Copyright: Other Licences

Defined under section 163 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as "works made by officers or servants of the Crown in the course of their duties", Crown Copyright is a form of copyright claim used by the UK Government (as well many Commonwealth country governments) and covers material created by civil servants, ministers and government departments and agencies.

This includes legislation, government codes of practice, Ordnance Survey mapping, government reports, official press releases, academic articles and many public records.

Copyright can also come into Crown ownership by means of assignment or transfer of the copyright from the legal owner of the copyright to the Crown. Like other works, the duration in a Crown Copyright work lasts 70 years after the death of the person who created it.

The default copyright licence for Crown copyright material is the Open Government Licence.

The Open Government Licence (OGL) is a simple set of terms and conditions that facilitates the re-use of a wide range of public sector information free of charge. 

There is no need to register or apply to use the OGL. Users simply need to ensure that their use of information complies with OGL terms.

The OGL states that users should, where possible, provide a link back to the OGL. This means that it is possible to search for online works using information under the OGL.

The OGL requires you to attribute the information provider and source of the information.

You will find more help on how to use the OGL on this guidance page.

Creative Commons Licences are a series of easy-to-understand licences designed to promote the sharing of copyright material with as few impediments to reuse as possible.

The licences are free of charge. This allows everyone from independent creators to large organisations a standardised way to grant users permission to use their material under copyright law, making it a simpler means of contractually regulating the use of material without infringing the creator's copyright.

It it uses a system of licensing which allows copyright owners to choose different levels of protection for their work, which also makes it a flexible form of copyright protection - usually allowing for more freedom of use than traditionally copyrighted material.

Types of Creative Commons Licence

There are six different Creative Commons licences, ordered below from most to least permissive. When attached to a piece a work the licence details exactly what the author of the material has granted can and cannot be done with the material, should you wish to re-use it.

CC BY: Attribution

You are able to: copy, share, make derivative works and remixes in any medium or format (including commercially) - anything you want, so long as:

• The creator of the material is credited appropriately.
• Indicate if any changes were made to the material.

CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

You are able to: copy, share, make derivative works and remixes in any medium or format (including commercially) so long as:

• The creator of the material is credited.
• Any material that you create deriving from the work is shared under the same licence terms.

CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial

You are able to: copy, share, make derivative works and remixes in any medium or format so long as:

• The creator of the material is credited appropriately.
• It is for non-commercial purposes (you are not making money).

CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

You are able to: copy, share, make derivative works and remixes in any medium or format so long as:

• The creator of the material is credited appropriately.
• It is for non-commercial purposes (you are not making money).
• Any material you create deriving from the work is shared under the same licence terms.

CC BY-ND: Attribution-NoDerivatives

You are able to: copy, share so long as:

• The creator of the material is credited appropriately.  
•  The content is shared in its original form (If you do adapt, remix, or build upon the material, you cannot distribute the modified material).

CC-BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives

You are able to: copy, share so long as:

• The creator of the material is credited appropriately.  
• It is for non-commercial purposes (you are not making
•  money).
• The content is shared in its original form. (If you do adapt, remix, or build upon the material, you cannot distribute the modified material.