Is it possible to have a CC-SA turn into a CC-ND

Question

I'm trying to license images in a way that allows the original image to be modified, but then not being able to make second derivative based off the original derivative

(CC Clauses that aren't shown are not needed for this question)

Answer 1

So far, Creative Commons doesn't offer such licenses. It is either SA (share-alike) or ND (no derivatives). Not both at the same time. In particular the SA clause only applies if derivatives are allowed, and since the ND clause prohibits derivatives, the SA clause doesn't apply here.

Answer 2

No

CC is a license that can not be altered by a licensor and still be CC in the first place, so you can not distribute your item under an altered CC license that flops from CC-SA to CC-ND.

CC-SA is a license that does not allow a licensee (who gets the license) to remove SA or even choose any different license. As such, they can not choose CC-ND for their derivate. They are not even allowed to go CC-SA-ND by the text of the license.

Answer 3

It's not clear to me whether you want to allow authors of derivative works to license them under CC BY-ND, if they wish to forbid further derivatives of their works, or whether you want to force them to do so even if they'd prefer to license their derivative works also under CC BY-SA.

CC licenses do neither of these things "out of the box", but at least the former should be achievable using CC BY-SA with a custom license exception granting authors of derivative works an additional permission to license their work under CC BY-ND instead, e.g. something like this:

Example Work © 2024 by John Doe is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

As a special exception to the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, section 3(b)(1), if You Share Adapted Material You produce of this Licensed Material, You may choose CC BY-ND 4.0 as Your Adapter's License, provided that You otherwise abide by the terms and conditions of the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

For the avoidance of doubt, this exception is not intended to restrict You from exercising Your rights under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license in any way. When You Share Adapted Material You produce of this Licensed Material, You may extend this exception to it, but are not required to do so. If You do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement from Your Adapted Material.

This exception is similar to (and loosely based on) the Classpath exception to the GNU GPL, which is a fairly well known GPL linking exception that allows, in specific circumstances, recipients of the licensed work to reuse parts of it in derivative works without those works being subject to the "viral" / "share-alike" / "copyleft" terms of the GPL.

Like the Classpath exception, the exception I suggested above is effectively a completely separate license granted in addition to CC BY-SA, albeit based on its wording and incorporating its definitions and terms by reference. In effect, a recipient of a work licensed under the terms suggested above has three options:

1. Treat the work as just CC BY-SA, ignoring the exception and not extending it to to any derivatives that they create and distribute under CC BY-SA (or a compatible license).

2. Treat the work as CC BY-SA, but retain the exception statement in their derivative work, extending the exception to their work as well.

3. Make use of the exception to create derivative works and distribute them under CC BY-ND.

You would presumably prefer people to choose option 2 or 3, but it's not possible to eliminate option 1 without losing compatibility with normal CC BY-SA. In particular, someone who wants to mix your work with a another CC BY-SA work (without the exception) has effectively no choice but to choose option 1, since options 2 or 3 would violate the other work's license.

Also, just to be clear, in order to add such an exception to your work, it must be entirely your own work, or you must have permission to do so from everyone who contributed to the work. If you receive a work under CC BY-SA (without exceptions) and wish to create and distribute a derivative of it, section 3(b) of CC BY-SA requires you to do so under normal CC BY-SA (or a designated compatible license).

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Disclaimer: The exception statement I suggested above is entirely my own work (except for the parts adapted from the Classpath exception and the CC BY-SA 4.0 legal code) and has not been written or reviewed by a lawyer. If you want to be sure that it's legally unambiguous and achieves the goals you want it to achieve, you might want to show it to a lawyer (preferably one specializing in open source / free content licensing, if you can find one).

All that said, intent counts for a lot in licensing, and as long as you clearly communicate that you intend to allow reusers of your work to create derivatives and to license them under CC BY-ND, that alone should be good enough for most purposes. If someone wants to be really sure and doesn't trust the exception, they can always contact you personally and ask for explicit permission to license their derivative under CC BY-ND (or whatever other license they might wish to use).