Rights statements FAQ

We use the term ‘rights statement’ to refer to the tools that indicate the extent to which copyright exists, whether there are any conditions or restrictions, and so the extent to which creative works can be used. We support 14 rights statements that data providers may use to provide rights information about digital objects when submitting content to the data space. They are a combination of Creative Commons licences, public domain tools, and a subset of Rights Statements provided by the Rights Statements Consortium.

Rights Statements are internationally interoperable rights statements designed to be used by cultural heritage institutions to communicate the copyright status of digitised objects. They provide a solution to cultural heritage institutions who want to share their digital objects online and who are unable to apply a Creative Commons licence, either because they do not have permission from the rightsholder, or because other legal or contractual obligations apply. The data space uses a subset of six Rights Statements. They fall into three categories:  Statements for works that are in copyright: InC, InC-EDU, InC-OW-EU;  Statements for works that are not in copyright: NoC-NC, NoC-OKLR; Statements for works where the copyright status has not been evaluated: CNE. 

Creative Commons licences allow authors and rightsholders to give the public permission to use copyrightable works for free under certain conditions. Each Creative Commons licence contains one or more of the four licensing elements that specify permitted uses: Attribution (BY) is a core condition attached to all Creative Commons licences and it means you have to credit the original creator and any other nominated parties; Commercial use (NC) specifies whether others can use the work commercially; Modify & adapt (ND) specifies if other people can make changes to the work; Change licence (SA) requires that adaptations be released under the same licence. There are six different combinations of licensing elements in the Creative Commons licensing family. The most permissive licence is CC BY. All other licences contain further restrictions; CC BY-NC-ND for instance allows neither modifications nor commercial use.  All six CC licences have been translated into different languages. In the past, Creative Commons legally adapted licences to specific national legislation. The newest 4.0 licences are designed for use in jurisdictions around the world and are internationally enforceable. Data providers may use Creative Commons licences version 4.0 or earlier (3.0, 2.5, 2.1, 2.0, 1.0).

The public domain consists of works that are not protected by copyright. They can enter the public domain after the term of copyright protection has expired, was expressly waived, or if the work was never protected by copyright. Works in the public domain can be freely used by everyone. Creative Commons has created public domain tools to enable the labelling and discovery of public domain works. Data providers can use them when providing content that is free of known copyright restrictions: Public Domain Mark (PDM) should be used to mark works already free of known copyright and database rights and in the public domain throughout the world.  CC Zero (CC0) dedicates works to the public domain. It waives all copyright and related rights in the work immediately and places them in the public domain. Even when copyright protection no longer applies, we encourage anyone using public domain works to give credit to the author and the providing institution, to be culturally aware, and to preserve public domain marks and notices, as a sign of respect.

Creative Commons licences can only be applied by the person who holds the rights to an object or someone that has been authorised by them. Cultural heritage institutions often do not own the copyright to works in their collections and cannot apply Creative Commons licences without the rightsholder’s permission.  Rights Statements are not a contract or a licence, and rather than granting permissions they provide information about the copyright status. Unlike Creative Commons licences, they can be applied by an owning cultural heritage institution regardless of whether or not they hold the copyright. While Creative Commons licences only work when applied to the material in which copyright exists, Rights Statements can also be used where copyright status is unclear, or to indicate that something is not in copyright, but has additional restrictions on its use. They are designed to capture common rights situations that cultural heritage institutions are dealing with; for instance, when digital objects are out of copyright but subject to limitations on commercial use, or if legal restrictions other than copyright apply.

Read our guidance on identifying copyright in collection items.

Read our guidance on selecting a rights statement.

Read our guidance on how to provide a rights statement.

Copyright restrictions often prevent audiences from using and sharing digital cultural heritage objects. However, when you use rights statements and licences that permit reuse, you allow the public to share, copy and modify the content without needing to seek permission (as long as they follow the conditions of the licence used). This not only allows people to create new things by remixing digital cultural heritage, but can bring benefits for your institution: It creates more possibilities for disseminating your collections via social media, blogs, online articles and repositories such as Wikimedia Commons. This helps to reach wider audiences. It increases and deepens audience engagement with your collections. It could help you fulfil your mission by stimulating creative, educational and research activities. It helps strengthen the visibility of your institution, helping you stay relevant in a world where open access to digital cultural heritage is increasingly becoming the norm. It can open up new funding possibilities to projects which request freely accessible content and metadata. It removes barriers to access, which can save time and money for your institution. Often income from licensing doesn’t cover the expenses of managing the process, and there are other revenue strategies that institutions can utilise while embracing an open-access approach.

The Europeana Publishing Framework is a quality standard developed by Europeana and includes guidelines on reaching good quality in terms of content and metadata. The framework introduces four tiers of criteria for content by taking into account not just the quality of the media resources, but also the rights statements applied to digital objects. Only freely re-usable digital objects have the potential to reach the top content tier. We support four rights statements that allow free reuse: PDM CC0 CC BY CC BY-SA Before selecting one of these licences or tools, make sure that the work is in the public domain, that you hold the rights or that you have the rightsholders' permission to apply a CC licence to the digital object.