Having a copyright conundrum?  Then you should check out the article “7Things You Should Know About Creative Commons.” This article breaks down the purpose and benefits of Creative Commons and their mission to create a middle ground when it comes to copyright laws.  Because of the work of this website, nonprofit artists, scholars, and the public at large are sharing their intellectual property more freely with fewer restrictions which make it easy to create and use licenses that allow others to use their work.  This eliminates the sometimes impossible and complicated process of contacting the creator directly for permission to use their work.  With Creative Commons, as long as the user follows the licenses use agreement and uses the appropriate attribution, they can use the work. This article does a great job highlighting the questions being asked about Creative Commons and how it plays in complex copyright disputes.

http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-creative-commons