Development of Creative Commons licenses

[rob AT robmyers.org]

Quoting Sean Monahan <spmonahan AT gmail.com>:

> Hi,
>
> I understand that the non-commercial license prohibits something like a
> photograph from being used in advertising, but does it prohibit an image
> from being used in a work of fine art?

It most probably prohibits it in practice unless the artist makes the  
work to give it as a gift (the recipient will also be unable to sell  
it).

There are various cases to do with showing work that isn't for sale  
but receiving exhibition fees, being paid to make work for charity,  
and exhibiting NC work to build the reputation of other work for sale  
that are probably NC breakers.

> What if that work of art is sold?

The artist wouldn't be allowed to sell the artwork (or produce it as a  
commission), as this would definitely be commercial.

If the artwork uses its source material in a transformative way you  
might be able to claim fair use (which doesn't rely on the NC  
license), but this is not guaranteed (and is mostly specific to the US).

I am not Creative Commons, I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice.

- Rob.