CC0 allows a creator to waive all rights to a work, placing it fully in the public domain with no conditions on use

CC0 (No Rights Reserved) is a public domain dedication tool that allows copyright holders to waive all their rights — including copyright, neighboring rights, and related rights — to the extent permitted by law. A CC0 work requires no attribution, no license notice, no restrictions: it can be used commercially, modified, distributed, and performed with no conditions. This is the most permissive status possible for a creative work. CC0 differs from CC licenses in that it is not a license grant — it is a waiver. Important caveats: CC0 can only be applied by the rights holder; works whose copyright has simply expired (public domain by age) are NOT covered by CC0 and may still have local protections; and CC0 does not grant any additional permissions beyond what the law allows (e.g., trademarks, privacy rights).

Examples

Freesound.org hosts many CC0 sounds — zero-attribution field recordings, synth tones, loops usable in commercial releases without credit. CC0 music from Free Music Archive: usable in film, advertising, games with no royalty or credit requirement.

Assessment

Name two differences between a CC BY track and a CC0 track in terms of what a user must or need not do. Explain why ‘a recording made in 1905 that’s in the public domain’ is different from a CC0 recording.