The use of a CCL does not mean that you do not have the copyright on your work anymore. Instead, a CCL helps the creator of a copyrighted work to retain some of his rights stemming from copyright while making available to the public his work and ensures that he gets the credits for his work.

In general terms, a CCL can be used for any copyright protected work (books, movies, etc). However, since the work released under a Creative Commons licence is governed by the applicable national copyright law, national legislation may pose restrictions to the context of the free distribution. Moreover, it is to be noticed that Creative Commons – a creator of CCL – does not recommend the use of Creative Commons licences for software.

The Creative Commons licence (CCL) is a copyright licence that allows the user, who is not the copyright owner of a work, to distribute freely an otherwise copyrighted work. In this context, a CCL works mutually for both the copyright owner and the end-user, since it gives the author the freedom to allow people to share, use, and build upon a work that he/she has created and protects the users from a possible copyright infringement claim. 

Although in both cases the licensor permits the licensee to use his/her intellectual property in return for a negotiated compensation, exclusive and non-exclusive licences refer to the degree of exclusivity that will be granted to the licensee.

In an exclusive licence, the parties agree that no other person/legal entity can exploit the relevant IPRs, except the licensee.

In certain cases, having licence rights to a patent will not be enough for the licensee to use, exploit or manufacture the related invention in an efficient way. Beyond the patented innovation, the licensee will in many cases need access to the unpatented technical information which relates to it.

No universal licencing agreement model exists. Licence agreements will vary depending on the subject of the licencing activity, on the corresponding applicable law used to construe its provisions and on the circumstances of each specific case.

We draw your attention to the following issues: