Introduction

Creative Commons licences are legal tools that build on copyright law. As legal instruments, CC licences need to stand up in court. What happens when there is a court case that involves Creative Commons licences? What happens if someone is violating the CC licence you applied to a work, but you do not want to file a lawsuit? What happens if a licensor complains about how you have attributed them when reusing their work?

To date and to our knowledge, no court around the world that has heard a case involving a CC licence (of which there have been very few) has questioned the validity or enforceability of a CC licence. Thanks to the CC community, most disputes connected to CC licences are resolved outside of court and often without involving lawyers.

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