6. How do I sell / license my copyright? What is Creative Commons?

 

As the copyright owner in your work, you can sell or license it to others, which could be done through a contractual agreement.

Some creators choose to join a collecting society, who then licenses and collects royalties on their behalf; these include:

Authors’ Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS)Artists’ Collecting Society (ACS)Broadcasting Data Services (BDS)British Equity Collecting Society (BECS)Christian Copyright Licensing International United KingdomChristian Video Licensing International United KingdomCopyright Licensing Agency (CLA)Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS)Directors UK (D-UK)Educational Recording Agency (ERA)Motion Picture Licensing Company (MPLC)Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA)Open University Worldwide (OUW)PRS for MusicPhonographic Performance Limited (PPL)Publishers Licensing Society (PLS)

Another option is Creative Commons (CC), which are licences that explicitly encourage the free re-use of work. By distributing your work under a Creative Commons licence, you will allow the public to re-use it for free. This should help the dissemination of your work and more generally the spread of knowledge and creativity. For example, on the Copyright User website, we chose to release all content under the most flexible CC licence: Attribution 3.0 (CC BY). This means that all the materials you find on this website (videos, illustrations, texts, etc.) can be re-used on the condition that the authors of this website are acknowledged (credited). You can find more information about how to license your work here, and about the Creative Commons licences here.

See: Sections 116 – 144A Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988http://creativecommons.org/

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