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Rights statements express the copyright status of a digital object and provide information about how someone can re-use the object. They give information about rights in clear and simple language and are machine readable. As mandated in our Data Exchange Agreement, every digital object must be published with a rights statement identified by our partners.
The data space only accepts a sub-set of existing tools for expressing rights informatino, and only a specific set of URIs those. This page outlines the rights statements you can apply to the data you share with the data space, and provides guidance on submitting them to the data space. We explain how rights statements should be expressed in the Europeana Data Model (EDM): which values are accepted and how to provide them.
Before providing a rights statement URI in the metadata, you may wish to double-check that your choice of rights statement is accurate and appropriate. We encourage you to read our guidance on how to choose between the available options, which first requires clearing copyright on collection items.
*Please note that in this page, the term ‘rights statement’ is used as a generic term to encompass all types of standardised rights information tools, but also to refer to the specific tools developed by the Rights Statements Consortium.
Data providers may choose between 14 standardised rights statements, which fall into three groups:
Six Creative Commons licences
Two Creative Commons tools
Six out of the twelve Rights Statements by the Rights Statements Consortium
We encourage the use of Creative Commons licences and tools as much as possible to facilitate the reuse of digital cultural heritage. When they are not suitable, for example because the providing institution cannot legally apply them, Rights Statements by the Rights Statements Consortium should be used.
We strongly recommend that you refer to the Creative Commons website to understand the full definitions and legal code. This will help you decide if a Creative Commons licence is the most suitable rights statement for your object.
Below you can find the list of all available rights statements. For a complete overview of the rights statement URIs accepted by Europeana, consult the Accepted URIs sections. Note that URIs you provide in the metadata must be exactly as specified, which means that they must start with http and not https.
Creative Commons licences
Creative Commons licences should be applied to works that are in copyright and for which the rightsholder wants to authorise some reuse. A cultural heritage institution can only apply a CC licence if it holds all of the rights or has been authorised by the rightsholder to do so.
The CC BY licence lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the licensed work, even commercially, as long as they attribute the creator as described in the licence. CC BY is recommended to enable access, discovery and use of licensed works.
The CC BY-SA licence lets others remix, tweak and build upon the licensed work, even for commercial purposes, as long as they attribute the creator as described in the licence, and licence their adaptations of the work under the same terms. All new works based on the original licensed work will carry the same licence, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use.
The CC BY-ND licence lets others redistribute the work and make commercial and non-commercial use of it as long as no alteration is made to the work and the creator is attributed according to the specifications of the licence.
The CC BY-NC licence lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the licensed work for non-commercial use. Any new works created and based on the licensed work must be attributed to the creator as specified in the licence, and may be available for non-commercial use only.
The CC BY-NC-SA licence lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the licensed work for non-commercial use as long as they attribute the creator of the work under the terms specified in the licence, and licence new creations under identical terms.
The CC BY-NC-ND licence is the most restrictive of the six Creative Commons licences, only allowing others to download the licensed works and share them with others as long as they attribute the creator as specified in the licence, but users cannot change the work in any way or use it commercially.
Accepted URIs
We accept old Creative Commons licence versions 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, 2.5, 3.0 with or without localised ports, and the most recent 4.0 version, which is the recommended choice for our data providers.
The provided URI must conform to this pattern: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/{licence-properties}/{version}/{port}/
generic (no port) | ar | au | br | bg | ca | cn | co | hr | dk | hu | in | il | it | mk | my | mt | mx | nl | pe | pl | pt | scotland | si | za | es | se | ch | tw
Version 4.0 discourages using ported versions and instead acts as a single global licence
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Creative Commons public domain tools
Creative Commons tools should be used on works that are in the public domain or that want to be dedicated to the public domain.
CC0 is used to waive all the rights in a digital object. By applying this waiver, all possible existing rights in the content and the digital object are waived, and they can be used by anyone without any restrictions.
The Public Domain Mark (PDM) is applied to content that is no longer protected by copyright, worldwide. Objects that are labelled as being in the public domain can be used by anyone without any restrictions.
Accepted URIs
We accept the 1.0 version that conforms to this URI pattern:
Rights Statements by the Rights Statements Consortium
Rights Statements are standards that can be used by any cultural heritage institution to acknowledge and inform of a specific copyright situation on digital objects that they make available online. Rights Statements are not licences. They are not a tool that only those who have the rights can apply.
Rights Statements were created by the Rights Statements Consortium to respond to a need from cultural heritage institutions who did not have sufficient standardised tools to express rights information online. They were designed to complement Creative Commons licences and tools: so that only when these are not suitable for a specific situation, Rights Statements are used.
Rights Statements explained
The NoC-NC statement is applied to public domain works which have been digitised as an outcome of a public-private partnership, where the terms of the contractual agreement limit commercial use for a certain period of time.
What else do I need to know?
This rights statement may only be used where such contractual agreements exist.
In addition, data providers should, where publicly available, publish the first calendar year in which the digital object can be used by third parties without restrictions on commercial use, as noted in the contractual agreement.
The NoC-OKLR statement is for use with public domain works that are subject to known legal restrictions other than copyright which prevent their free re-use.
What else do I need to know?
This rights statement may only be used where legal restrictions in the country of origin of the data provider apply.
In addition, data providers must provide a link to a page detailing the legal restrictions that limit the re-use of the object.
The InC statement is for use with in-copyright works which are freely available online and where re-use requires additional permission from the rightsholder(s).
What else do I need to know?
This rights statement should be used for objects where any re-use is subject to additional permission from the rightsholder(s), or for which you do not want or you are not authorised to allow re-use.
The InC-EDU statement is for use with in-copyright works for which the rightsholder(s) have allowed re-use for educational purposes only.
What else do I need to know?
This rights statement should be used where the rightsholder has authorised the use of the object for educational purposes.
The InC-OW-EU statement is for use with works that have been identified as an Orphan Work in line with the requirements of the national law implementing the Orphan Works Directive.
What else do I need to know?
This rights statement can only be used for works for which a diligent search has been undertaken and if it has been registered with the competent authority.
The CNE statement is for use with works where the copyright status has not been evaluated. The use of this rights statement in the context of data space is discouraged. We encourage you to undertake a copyright evaluation before making works available online.
What else do I need to know?
Before applying this statement please consult with the ingestion team.
Accepted URIs
We accept the 1.0 version that conforms to this URI pattern:
In order to support the correct implementation of this statement, a data provider must be able to supply to the ingestion team a copy of the contract that specifies the restrictions on the commercial use.
If such information is publicly available, the data provider must also specify a year of expiration in <cc:deprecatedOn> (part of cc:License class) to indicate the first calendar year in which the digital object(s) can be used by third parties without restrictions on commercial use.
NoC-OKLR
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-OKLR/1.0/
In order to support the correct implementation of this statement, a data provider must communicate to Europeana the legal restriction that applies to the reuse.
InC
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
InC-EDU
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/
InC-OW-EU
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-OW-EU/1.0/
In order to support the correct implementation of this statement, a data provider must make sure that the object is registered in the EU Orphan Works Database.
CNE
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/
A data provider must consult with ingestion team before using this statement.
Relevant fields in the Europeana Data Model
A rights statement needs to be provided for every digital object submitted to the data space and has to be mapped either to edm:rights or, if you have created a reference to the cc:License class, to odrl:inheritFrom field.
In this case, cc:deprecatedOn (part of the cc:License class) specifies the first calendar year in which the object can be reused by third parties without commercial-use restrictions.
Based on the value provided in edm:rights (or odrl:inheritFrom), we surface the rights statement to users in two places:
On Europeana.eu
The rights statement badge is displayed directly beneath the digital object. The badge is clickable and leads to a web page that describes the applicable rights and permissions in more detail.
Rights statements also power search. Through the 'Can I use it?' filter, users can narrow their results by rights statement, so they only see objects that can be used in the way they intend.
Through the Europeana API
Rights statements are shared via the API in the same way as any other metadata field. The value in edm:rights communicates the conditions of use of the linked digital object.
The statements are fully searchable, and most of rights statement pages are described in a machine readable way using the semantic web standard RDF.