Creative Commons defines “noncommercial”

In a study of how the online population understands ”noncommercial use”, the Creative Commons Corporation commissioned a study to explore understandings of the terms “commercial use” and “noncommercial use”.
Based on a empirical and informal study the report explores how Internet users understand terms.

The 255 pages suggest some reasons for the ongoing success of Creative Commons licenses, rules of thumb for licensors and licensees, and wants to serve as a reminder to would-be users of licenses.

The main findings are:

• Creators and users are more alike than different in their understanding of noncommercial use.
• Both generally consider “commercial use” primarily as a use that makes money.
• Uses that are more difficult to classify as either commercial or noncommercial show greater differences between creators and users.
• The vast majority of creators and users do not know the basics of copyright law.

The full report is supplied as free download at creativecommons.org

via Phlow – Magazin für MP3-Musik und Netzkultur

Tags: creative commons, licenses, science, Studie