Editing Creative Commons (section)

===License uses===
[[File:CC guidant les contributeurs.jpg|thumb|''Creative Commons guiding the contributors''. This image is a derivative work of ''[[Liberty Leading the People]]'' by [[Eugène Delacroix]].]]

Creative Commons is only a service provider for standardized license text, not a party in any agreement. No central database of Creative Commons works is controlling all licensed works and the responsibility of the Creative Commons system rests entirely with those using the licences.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Frequently Asked Questions – Creative Commons|url=https://creativecommons.org/faq/|access-date=2020-09-06|website=creativecommons.org|archive-date=November 27, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127205528/http://wiki.creativecommons.org/FAQ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hagedorn|first1=Gregor|last2=Mietchen|first2=Daniel|last3=Morris|first3=Robert|last4=Agosti|first4=Donat|last5=Penev|first5=Lyubomir|last6=Berendsohn|first6=Walter|last7=Hobern|first7=Donald|date=2011-11-28|title=Creative Commons licenses and the non-commercial condition: Implications for the re-use of biodiversity information|url=http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=3036|journal=ZooKeys|issue=150|pages=127–149|doi=10.3897/zookeys.150.2189|issn=1313-2970|pmc=3234435|pmid=22207810|doi-access=free|bibcode=2011ZooK..150..127H |access-date=September 6, 2020|archive-date=December 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201214035143/https://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=3036|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last = Delgado | first = Águeda | title = Creative Commons. Licenses for the open diffusion of the science | website = Creative Commons. Licenses for the open diffusion of the science | doi = 10.3916/school-of-authors-079 | doi-broken-date = November 1, 2024 | url = https://www.revistacomunicar.com/wp/school-of-authors/creative-commons-licenses-for-the-open-diffusion-of-the-science/ | access-date = September 7, 2020 | archive-date = August 9, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200809060341/https://www.revistacomunicar.com/wp/school-of-authors/creative-commons-licenses-for-the-open-diffusion-of-the-science/ | url-status = live | url-access = subscription }}</ref> This situation is, however, not specific to Creative Commons. All copyright owners must individually defend their rights and no central database of copyrighted works or existing license agreements exists. The [[United States Copyright Office]] does keep a database of all works registered with it, but absence of registration does not imply absence of copyright, and CC licensed works can be registered on the same terms as unlicensed works or works licensed under any other licences.

Although Creative Commons offers multiple licenses for different uses, some critics suggested that the licenses still do not address the differences among the media or among the various concerns that different authors have.<ref name="Niva Elkin-Koren" />

Lessig wrote that the point of Creative Commons is to provide a middle ground between two extreme views of copyright protection – one demanding that all rights be controlled, and the other arguing that none should be controlled. Creative Commons provides a third option that allows authors to pick and choose which rights they want to control and which they want to grant to others. The multitude of licenses reflects the multitude of rights that can be passed on to subsequent creators.<ref name="Lawrence Lessig, The Creative Commons" />