Our proposal to get the CC logo and icons into Unicode

Creative Commons » Commons News 2016-11-05

We’ve submitted a proposal to get the Creative Commons logo, license, and public domain icons into Unicode (more specifically, the Universal Coded Character Set or UCS). Unicode is the industry standard for encoding characters into text, which means that virtually all text-based editors, or tools with text-based editors, enable those characters and symbols that have been encoded into the standard. Examples of encoded characters range from ancient Greek letters to the current day ©, @, and universal ♲ symbols.

We’re excited about our proposal for several reasons: if encoded, creators will easily be able to mark their CC-licensed works with icons in text; users will be able to provide attribution for CC-licensed works they use with icons; and, if nothing else, in developing the proposal we became better aware of the ubiquitous use of our icons across a diversity of media, contexts, and domains. (Thanks for your contributions of CC-marked physical media on Twitter!)

We wanted to share the proposal (pdf) to get your thoughts as our community, especially if we missed any examples of use you think we should have included for future iterations. We are still planning on submitting a separate proposal for Creative Commons Emoji – adding CC icons to Emoji would put icon attribution in the hands of everyone with mobile devices – so your feedback is valuable. More importantly, we would still like to know: how do you currently indicate the CC license on a work without Unicode? How would you like to be able to indicate the license on a work? See the form below to submit a quick response to these questions.

Lastly, you’ll note in the proposal that the CC logo and icons are governed by a trademark policy, while most unicode characters are not. We address this point directly (we don’t think encoding CC icons in Unicode would jeopardize our trademarks or that having a trademark policy clarifying their usage undercuts the purpose of having the icons encoded), but we also welcome your questions and thoughts.

CC logo and icon use

How do you currently indicate the CC license on a work?*
- On a content platform that has enabled the CC license options
- In a creation tool that has enabled the CC license options via plugin or otherwise, e.g. Microsoft Word
- Manually in plain text, e.g. typing "CC BY" or "Creative Commons Attribution license"
- Pasting in the license url for reference, e.g. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- Using CC's downloadable set of circular license icons and/or buttons at https://creativecommons.org/about/downloads/
- Other
Check all that apply.
If you selected "Other" above, please elaborate here:
How would you like to be able to indicate the license on a work?*
- On a content platform that doesn't have the licenses enabled
- In a creation tool that doesn't have the licenses enabled
- Via use of icons in text, e.g. via Unicode
- Via use of Emoji on mobile and related platforms
- Other
Only options that are not currently possible are noted above. Check all that you desire.
If you selected "Other" above, please elaborate here:

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