copyright law are common, and CC licensed content is no exception – and the decision for or agains a legal dispute will always depend on many considerations. However, if you do not intend to act against commercial use anyway, the NC license variant will only discourage tho- se who observe the law meticulously, especially if they are not perfectly certain whether they are considered non-commercial. These are usually the users that you do not want to scare off. 12 Can NC-licensed content be printed in newspapers? No. Newspapers are in any case commercial users. Newspapers are operated to generate revenue; they aim at a commercial advantage and a finan- cial recompensation. That is a fact irrespective of the fundamental right of free press and the great influence of newspapers on public opini- on and debate. Furthermore, the classification of newspapers as commercial is valid even when they are – such as in the case of advertisement journals – distributed for free. These papers are financed by advertisement, and thus operate for a monetary advantage. Of course, a CC licensed content can be printed in newspapers, despite the NC module, if the author explicitly agrees. This equally applies to any other commercial
se free access to knowledge are subject to closer scrutiny to not breach the restrictive copyright regulations. In order not to endanger their work, they have to study license agreements with the utmost care. Since the possibility of commercial use cannot be ruled out altogether – and often it should not be excluded since the- se initiatives are interested in spreading know- ledge – content licensed with a NC condition will not be used by them. This creates a paradox: The NC restriction is most minutely heeded where its consequences are least intended. 11 Am I ready to act against the commercial use of my content? If not, you should consider not to use the NC module in the first place.
To restrict a Creative Commons license by me- ans of the NC module is only reasonable if the author is also willing to act against commercial use, for example in court.
That does not mean that you have to fight every single breach of copyright. Breaches of
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