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Public Domain & Creative Commons

Terms and conditions on copyright public domain and creative commons products.
When copyright ownership/protection expires, the work enters the public domain meaning anyone can freely use the work without seeking permission or paying a fee.

Public Domain

Both U.S. and international copyright laws governing the length of copyright protection have been revised several times, thus it is often difficult to accurately determine if a work has entered the public domain. See the following chart Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States for determining if a work has entered the public domain. Also, here is a handy tool to answer the question, Is It Protected by Copyright?

Creative Commons

The Creative Commons is another great resource for content that is available without cost to use and adapt with attribution. The Creative Commons is a licensing mechanism that enables content creators to easily share content for reuse. Creative Commons licenses and website search tools can provide clear guidance about acceptable and legal uses of digital content to create and share materials. These digital resources can include images, music audio files, movies, or any other type of media. Learn More

Licenses Terms
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Attribution
CC BY
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Attribution (BY)
Others can copy, distribute, display, perform and remix your work if they credit your name as requested by you.
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Attribution-ShareAlike
CC BY-SA
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No Derivative Works (ND)
Others can only copy, distribute, display or perform verbatim copies of your work.
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Attribution-NoDerivs
CC BY-ND
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Attribution-NonCommercial
CC BY-NC
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Share Alike (SA)
Others can distribute your work only under a license identical to the one you have chosen for your work.
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Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
CC BY-NC-SA
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Non-Commercial (NC)
Others can copy, distribute, display, perform or remix you work butfor non-commercial purpose only.
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Attibution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
CC BY-NC-ND