Cre\u00adative Com\u00admons licenses with the non-com\u00admer\u00adcial mod\u00adule (e.g. CC BY NC) are very pop\u00adu\u00adlar in uni\u00adver\u00adsity teach\u00ading. The motives of teach\u00aders who want to pre\u00advent com\u00admer\u00adcial use of their works are under\u00adstand\u00adable. They want to pro\u00adtect their mate\u00adri\u00adals, which are cre\u00adated in pub\u00adlicly funded insti\u00adtu\u00adtions and projects, from third par\u00adties mak\u00ading money from them and thereby enrich\u00ading them\u00adselves. Here, the non-com\u00admer\u00adcial mod\u00adule appears to be a way of not com\u00adpletely los\u00ading con\u00adtrol over one\u2019s own work. Teach\u00aders are often not even aware that they are restrict\u00ading the reusabil\u00adity of the mate\u00adri\u00adals to an insignif\u00adi\u00adcant extent and exclud\u00ading peo\u00adple from using them who they may even have tar\u00adgeted. This also lim\u00adits the desired reach of their mate\u00adri\u00adals. <\/p>\n\n
NC licenses pro\u00adhibit com\u00admer\u00adcial use. Accord\u00ading to Cre\u00adative Com\u00admons, com\u00admer\u00adcial is any\u00adthing that is pri\u00admar\u00adily <\/em>aimed at a com\u00admer\u00adcial advan\u00adtage or mon\u00ade\u00adtary remu\u00adner\u00ada\u00adtion. This is a so-called unde\u00adfined legal term, the inter\u00adpre\u00adta\u00adtion of which lies with the courts. There is cur\u00adrently no estab\u00adlished case law in Ger\u00admany on the under\u00adstand\u00ading of \u201ccom\u00admer\u00adcial use\u201d under Cre\u00adative Com\u00admons.<\/strong> In prac\u00adtice, this means that in many cases no clear divid\u00ading line can be drawn between com\u00admer\u00adcial and non-com\u00admer\u00adcial use, as the fol\u00adlow\u00ading (so far only) prece\u00addent case illus\u00adtrates:<\/p>\n\n Deutsch\u00adlandra\u00addio pub\u00adlished a photo from Flickr on its web\u00adsite that was licensed under CC BY NC 3.0 (Unported). The pho\u00adtog\u00adra\u00adpher then sued Deutsch\u00adlandra\u00addio for dam\u00adages for unau\u00adtho\u00adrized com\u00admer\u00adcial use of the image. At first instance, the Cologne Regional Court ruled in favor of the pho\u00adtog\u00adra\u00adpher because the use on the web\u00adsite went beyond purely pri\u00advate use. In the sec\u00adond instance, the Cologne Higher Regional Court ruled dif\u00adfer\u00adently. The Higher Regional Court of Cologne (judg\u00adment of 31.10.2014, ref.: 6 U 60\/14) argued that Cre\u00adative Com\u00admons licenses are gen\u00aderal terms and con\u00addi\u00adtions within the mean\u00ading of Sec\u00adtion 305 et seq. of the Ger\u00adman Civil Code (BGB). Since the def\u00adi\u00adn\u00adi\u00adtion of \u201cnon-com\u00admer\u00adcial\u201d is unclear, any doubts or ambi\u00adgu\u00adi\u00adties in gen\u00aderal terms and con\u00addi\u00adtions pur\u00adsuant to Sec\u00adtion 305c BGB are at the expense of the user, in this case the pho\u00adtog\u00adra\u00adpher. The use on the web\u00adsite of a pub\u00adlic broad\u00adcaster is there\u00adfore non-com\u00admer\u00adcial. <\/em><\/p>\n\n Accord\u00ading to the strict inter\u00adpre\u00adta\u00adtion<\/strong> of the term \u201ccom\u00admer\u00adcial use\u201d, as applied by the Regional Court of Cologne, any pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion on the Inter\u00adnet is already con\u00adsid\u00adered com\u00admer\u00adcial because the use is no longer purely pri\u00advate. In con\u00adtrast, the mod\u00ader\u00adate view<\/strong> rep\u00adre\u00adsented here is based on who, how, where and for what pur\u00adpose the use is made. Accord\u00ading to this view, the use is com\u00admer\u00adcial if, for exam\u00adple, there is an inten\u00adtion to make a profit, if the use is for adver\u00adtis\u00ading pur\u00adposes, but also if the place of pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion is a com\u00admer\u00adcial plat\u00adform that is financed by adver\u00adtis\u00ading or data pro\u00adcess\u00ading (Face\u00adbook, YouTube, Insta\u00adgram, What\u00adsapp, etc.). Mate\u00adri\u00adals posted on social media plat\u00adforms must there\u00adfore be approved for com\u00admer\u00adcial use. <\/p>\n\n Due to the unclear legal sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion, many peo\u00adple are excluded from using NC-licensed mate\u00adri\u00adals or find them\u00adselves in a legal gray area. This applies to teach\u00aders who work on a free\u00adlance basis, teach\u00aders at pri\u00advate schools and uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adties, asso\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtions and other non-profit orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions and ini\u00adtia\u00adtives, and fur\u00adther edu\u00adca\u00adtion insti\u00adtu\u00adtions<\/strong>. In case of doubt, these groups of people\/institutions will refrain from using NC-licensed mate\u00adr\u00adial. <\/p>\n\n NC licenses also do not pro\u00adtect against mis\u00aduse. This is because a license notice \u2014 whether NC or not \u2014 can\u00adnot reli\u00adably pre\u00advent copy\u00adright infringe\u00adments. You also need to be aware of the fol\u00adlow\u00ading: Once the infringe\u00adment has been com\u00admit\u00adted, it must be actively pur\u00adsued. This requires a (lawyer\u2019s) warn\u00ading, which involves time and costs. <\/p>\n\n Are there equally effec\u00adtive but less restric\u00adtive alter\u00adna\u00adtives to NC licenses? Yes, there are. CC BY SA (Share Alike) is an open license that requires shar\u00ading under the same license (copy\u00adleft effect). This means that users are not free to choose their own license. Adap\u00adta\u00adtions of the orig\u00adi\u00adnal work may only be licensed with CC BY Share Alike. This means that the mate\u00adri\u00adals remain free and are not attrac\u00adtive for com\u00admer\u00adcial projects. As a result, the same effect is achieved as with non-com\u00admer\u00adcial licenses: Your mate\u00adr\u00adial is pro\u00adtected from infringe\u00adments with\u00adout mak\u00ading sub\u00adse\u00adquent use unnec\u00ades\u00adsar\u00adily dif\u00adfi\u00adcult. Because the legal sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion is clear here. <\/p>\n\n