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Attachment: Defining_Noncommercial_PR.pdf
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Creative Commons Publishes Study of “Noncommercial Use”

San Francisco, California, USA — September 14, 2009

Creative Commons announces the publication of Defining
“Noncommercial”: A Study of How the Online Population Understands
“Noncommercial Use.” The report details the results of a research
study launched in September 2008 to explore differences between
commercial and noncommercial uses of content found online, as those
uses are understood by various communities and in connection with a
wide variety of content. Generous support for the study was provided
by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The study investigated understandings of noncommercial use and the
Creative Commons “NC” license term through online surveys of content
creators and users in the U.S., open access polls of global “Creative
Commons Friends and Family,” interviews with thought leaders, and
focus groups with participants from around the world who create and
use a wide variety of online content and media. The research behind
Defining “Noncommercial” was conducted by Netpop Research, under
advisement from academics and a working group consisting of several
Creative Commons jurisdiction project members as well as Creative
Commons staff and board members.

Creative Commons provides free copyright licenses to creators who want
to grant the public certain permissions to use their works, in advance
and without the need for one-to-one contact between the user and the
creator. “Noncommercial” or “NC” is one of four license terms that
creators may choose to apply to CC-licensed content.

Creative Commons noncommercial licenses preclude use of a work “in any
manner that is primarily intended for or directed toward commercial
advantage or private monetary compensation.” The majority of
respondents (87% of creators, 85% of users) replied that the
definition was “essentially the same as” (43% of creators, 42% of
users) or “different from but still compatible with” (44% of creators,
43% of users) theirs. Only 7% of creators and 11% of users replied
that the term was “different from and incompatible with” their
definition.

Other highlights from the study include the rating by content creators
and users of different uses of online content as either “commercial”
or “noncommercial” on a scale of 1-100, where 1 is “definitely
noncommercial” and 100 is “definitely commercial.” On this scale,
creators and users (84.6 and 82.6, respectively) both rate uses in
connection with online advertising generally as “commercial.” However,
more specific use cases revealed that many interpretations are
fact-specific. For example, creators and users gave the specific use
case “not-for-profit organization uses work on its site, organization
makes enough money from ads to cover hosting costs” ratings of 59.2
and 71.7, respectively.

On the same scale, creators and users (89.4 and 91.7, respectively)
both rate uses in which money is made as being commercial, yet again
those ratings are lower in use cases specifying cost recovery or use
by not-for-profits. Finally, both groups rate “personal or private”
use as noncommercial, though creators did so less strongly than users
(24.3 and 16.0, respectively, on the same scale).

In open access polls, CC’s global network of “friends and family” rate
some uses differently from the U.S. online population—although direct
empirical comparisons may not be drawn from these data. For example,
creators and users in these polls rate uses by not-for-profit
organizations with advertisements as a means of cost recovery at 35.7
and 40.3, respectively—somewhat more noncommercial. They also rate
“personal or private” use as strongly noncommercial—8.2 and 7.8,
respectively—again on a scale of 1-100 where 1 is “definitely
noncommercial” and 100 is “definitely commercial.”

“As more people have begun to make, share, and use content online, the
question of what constitutes a ‘commercial use’ versus a
‘noncommercial use’ has become increasingly important to understand,”
said Josh Crandall, President of Netpop Research. “With this study, we
were particularly interested to see that—contrary to what many might
believe—there is little variation between creators and users in the
perceived ‘commerciality’ of particular uses of copyrighted content.
Furthermore, where they do differ, users tend to have a more
conservative outlook than creators. This study provides useful data
and perspectives—from both members of the general public and people
who work closely in the world of copyright—that can help people begin
to think more clearly about the issue.”

The study report and its associated data are available at
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Defining_Noncommercial, where members
of the public can contribute feedback about the report. Defining
“Noncommercial” is published under a Creative Commons Attribution
license, and the research data is available under a CC0 public domain
waiver.

“We’re excited that the results of this important project will be
available for all kinds of uses—including commercial use—by anyone,”
said Joi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons. “We encourage researchers and
our community to use what we’ve done and expand this investigation
further, building upon the data we collected and incorporating more
perspectives from Creative Commons adopters worldwide.”

In the next years, possibly as soon as 2010, Creative Commons expects
to formally launch a multi-year, international process for producing
the next version (4.0) of the six main Creative Commons licenses. This
process will include examination of whether the noncommercial
definition included in licenses with the NC term should be modified or
if other means of clarifying noncommercial use under the CC licenses
should be pursued. The results of Defining “Noncommercial” and
subsequent research will be an important thread informing this
process.

About Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 2001,
that promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works,
whether owned or in the public domain. Through its free copyright
licenses, Creative Commons offers authors, artists, scientists, and
educators the choice of a flexible range of protections and freedoms
that build upon the “all rights reserved” concept of traditional
copyright to enable a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach.
Creative Commons was built with and is sustained by the generous
support of organizations including the Center for the Public Domain,
Google, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Mozilla
Foundation, Omidyar Network, Red Hat, and the William and Flora
Hewlett Foundation, as well as members of the public. For more
information about supporting Creative Commons, please contact
development AT creativecommons.org.

About Netpop Research, LLC

Netpop Research, LLC is a San Francisco-based strategic market
research firm that specializes in online media, digital entertainment
and user-generated content trends. Netpop Research has fielded
numerous studies for major profit and nonprofit entities, and is the
creator of the Netpop tracking study of Internet usage among broadband
consumers in the United States and China.

Contact

Mike Linksvayer
Vice President
Creative Commons
ml AT creativecommons.org
+1 415 369 8480

Press Kit

http://creativecommons.org/about/press/

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Cameron Parkins
Cultural Program Assistant
Creative Commons

[aim] cam3ran
[work] www.creativecommons.org
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