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2.11 Licensing

More about licensing...

Note: Please note that the following statements are not legally binding. Each data provider independently reviews and decides how copyright law is to be interpreted, whether and, if so, which licence to use and what information to make available in connection with the licence for the knowledge graph and the use of the data by third parties.

Images

While the license specifications represent the formal legal status, the license notice (schema:copyrightNotice) allows users of the data—when using the CC-BY and CC-BY-SA licenses—to publish the information that the data provider wishes to be associated with the object. The following information should be provided when using these Creative Commons licenses:

  • schema:name – The name of the object
  • schema:license – Specifies the license governing the content
  • schema:author – Refers to the author, usually a person
  • schema:copyrightNotice – Provides a formal copyright statement (typically including the name of the object, author, and license, along with a link to the license terms)

Additional information is optional, for example:

  • schema:copyrightHolder – Indicates the copyright owner, usually an organization
  • schema:copyrightYear – States the year of copyright

Example:

  {
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@id": "http://example.com/image/123",
  "@type": "ImageObject",
  "schema:name": "Kirche auf Berg",
  "schema:contentUrl": "http://example.com/images/photo.jpg",
  "schema:license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "schema:author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "schema:name": "Max Mustermann"
  },
  "copyrightHolder": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "schema:name": "Foto Joe"
  },
  "schema:copyrightNotice": "Max Mustermann, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)"
}

The CC0 license is a way for creators to waive their copyright and make their work freely available to the public without restrictions. At a minimum, the following information should be provided:

  • schema:name – The name of the object
  • schema:license – Specifies the license governing the content (CC0)

Additional information is optional but recommended for documentation purposes, for example:

  • schema:author – Refers to the author, usually a person

Example 1:

   {
  "@context": "https://schema.org ",
  "@type": "ImageObject",
  "schema:name": "Kirche auf Berg",
  "schema:contentUrl": "http://example.com/images/photo.jpg",
  "schema:license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ "
}

Example 2:

  {
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "ImageObject",
  "schema:name": "Kirche auf Berg",
  "schema:contentUrl": "http://example.com/images/photo.jpg",
  "schema:license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/",
  "schema:author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "schema:name": "Max Mustermann"
  }
}

Images without license information specified via schema:license are fully protected under copyright law. In the Knowledge Graph, they must be explicitly marked as unclear: "license": "unknown"

Images with licenses that go beyond CC-BY and CC-BY-SA—such as CC BY-NC 4.0 (Attribution, Non-Commercial)—are not considered Open Data, as they restrict key freedoms for use and reuse. Such images must not be used by data users who intend to use the data commercially.

Description texts

The schema:description of a point of interest, event, or tour may, in some cases, be protected under copyright law—for example, if it is written in an individual and creative manner and reaches a certain level of originality. It is up to the data provider to determine whether a license is required in such cases.

The requirements for using Creative Commons licenses are the same as for image licensing:

  • schema:license – Specifies the license governing the content (e.g., CC-BY, CC-BY-SA)
  • schema:author – Refers to the author, usually a person
  • schema:copyrightNotice – Provides a formal copyright statement (usually including the author and license, with a link to the license terms)

Additional information is optional, for example:

  • schema:copyrightHolder – Indicates the owner of the copyright, usually an organization
  • schema:copyrightYear – States the year of copyright

Example:

  {
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "TouristAttraction",
  "schema:name": "Pfarrkirche St. Martin",
  "schema:geo": {
    "@type": "GeoCoordinates",
    "schema:latitude": 49.123456,
    "schema:longitude": 8.123456
  },
  "schema:address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "schema:streetAddress": "Kirchplatz 1",
    "schema:postalCode": "12345",
    "schema:addressLocality": "Musterstadt",
    "schema:addressCountry": "DE"
  },
  "schema:description": {
    "@type": "CreativeWork",
    "schema:text": "Im Herzen der charmanten Altstadt erhebt sich majestätisch die Pfarrkirche St. Martin. Ihre Mauern erzählen von Jahrhunderten, und das warme Licht der Glasfenster hüllt Besucher in eine meditative Ruhe.",
    "schema:license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
    "schema:author": {
      "@type": "Person",
      "schema:name": "Max Mustermann"
    },
    "schema:copyrightNotice": "Max Mustermann, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)"
  }
}

Dataset License

Copyright protection for a data collection described with schema:sdLicense—for example, including name, description, address data, and geocoordinates—is often not applicable. However, it is up to each data provider to decide whether and which dataset they consider worthy of protection.
In case of doubt, it is recommended to at least enrich the dataset with a license reference (e.g., CC0).

Example:

  {
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Event",
  "schema:name": "My Event",
  "schema:sdlicense": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"
}

The requirements when using the Creative Commons licenses CC-BY and CC-BY-SA are:

  • schema:sdLicense – Specifies the license governing the data collection (CC-BY, CC-BY-SA) (sd stands for structured data)
  • schema:copyrightHolder – Identifies who holds the copyright to the data collection
  • schema:copyrightNotice – Provides a formal copyright statement (usually including the copyright holder and license, along with a link to the license terms)

Additional information such as sdPublisher and sdDatePublished is optional:

  • schema:sdPublisher – Who published the structured data (e.g., name and URL)
  • schema:sdDatePublished – The date the data was published

Example:

  {
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Event",
  "schema:name": "My Event",
  "schema:sdLicense": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/",
  "schema:sdPublisher": {
    "@type": "schema:Organization",
    "schema:name": "Musterorganisation"
    "schema:url": "http://musterorganisation.travel"
  },
  "schema:copyrightHolder": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "schema:name": "Musterorganisation"
  },
  "schema:copyrightNotice": "Musterorganisation, CC-BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)"
}

Note: These recommendations are part of the Open Data/Knowledge Graph project and were provided by the German National Tourist Board. This is a translation of the original German text.

Updated 3 days ago