Editing Copyright (section)

=== Free licenses ===
{{Main|Free license}}
{{See also|Open-source license}}

Copyright licenses known as ''open'' or free licenses seek to grant several rights to licensees, either for a fee or not. ''Free'' in this context is not as much of a reference to price as it is to freedom. What constitutes free licensing has been characterised in a number of similar definitions, including by order of longevity the [[Free Software Definition]], the [[Debian Free Software Guidelines]], the [[Open Source Definition]] and the [[Definition of Free Cultural Works]]. Further refinements to these definitions have resulted in categories such as [[copyleft]] and [[permissive license|permissive]]. Common examples of free licenses are the [[GNU General Public License]], [[BSD license]]s and some [[Creative Commons licenses]].

Founded in 2001 by [[James Boyle (academic)|James Boyle]], [[Lawrence Lessig]], and [[Hal Abelson]], the [[Creative Commons]] (CC) is a non-profit organization<ref name="CC">{{Cite web |url=https://creativecommons.org/ |title=Creative Commons Website |website=creativecommons.org |access-date=24 October 2011 }}</ref> which aims to facilitate the legal sharing of creative works. To this end, the organization provides a number of generic copyright license options to the public, [[gratis versus libre|gratis]]. These licenses allow copyright holders to define conditions under which others may use a work and to specify what types of use are acceptable.<ref name="CC" />

Terms of use have traditionally been negotiated on an individual basis between copyright holder and potential licensee. Therefore, a general CC license outlining which rights the copyright holder is willing to waive enables the general public to use such works more freely. Six general types of CC licenses are available (although some of them are not properly free per the above definitions and per Creative Commons' own advice). These are based upon copyright-holder stipulations such as whether they are willing to allow modifications to the work, whether they permit the creation of derivative works and whether they are willing to permit commercial use of the work.<ref name="Rubin">Rubin, R. E. (2010) 'Foundations of Library and Information Science: Third Edition', Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., New York, p. 341</ref> {{As of |2009 }} approximately 130 million individuals had received such licenses.<ref name="Rubin" />