License question regarding Icon sets in web applications

Question

there are a few posts asking about free icon sets (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/139944/where-can-one-find-free-software-icons-images), but I couldn't find anything that specifically answered this question:

For commerical websites, what is required of you to use the icon sets based upon their license?

It seems like with GPL/LGPL, there really isn't anything required (especially since you probably wouldn't merge the pictures into any of your assemblies), but what's required for the creative commons license? You need to attribute the work back to the author, but I wasn't entirely sure as to what was required in that regards

Thanks!

Answer 1

It depends on which Creative Commons license you use. For attribution, I believe that an easy to find page on your website attributing the author and linking to their site is all that is required.

Make sure that you read the license that comes with it though. Some Creative Commons licenses do not allow commercial use (your website makes money, maybe even adsense?), some do not allow derivations (recombining work to create your header?), etc.

Answer 2

Rob Prouse is correct, however if you are in doubt about legal issues the BEST advice is to consult a lawyer.

It will very wildly based on the license and can even vary based on where your company is based.

Answer 3

The creative commons license is sometimes a bit difficult to interpret when it comes to derivative works.

If I put your icons unchanged in my web page or in an application, is that then a derivative work, or is it enough that I didn't alter your icon? In most cases, the author of the icon set probably doesn't mean to preclude that kind of use, but the license itself is not so clear on it.

Answer 4

Others have covered the Creative Commons case well.

For the GPL/LGPL case, you need to provide attribution and appropriate copyright notice and licensing information. You may also need to make additional flies available - if the icon set came with SVGs, XCFs, or other specialized formats from which the actual PNGs or GIFs are generated, I would think those constitute the "source" of the icons and therefore need to be distributed.