CC0 waives copyright and adds a fallback license where a waiver is impossible. No credit required, and no patent rights.
On this page
What it does
CC0 is Creative Commons Zero, a tool for putting a work as close to the public domain as the law allows. The author waives copyright and related rights worldwide. Where a waiver is not legally possible, the same text grants an unconditional, irrevocable license instead, so you end up in the same place by a different route. You meet it on data sets, icon and photo collections and documentation more often than on code. Wikidata publishes its data this way.
Details
For your product CC0 is the lightest thing in the inventory. You can use, change, sell and embed the work with no credit line and no source duty, in a hosted service and in a binary you hand over alike. Two details still matter. CC0 says in its section 4(a) that it grants no patent or trademark rights, and the OSI has never approved it, largely for that reason. A procurement policy that requires an OSI-approved license will therefore reject a CC0 component even though the grant itself is broader than the MIT license.
Pros
- Nothing to attach besides recording that the component is in the inventory.
- No copyleft and no notice condition, so binaries do not need an extra licenses file for this component alone.
Cons
- Some buyers still want the dedication text on file. "No conditions" is not the same as "no record."
- Jurisdiction and moral-rights questions still exist around true public-domain dedications. Counsel should look at high-stakes use.
What it allows and requires
Choose a category to see the full grant in one scannable list. Permissions show what the license allows, limits show what it withholds, and obligations show the conditions your release process must satisfy.
Permissions
Commercial use
You may use the work commercially. These texts are written to drop almost every restriction.
Modify
You may change the work and keep or publish those changes under your own terms.
Distribute
You may give copies away, including inside a closed product, without a copyleft duty.
Limits
Hold liable
The authors disclaim warranty. Recipients cannot hold them liable for damages arising from the software, except where law forbids that disclaimer.
Use trademark
The license is not a trademark license. Names, logos and product marks stay with their owners unless a separate grant says otherwise.
Provenance
A dedication is only as strong as the author's right to make it. If title is unclear, treat the files as needing review.
Obligations
Include notice
CC0 asks you not to imply endorsement. Keeping a record of the dedication is still good practice when you ship the files.
What CC0-1.0 requires when you ship
CC0-1.0 asks nothing of you: no notice, no attribution, no source duty. It still belongs on the attestation page so a buyer sees the whole inventory rather than only the interesting rows. The steps below are how to keep that record honest.
You meet everything CC0 asks by using the work. The text states no condition, so there is nothing to ship and nothing to display.
You keep procurement moving when you store the CC0 text on the component anyway, because a reviewer wants to read the grant rather than trust the identifier.
You stay accurate when you check that the dedication covers the whole package, because a CC0 data set can still contain third-party items on other terms.
You avoid a policy surprise when you flag CC0 components early to teams whose approval list holds OSI-approved licenses only.
You handle the patent question when you treat CC0 like public domain rather than like Apache-2.0, whose section 3 grants patent rights explicitly.
The duties named in CC0-1.0
CC0-1.0 names no duties. The empty list is the point. Keep the identifier on the record anyway so the inventory is complete.
Include notice
CC0 asks you not to imply endorsement. Keeping a record of the dedication is still good practice when you ship the files.
Things to be aware of
- Teams treat CC0 as an open source software license. It is a dedication, so a policy built on OSI approval stops it. Raise it before the release, not during a customer review.
- Teams assume a CC0 data set is CC0 all the way down. Check whether the collection republishes third-party material, which often carries its own terms.
- Teams expect a patent grant that is not there. CC0 section 4(a) leaves patents and trademarks untouched, so pick a permissive license when patents are the concern.
- Teams delete the license text because nothing requires it. Keep it, because your attestation page is read by people who never open your repository.
What the Creative Commons Zero v1.0 does not do
Search results often flatten Creative Commons Zero v1.0 into a slogan. These are the usual misreads. CC0-1.0 is a grant with conditions, not a permission to skip the paperwork below.
- CC0 1.0 does not create a notice or attribution duty. Teams still list it so buyers see the whole inventory.
- It is not a warranty or a patent grant. Public-domain style texts waive conditions; they do not promise the code is free of defects.
How CC0-1.0 differs from nearby licenses
These licenses are often confused with CC0-1.0, but their release duties differ. Each row summarizes what the license requires when you ship. Open the linked page for the full checklist.
- CC0-1.0
- CC0 waives copyright and adds a fallback license where a waiver is impossible. No credit required, and no patent rights.
- public-domain
- Public domain is a status, not a license. Nothing is asked of you when the status is real, and the risk is that it often is not.
- Unlicense
- A public domain dedication written for software, with a fallback license. OSI-approved, and it asks nothing of you.
- 0BSD
- BSD with every condition removed: no notice, no credit. It is a permission grant, not a waiver, and that is why counsel like it.
Common questions about Creative Commons Zero v1.0
Answers to common questions about what Creative Commons Zero v1.0 requires, when its duties apply, and what evidence belongs with a release.
What is the Creative Commons Zero v1.0?
CC0 is Creative Commons Zero, a tool for putting a work as close to the public domain as the law allows. The author waives copyright and related rights worldwide. Where a waiver is not legally possible, the same text grants an unconditional, irrevocable license instead, so you end up in the same place by a different route. You meet it on data sets, icon and photo collections and documentation more often than on code. Wikidata publishes its data this way.
What does CC0-1.0 require when you ship a product?
You meet everything CC0 asks by using the work. The text states no condition, so there is nothing to ship and nothing to display. You keep procurement moving when you store the CC0 text on the component anyway, because a reviewer wants to read the grant rather than trust the identifier. You stay accurate when you check that the dedication covers the whole package, because a CC0 data set can still contain third-party items on other terms. You avoid a policy surprise when you flag CC0 components early to teams whose approval list holds OSI-approved licenses only. You handle the patent question when you treat CC0 like public domain rather than like Apache-2.0, whose section 3 grants patent rights explicitly.
Should CC0-1.0 still appear on an attestation page?
Yes. Creative Commons Zero v1.0 asks nothing, and buyers still want the whole inventory rather than only the interesting rows.
How is CC0-1.0 different from Public domain?
CC0-1.0 asks this: CC0 waives copyright and adds a fallback license where a waiver is impossible. No credit required, and no patent rights. Public domain asks this: Public domain is a status, not a license. Nothing is asked of you when the status is real, and the risk is that it often is not. Open the Public domain page for what that license requires when you ship. Do not treat the SPDX ids as interchangeable because the short names look similar.
Where do I record CC0-1.0 for a buyer?
A CC0 component follows the same path as every other one. SourceTrust fetches the published artifact, reads any license file inside it, and compares that text against the declared identifier. Many CC0 packages carry only a short dedication line, so the result often lands as unconfirmed or not found and waits for you to accept it. Nothing appears on the project checklist, because CC0 triggers none of the six external obligations.
Where do I record CC0-1.0 for a buyer?
A CC0 component follows the same path as every other one. SourceTrust fetches the published artifact, reads any license file inside it, and compares that text against the declared identifier.
Many CC0 packages carry only a short dedication line, so the result often lands as unconfirmed or not found and waits for you to accept it. Nothing appears on the project checklist, because CC0 triggers none of the six external obligations.
Read /docs/reviewing-component for the review flow.
See also
The hub is the pillar for this cluster. Sibling licenses are the other spokes. Product FAQ links explain how SourceTrust records the duty, not the license text itself.
Practical guidance for procurement review, not legal advice. Confirm high-stakes use with counsel.