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ANATOMY OF A CC LICENSE - 55 - Acquiring Essential Knowledge

Most people who reuse CC-licensed works try to comply with the license conditions. But whether well-meaning or not, sometimes people get it wrong.

If someone is using a CC-licensed work without giving attribution or otherwise following the license, their right to use the work ends automatically as soon as they violate the license terms. Unless the person using the work received separate permission or is relying upon fair use or some other exception to copyright, they are potentially liable for copyright infringement. To learn what happens when someone does not comply with a CC license, read the FAQ at https://creativecommons.org/faq/#what-happens-if-i-offer-my-material-under-a-creative-commons-license-and-someone-misuses-them. For a look at what happens from the perspective of a reuser, read the FAQ at https://creativecommons.org/faq/#how-can-i-lose-my-rights-under-a-creative-commons-license-if-that-happens-how-do-i-get-them-back.

Note this important difference between the newest version of CC licenses (Version 4.0) and prior versions in the text box below:

Sometimes these types of disputes can end up in court. Over the course of Creative Commons’ history, to our knowledge, there have been very few legal disputes and decisions involving CC legal tools. Each court that has rendered a decision has made it without questioning the enforceability of the CC license at issue.