Creative Commons, founded in 2001, provides creators of works alternative licensing options that allow them to share their works while maintaining some of their rights. Works with a Creative Commons license occupy a middle ground between default copyright and the public domain. Creators can, for example, specify that their works can be reproduced but only with attribution. They can also choose whether or not others are allowed to alter the original works.

To learn more about Creative Commons, visit http://creativecommons.org/about . Or, to see an example of how Creative Commons licenses are being used, visit the Creative Commons section of flickr: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons