Simply put, Creative Commons makes available a range of flexible, customizable and easily-understood intellectual-property licences that you can obtain free of charge and assign to your creative work.

Since they’ve been vetted by lawyers and are legally-enforceable copyright licenses, Creative Commons licences will help you define what constitutes acceptable uses of your work.

It clears the otherwise legal doubt that arises when for example Johan Doe, who lives half a world away, wishes to formally use that funky illustration you’ve created and posted on your web site. By looking at the type of licences you’ve assigned, Doe will then know what he can or cannot do with your work of art - like whether your illustration can be altered or used for commercial purposes. With Creative Commons, the idea is for a piece of work to keep evolving through the collaboration of people from across the globe, without the worry of copyright infringement.