Whenever you create something – an article, book, or piece of art – you hold the copyright to that work. Copyright protects the author or creator’s exclusive right to use and distribute his or her work for a period of time.

While copyright is important for protecting intellectual property, it is not always best suited to how we create and share information in the digital world. If you are creating and sharing your work online, consider attaching a special license or label. Two such licenses are Creative Commons and Traditional Knowledge licenses:

Creative Commons (CC) Licenses are the standard way to give people permission to share, use, and build upon your research or creative work. You may want to limit your license (non-commercial use only, for example) or allow people to access, share, and edit your work freely, as long as they give credit to you. CC licenses support the ideal of universal access to knowledge; you have access to hundreds of millions of works under CC licenses that you can use and edit in your own creative work.

Be aware that CC licenses work in conjunction with copyright and publishing agreements. When you publish your research in a journal, read the fine print about whether the article will be available open access or by subscription.

Traditional Knowledge (TK) Licenses and labels recognize that indigenous, traditional, and local communities have different access and use expectations regarding their knowledge and cultural expressions. TK licenses are designed to clarify cultural expectations and help people outside those cultures to use the material fairly and respectfully. TK licenses can also be used alongside copyright and CC licenses.

Visit the UT Libraries Copyright Page for more information about copyright and licenses. For help negotiating copyright transfer with publishers or publishing open access, see the Author’s Rights Retention Kit.