Creative Commons is a non-profit that offers an alternative to full copyright. CC allows sharing of work with others through licensing rules, as described below by the nice people at My Creative Team on their blog THINKing.
Attribution ”“ You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work ”” and derivative works based upon it ”” but only if they give credit the way you request.
Share Alike ”“ You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.
Non-Commercial ”“ You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work ”” and derivative works based upon it ”” but for non-commercial purposes only.
No Derivative Works – You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.