Attribution
Examples and troubleshooting for giving credit that is reasonable, useful and compliant.
Give credit for a Creative Commons work and get it right the first time. The license terms are not optional. Attribution is the condition every 4.0 license shares. The exact condition in the legal code: you must retain, when the licensor supplied them, the identification of the creator and designated attribution parties, a copyright notice, a notice referring to the license, a warranty disclaimer, and a URI or hyperlink to the work where reasonably practicable. You must also link or refer to the license and indicate modifications, keeping earlier modification notices. The decisive exception: if fair use, fair dealing or another exception or limitation authorises the use, the license conditions do not apply to that use. Open the original source page. Record the creator, source URL, exact license and version, and any displayed notices. Then attribute in a reasonable manner for your medium.
- Attribution Required?: Yes. All six 4.0 International licenses require attribution. Version 4.0 does not separately require the work's title, although including it is useful practice.
- What Must Be Retained: Creator and designated attribution parties, copyright notice, notice referring to the license, warranty disclaimer, and a URI or hyperlink to the work where reasonably practicable.
- Modifications: You must indicate modifications and retain earlier modification notices.
- Removal Request: If the licensor requests it, attribution information must be removed where reasonably practicable.
- Endorsement: Attribution must not imply endorsement.
The ten guides beneath the Attribution hub start at their specific question. Route yourself by what you are trying to do. Need to give credit for a single image on a blog post? Go to the guide for that. Combining works from several sources under different licenses? Go to the compatibility guide. Building an open educational resource? The guide for that covers the permissions to retain, reuse, revise, remix and redistribute. Each guide assumes you already know the basic condition from this page and answers its narrow question directly.
You get a copyable attribution in context for your medium. You get legal requirements distinguished from TASL good practice. And you get change notices, so you know when the license version or the official guidance has updated. Read the license condition here, then jump to whichever guide matches your activity.
What TASL Does and Does Not Do
TASL stands for title, author, source, license. It is a useful attribution mnemonic, not the complete legal text of version 4.0. Use it as a checklist. It is not a substitute for the legal code. For 4.0, you must also add an indication of changes and preserve any supplied notices. A consolidated credits page can be reasonable for many works if the work-to-credit mapping is clear and the credits remain readily accessible. Academic citation and license attribution serve different purposes; do both when both apply.
Do not state that TASL is the literal 4.0 attribution clause. It is not. The legal code lists specific items: creator and designated attribution parties, copyright notice, notice referring to the license, warranty disclaimer, and a URI or hyperlink to the work where reasonably practicable. TASL covers title, author, source, and license. That is a solid foundation, but it omits the warranty disclaimer and the requirement to indicate modifications. Follow only TASL and you are not compliant with the legal condition.
| Required by 4.0 Legal Code | Covered by TASL | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Creator and designated attribution parties | Author | Identify the creator as supplied by the licensor |
| Copyright notice | No | Include the copyright notice if the licensor supplied one |
| Notice referring to the license | License | Link or refer to the exact license and version |
| Warranty disclaimer | No | Include if the licensor supplied one |
| URI or hyperlink to the work | Source | Provide a link to the original work where reasonably practicable |
| Indication of modifications | No | State what changed, and retain earlier modification notices |
| Removal on request | No | Remove attribution where reasonably practicable if the licensor asks |
The Four License Conditions and Attribution
Every 4.0 license includes the BY condition. The other three conditions interact with attribution in specific ways.
ShareAlike and Attribution
ShareAlike is triggered when adapted work is shared, not when unchanged work appears beside other separate works in a collection. The adapter applies the license named by the applicable SA clause or an officially designated compatible license. Do not assume two SA licenses are compatible. The official compatibility list controls. Creative Commons lists one-way compatibility from BY-SA 4.0 to GPLv3 for adapted work; this does not turn a CC license into a software license or create compatibility in the reverse direction. Attribution must still be provided for the original.
NonCommercial and Attribution
Version 4.0 defines NonCommercial as not primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or monetary compensation. The identity of the user, business, nonprofit, school or individual, does not decide the issue by itself. Advertising, sponsorship, fundraising, internal business use and mixed purposes require context. Do not invent a bright-line rule. If the planned use has material commercial risk, get separate permission or local legal advice. Attribution is still required under an NC license.
NoDerivatives and Attribution
Sharing adapted work is not permitted under an ND license. Reproduction in a different format alone does not create adapted work under the 4.0 definition. Translation is normally an adaptation. Synchronising music with a moving image is expressly adapted work under 4.0. Whether cropping, excerpting, editing or combining creates an adaptation can depend on applicable copyright law; do not declare a universal boundary. Attribution is required for the unchanged work you share.
Change Notices and the License Version
This page describes version 4.0, the current suite of six International licenses. Use 4.0 for a new license unless a specific, informed reason requires an older release or port. A license already attached to someone else's work cannot be unilaterally upgraded by a reuser. Before 4.0, Creative Commons published jurisdiction-specific ports; 4.0 is an international license designed without ports. The official terms are at the CC deed and legal code URL. Check the FAQ at creativecommons.org/faq for updated guidance. Creative Commons is the steward of the licenses; it does not register works, verify ownership, or give legal advice.
Termination and Reinstatement
On breach, rights under a 4.0 license terminate automatically. They are automatically reinstated from the date the violation is cured if it is cured within 30 days after the violator discovers it; they may also be expressly reinstated by the licensor. Cure does not erase possible liability for the period of violation. Older releases have different termination language and do not contain the same automatic 30-day mechanism.
More in Attribution
- Can a creator ask me to remove their name?
- How do I attribute a Creative Commons image?
- How do I attribute a video?
- How do I attribute many Creative Commons works at once?
- How do I attribute music or audio?
- How do I give proper Creative Commons attribution?
- What happens if I forget or get the attribution wrong?
- What is a good Creative Commons attribution example?
- What is the TASL attribution method?
- Where should I put the attribution?
Common Questions
Do I need to include the work's title in the attribution?
Version 4.0 does not separately require the work's title, although including it is useful practice. Older releases may require it when supplied by the licensor.
What happens if I crop or edit a CC-licensed image?
Whether cropping, excerpting, editing or combining creates an adaptation can depend on applicable copyright law. Do not declare a universal boundary. Format-shifting alone does not create adapted work. If you create an adaptation and share it, you must indicate modifications and comply with any ND or SA conditions.
Can I use a CC-licensed work without attribution if it is for fair use?
Yes. Exceptions and limitations such as fair use or fair dealing operate separately from the license. If an exception authorises the use, the license conditions do not apply to that use. Their scope varies by jurisdiction.
What about public domain tools? Do they require attribution?
CC0 and the Public Domain Mark are not licenses. Credit is not a CC0 legal condition, but citation, research integrity, community norms and avoidance of false authorship can still make credit proper.
How do I attribute when combining works from different creators?
A consolidated credits page can be reasonable for many works if the work-to-credit mapping is clear and the credits remain readily accessible. Each work retains its own license. Check compatibility: ND may block sharing the combination if it is an adaptation, and SA may require a specific adapter's license.
What if I cannot fit a full attribution on a social media post?
Attribution may be done in any reasonable manner for the medium. A link to the original work and a tag to the creator is often sufficient, but you must still include a notice referring to the license and indicate modifications. Preserve a screenshot of the original attribution when the use matters.
Can the licensor ask me to remove attribution after I have already given it?
If the licensor requests it, attribution information must be removed where reasonably practicable. This does not retroactively invalidate an otherwise compliant use.