Open licensing

Opening up content is, at its very core, a legal question. To whom does the content belong? What does the owner of the rights allow me to do with their content?

The purpose of copyright is to respect and reward creative work while encouraging future creativity and the development of new material. However, in digital times, when content is online, and a culture of sharing is dominating, legal uncertainties seem inevitable and legal boundaries even seem to hinder creative and innovative processes. You have probably experienced it yourself when looking for content for training materials; you find the perfect sketch, picture or definition but are then uncertain about whether or not you are violating any copyrights by using it.

Open licensing is based on copyright. Consequently, it would help if you had a clear understanding of how copyright works to use or produce creative works that apply open licenses. Moreover, learning in a digital age requires knowledge of copyright because interactions and outputs of learning are published online, increasing exposure to the risks associated with a breach of copyright. This section, therefore, provides an insight into the relationship between copyright and legal licenses. It also helps you identify OER-friendly licenses and mark your work with an appropriate license.

The term ‘Copyleft’, a play on the word copyright, has often been used to refer to licensing systems that encourage openness. A mirrored © symbol is sometimes used to denote ‘copyleft’. Over the last two decades, open content licensing systems have been evolving and developing. Some have created sophisticated licensing options for authors. Some were initially established to support the release of open software, and later expanded to support the licensing of open content. Others focus exclusively on either software or content.