Creative Commons Licences: New Ways of Granting and Utilising Access to Information

This paper is introducing Creative Commons Licences (CCL) as an innovative model of flexible open content licences. After integrating this concept in the conflicting priorities of „intellectual property “ and „digital commons“, different applications, benefits and drawbacks of the licenses are described and discussed. The aim of this paper is to raise awareness about copyright issues among the audience and advice them how to apply and successfully utilise CCL. This paper is based on my diploma thesis “Creative Commons Licences: Chances and Risks for the Management of Non-Governmental Organisations ” and points out how the CCL contribute to abolishing technical, economical and legal barriers and to creating access to information for everybody