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CC0
“No Rights Reserved”

CC0 enables scientists, educators, artists and other creators and owners of copyright- or

database-protected content to waive those interests in their works and thereby place them as

completely as possible in the public domain, so that others may freely build upon, enhance and

reuse the works for any purposes without restriction under copyright or database law.

In contrast to CC’s licenses that allow copyright holders to choose from a range of permissions

while retaining their copyright, CC0 empowers yet another choice altogether – the choice to opt

out of copyright and database protection, and the exclusive rights automatically granted to

creators – the “no rights reserved” alternative to our licenses.

The Problem
Dedicating works to the public domain is difficult if not impossible for those wanting to

contribute their works for public use before applicable copyright or database protection terms
expire. Few if any jurisdictions have a process for doing so easily and reliably. Laws vary from

jurisdiction to jurisdiction as to what rights are automatically granted and how and when they

expire or may be voluntarily relinquished. More challenging yet, many legal systems effectively

prohibit any attempt by these owners to surrender rights automatically conferred by law,

particularly moral rights, even when the author wishing to do so is well informed and resolute

about doing so and contributing their work to the public domain.

A Solution
CC0 helps solve this problem by giving creators a way to waive all their copyright and related

rights in their works to the fullest extent allowed by law. CC0 is a universal instrument that is not

adapted to the laws of any particular legal jurisdiction, similar to many open source software

licenses. And while no tool, not even CC0, can guarantee a complete relinquishment of all

copyright and database rights in every jurisdiction, we believe it provides the best and most

complete alternative for contributing a work to the public domain given the many complex and

diverse copyright and database systems around the world.

Using CC0
Unlike the Public Domain Mark, CC0 should not be used to mark works already free of known

copyright and database restrictions and in the public domain throughout the world. However, it

can be used to waive copyright and database rights to the extent you may have these rights in

your work under the laws of at least one jurisdiction, even if your work is free of restrictions in

others. Doing so clarifies the status of your work unambiguously worldwide and facilitates reuse.

You should only apply CC0 to your own work, unless you have the necessary rights to apply CC0

to another person’s work.

 Examples
• Europeana — Europe’s digital library — releases its metadata into the public domain using CC0.

This massive dataset consists of descriptive information from a huge trove of digitized cultural

and artistic works. By removing all restrictions on the use of the metadata that describes these

cultural works, Europeana creates opportunities for developers, designers, and other digital

innovators to create applications, games for mobile devices, and websites that visualize and

represent the diverse collection of artistic works in Europeana. See Europeana releases 20

million records into the public domain using CC0.

• figshare allows researchers to publish all of their research outputs in an easily citable,

searchable, shareable manner. Figshare has adopted CC0 as the default tool for researchers to

share their datasets. In many cases, it can be difficult to ascertain whether a database is subject

to copyright law, as many types of data aren’t copyrightable in many jurisdictions. Putting a

database or dataset in the public domain under CC0 is a way to remove any legal doubt about

whether researchers can use the data in their projects. Hundreds of organizations use CC0 to

dedicate their work to the public domain. Although CC0 doesn’t legally require users of the data

to cite the source, it does not affect the ethical norms for attribution in scientific and research

communities.

• Open Goldberg Variations: Before the Open Goldberg Variations, public domain recordings of

Bach’s Goldberg Variations were hard to find, even though the scores themselves were in the

public domain. Open Goldberg Variations wanted to change that, so it teamed up with

professional musician Kimiko Ishizaka and started a Kickstarter project to create studio-quality

recordings, promising to release them into the public domain using the CC0 public domain

dedication tool. According to the project founders, “Musicians are usually not willing to withdraw

their copyrights and their control over usage, but we feel that they thus miss opportunities to

contribute to the greater good and benefit from wider distribution of their works. If this project

succeeds, we hope that the recording will be available to everyone forevermore, and that it will
 be a truly widely known and enjoyed artistic work.” Sure enough, the project was funded at

nearly double its original funding goal, and as a result all 30 variations performed by Kimiko

Ishizaka are now available for free download via CC0.

• Metropolitan Museum of Art: All public domain images in its collection are shared under

CC0, which expanded their digital collection by over 375,000 images as well as provided data on

over 420,000 museum objects spanning more than 5,000 years. Through the power of the

commons, billions of people are now able to enjoy the beauty of the Met’s collections as well as

participate in the continued growth of the commons, utilizing the infrastructure that makes

greater collaboration possible.

More info
• Read the CC0 FAQ

• Read the CC0 summary and legal text

• Apply CC0 to your own work

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CONTACT US
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Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International license. Icons by Font Awesome.

The FAQs are intended to supplement, not replace, our existing FAQs. You are encouraged to review
those FAQs as well as our list of issues to consider before using CC0 or any of our other legal tools or
licenses. You should also read the CC0 legal code carefully and understand what it means before
applying it to your work or using a CC0’d work.
Please note: Creative Commons does not provide legal advice. The information provided below is
not a substitute for legal advice and is not complete. Please consult your own legal advisor if you have
any questions or concerns about the information provided below, about CC0 or about Creative
Commons licenses and tools generally.

Questions about CC0 generally

What is CC0?
http://i.creativecommons.org/p/zero/1.0/88x31.png
Copyright and other laws throughout the world automatically extend copyright protection to works of
authorship and databases, whether the author or creator wants those rights or not. CC0 gives those
who want to give up those rights a way to do so, to the fullest extent allowed by law. Once the creator or
a subsequent owner of a work applies CC0 to a work, the work is no longer his or hers in any
meaningful sense under copyright law. Anyone can then use the work in any way and for any purpose,
including commercial purposes, subject to other laws and the rights others may have in the work or how
the work is used. Think of CC0 as the "no rights reserved" option.
CC0 is a useful tool for clarifying that you do not claim copyright in a work anywhere in the world.
Because copyright laws differ by jurisdiction, you might be granted an automatic copyright in
jurisdictions that you may not be aware of. By using CC0, you signal to the public that you relinquish
any such rights.
How does it work?
A person using CC0 (called the “affirmer” in the legal code) dedicates a work to the public domain by
waiving all of his or her copyright and neighboring and related rights, if any, in a work, to the fullest
extent permitted by law. If the waiver isn’t effectiv