Update: This is my opinion and my opinion alone; this does not reflect the opinion of the vast majority of authors who choose to license their work with a "noncommercial" clause.

Are you familiar with my license, and that it is BY-NC? I'm going to talk about the "NC" part of the Creative Commons license I use. The "NC" condition basically means that you cannot use my work for commercial purposes. Here's why I'm bringing it up here: There are group of people who I like to call "Copyleftists", who believe the only acceptable forms and definitions of freedom include attribution and sharing alike. They are wholly against the the "noncommercial" clause, due to the ambiguity of "commercial purposes", and against the "No Derivatives" clause, because it prohibits adaptations.  

It has come to my attention that due to these problems with the "Noncommercial" and "No Derivatives" conditions that are on some of the Creative Commons license, some people–such as the Students for a Free Culture–want to do away with these options altogether. Personally, I think it's a misguided and counterproductive maneuver (not to mention narrows the meaning of the word "freedom"), but that's a rant for another day. I do concede that the copyleftists have a point when they say that the "noncommercial" definition is fuzzy and ambiguous. To that end, I will take the lists from this web site that list all the uses that may be commercial and non-commercial, and I will judge what I think is a "noncommercial" use out of the ambiguous uses.

So far, the list lists these as noncommercial uses:

1. An individual downloads a by-nc 2.0 book on her computer and reads it.
2. An individual downloads a by-nc 2.0 book on her computer, prints it on her printer, and reads the printed version.
3. An individual downloads a by-nc 2.0 book on her computer and emails the file to a friend.
4. ...and shares it with the world on her Web site.
5. ...and shares it with the world through a P2P network.
6. An individual downloads a by-nc 2.0 book on her computer, prints it on her printer, and gives it to a friend.
7. An individual downloads a by-nc 2.0 book on her computer and prints it on her printer. She takes it to her local photocopy shop and makes a copy herself, which she gives to a friend.
8. ...and pays the staff of the photocopy shop to make a copy for her, which she gives to her friend.
9. ...and pays the staff of the photocopy shop to make 100 copies for her which she gives to all her friends and family.
10. An elementary school teacher downloads a by-nc 2.0 play from the Internet. Her drama class performs the play for the rest of her school during an assembly.
11. A Girl Scout troop downloads a by-nc 2.0 image of a bee from the Internet. They put up flyers in their neighborhood: "Bee nice! Don't litter!"
12. An individual downloads "Eastern Standard Tribe" (a by-nd-nc 2.0 book) on her computer. She pays a vanity press to make 100 bound copies, at her expense, which she then distributes to friends and family as gifts.
13. An individual downloads "Eastern Standard Tribe" (a by-nd-nc 2.0 book) on her computer. She has a personal vendetta against Cory Doctorow dating to a cocktail party in 1997. So she painstakingly makes 100,000 bound copies by hand, which she then distributes freely, glutting the market. Doctorow is bankrupted.
14. An individual downloads "Eastern Standard Tribe" (a by-nd-nc 2.0 book) on her computer. She has a personal vendetta against Cory Doctorow dating to a cocktail party in 1997. So she pays a vanity press to make 100,000 bound copies, at her expense, which she then distributes freely, glutting the market. Doctorow is bankrupted.
15. A non-profit children's literacy group downloads a copy of a by-nc 2.0 book. Staff makes 100 copies on the group's copy machine, which they give away to local orphanages.
16. ...which they give away to the public to raise awareness of reading.
17. A children's literacy group downloads a copy of a by-nc 2.0 book. A photocopy shop donates time and material to make 100 copies of the book, which is given away to the general public to raise awareness of reading. The back cover says, "Labor and material donated by Fakename Copy Shop."
18. A public library has computers and a printer. Printouts and computer usage are free. An individual uses a computer and prints out a by-sa 2.0 novel for herself.
19. An Internet cafe has computers and a printer. Printouts cost 5 cents a page. An individual rents a computer and prints out a by-sa 2.0 novel for herself, and pays for the time and print costs.

I have no quarrel with any of these definitions.

Meanwhile, the list lists these as commercial uses:

1. A publishing company downloads a by-nc 2.0 book from the Internet, makes a print run of 100,000 copies, and sells it in bookstores across the country.
2. A photocopy shop has a computer by the front desk. You can browse by-nc 2.0 books you like on the computer, and then pay the photocopy staff to make a printed copy of one or more for you.
3. A photocopy shop has a Web site. You can browse books you like on the Web site, and then fill out an online form for the book you want. The shop then FedExes you a copy.
4. A photocopy shop downloads a by-nc 2.0 book and makes 100 copies, which they put in a display by the front door. You can buy a copy from them at the counter.
5. An individual downloads a by-nc 2.0 book on her computer and and shares it with the world on her Web site. Every download costs $0.99.
6. ...and shares it with the world on her Web site. People have to pay $5.95 a month to get a membership to the "downloads" section of her Web site.
7. Her drama class performs the play for parents, charging $7 per ticket.
8. A local theater company performs a by-nc 2.0 play, charging $35 per ticket.
9. A photocopy shop downloads a by-nc 2.0 image of a bee from the Internet. They put it in advertisements in the local paper, saying, "Bee Smart! Use Fakename Copy Shops!"
10. A Girl Scout troop downloads a by-nc 2.0 image of a bee from the Internet. They put up flyers in their neighborhood: "Bee nice! Buy Girl Scout Cookies!"
11. "Bee nice! Don't litter! (Brought to you by Girl Scout Troop 45, who make those delicious cookies)"
12. ..."Bee nice! Donate money to the Girl Scouts!"
13. Fakename Publishers download "Eastern Standard Tribe" (a by-nd-nc 2.0 book), printed by their arch-rival. They make 100,000 bound copies which they distribute freely, glutting the market. Doctorow and his publisher are bankrupted.
14. A non-profit children's literacy group downloads a copy of a by-nc 2.0 book. Staff makes 100 copies on the group's copy machine,which they sell to local orphanages for the price of materials.
15. ...which they sell to local orphanages for the price of materials and labor.
16. ...which they sell to local orphanages for the price of materials and labor and a 10% profit.
17. ...which they sell to the public for a profit.
18. A public library sells copies of by-nc 2.0 books.

Some of these, I would consider to be "noncommercial". I would consider #3 to be noncommercial if no money is charged. I would have a problem with #10-#12 if the Girl Scouts are a commercial venture. If they are a non-profit, I would consider those uses to be non-commercial. I would consider #13 a noncommercial use, because it was given out for free, and no profit was made. In #14 and #15 the sales are not for a profit, but for the costs of materials, so I would consider those uses non-commercial. I would definitely consider #16 and #17 to be commercial uses, though. In #18, the Public Library is not a profit-making venture, so I would consider that a noncommercial use.

The following are what the list considers "grey areas" and ambiguous in the sense of commercial uses.

1. An individual downloads a by-nc 2.0 book on her computer, and lets the friend use her printer and computer to print it himself.
2. ...and sells the printed copy to a friend for the cost of materials (paper, toner, electricity, ...).
3. ..and sells the printed copy to a friend for the cost of materials, plus her time in finding and printing the book.
4. ...and sells the printed copy to a friend for the cost of materials, plus her time in finding and printing the book, plus a 10% profit.
5. ...and trades the copy with a friend for another printed book.
6. ...and trades the copy with a friend for a blender.
7. A photocopy shop downloads a by-nc 2.0 book and makes 100 copies, which they put in a display by the front door. You can take as many as you want.
8. ...which they put in a display by the front door. The cover says, "Courtesy of the Fakename Copy Shop."
9. ...which they put in a display by the front door. You can take one free with any purchase of $10 or more.
10. ...which they donate to a local children's literacy program.
11. ...which they donate anonymously to a local children's literacy program.
12.  An individual downloads a by-nc 2.0 book on her computer and shares it with the world on her Web site. Payments aren't required, but she has banner ads on every page.
13. ...and shares it with the world on her Web site. Payments aren't mandatory, but she has a "Support this site!" Paypal donation link on the every page.
14. A local theater company performs a by-nc 2.0 play for free to the schoolchildren at an assembly.
15. A local theater company performs a by-nc 2.0 play for free to the schoolchildren at their theater.
16. A costume company downloads and prints a number of scripts for by-nc 2.0 plays. They rent the printed scripts to teachers.
17. A costume company downloads and prints a number of scripts for by-nc 2.0 plays. If elementary school teachers rent costumes for the play, they get to use the scripts for free.
18. A Girl Scout troop downloads a by-nc 2.0 image of a bee from the Internet. They put up flyers in their neighborhood: "Bee nice! Donate your time to the Girl Scouts!"
19. A non-profit children's literacy group downloads a copy of a by-nc 2.0 book. Staff makes 100 copies on the group's copy machine, which they give away to the public as a gift with every donation of $50 or more.
20. ...which they give away to the public with a "suggested donation".

Out of all of these, I would say that only #4, #8, #9, #16 and #17 are what I would consider "commercial" uses. In #9 and #17, even if the work is given out for free, it's only in exchange of a purchase of a certain amount, which implies a commercial purpose at hand. In #12 and #13, if the purpose is not to profit, but to cover the costs of hosting, I would consider it a "noncommercial" use. Otherwise, any use of the work that involves profit be a "commercial" use. In #16, even renting out a script implies a commercial purpose. In #18, as I said before, it depends on whether the Girl Scouts are for-profit or non-profit. #19 and #20 are non-profit, so any use is fine with me. #5 and #6 are barters, and unless there's a clear commercial trade going on, I'm fine with barters as long as they are equal exchange. I consider them non-commercial. #2 and #3 are labor costs, which I consider non-commercial. #1 is clearly noncommercial.

So that's it! If you have any questions or comments, or if anything still isn't clear to you, feel free to drop me a line at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or use the contact form.