Is it possible to license only parts of a derivative work?
<p><em>This is kind of a follow-up question to <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/5241/is-something-including-an-unmodified-work-considered-a-derivative-work">one I asked earlier</a>. I thought that if I generalize it, it would be better to ask it separately.</em></p>

<p>I want to create a derivative work of another work, which is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (CC-BY-SA). This means that I need to release my work under a license compatible with CC-BY-SA.</p>

<p>The problem is that in my work, I also have other elements (e.g. fonts and images), which I have no right to license.</p>

<p>So, is it in some way possible for me to be compatible with CC-BY-SA? For example by licensing only the parts I made under CC-BY-SA and making it clear that those other elements are not licensed under CC-BY-SA?</p>

<h2>Yes.</h2>
<p>If your derivative work contains content which you do not have rights to, such as quotations or other content used under fair use or fair dealing, or such as embedded fonts, a CC-BY-SA license would not even purport to license those elements, as I understand it. But it would be proper, perhaps  desirable, to explicitly state this as part of the license statement. Something such as: &quot;This document contains {description} to which I, the author, do not hold copyright, and which is not included in the license granted here.&quot;</p>
<p>This would also be true  for an original document which included fair use elements, but which the author wishes to license under CC-BY-SA. See the license used by Wikipedia as an example.</p>

copyright licensing creative-commons