Support Documentation

Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about Sites at Penn State and WordPress, from basic WordPress features to theme and plugin set-up instructions.

Copyright & Creative Commons

Intellectual property issues are not black and white. Your ability to copy and use the work of other people is a complex mix of many factors: What the media is, why you are using it, when the media was created, how much you are using, what the copyright owner wants people to do with his or her work, and the potential market value of the product.

Even if you are legally permitted to use the work of another person, there are ethical reasons for giving credit for the content that you are using (much like movie credits list actors, production staff, and movie and music clips used in the film).

Creative Commons Licenses allow people to retain the copyright of their intellectual property while also specifying that those materials can be used under certain conditions. For example, if you would like your photos to be used and altered by anyone as long as they give you credit, there is a Creative Commons license for that.

The Penn State Copyright Portal and the Media Commons: Free Media Library both have many resources for learning about Copyright, Fair Use, TEACH Act, Plagiarism, and how to find and use Creative Commons content appropriately.

Add a Creative Commons License

The easiest way to do this is to copy the code generated by the Creative Commons license chooser into a Text Widget and place it on your site’s footer or sidebar widget area.