaptation.

Adapter’s License Chart by Compatibility

• If the underlying work is licensed with BY or BY-NC, it is recommended your adapter’s license include at least the same license elements as the license applied to the original. For example, if one adapts a BY-NC work, she will apply BY-NC to her adaptation. If one adapts a BY work, she could apply either BY or BY-NC to her adaptation.
• If the underlying work is licensed with BY-SA or BY-NC-SA, your adapter’s license must be the same license applied to the original or a license that is designated as compatible with the original license. We’ll discuss license compatibility in more detail below.
• Remember, if the underlying work is licensed with BY-ND or BY-NC-ND, you cannot distribute adaptations so you don’t need to be concerned about what adapter’s license to apply.

CC License Compatibility Chart / CC BY 4.0

Unit 4: Using CC Licenses and CC-Licensed Works by Creative Commons CC- BY 4.0