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Creative Commons Scotland was established in January 2005 and officially launched in Edinburgh on 2 April 2005.

After much discussion, a full set of Creative Commons Scotland licences were published in December 2005. These incorporate all the changes made, with experience, to Creative Comons licences in the 2.5 version, and also other provisions for compatibility with Scots law.

Although the proposed Scottish licence looks very different to the international Creative Commons licence, its practical effect is much the same. The different appearance is caused by a rigorous attempt to use plain language in a way that can be understood, following the legal requirements imposed on us by Council Directive 93/13/EEC and the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, SI 1999/2083. Unlike the international licence, or the English and Welsh licence, but in common with a number of European licences, the Scottish licence is designed to have contractual effect.

The sponsoring institution of Creative Commons Scotland is the AHRC Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law at Edinburgh University, and its joint project leads are Professor Hector MacQueen, Chair of the Centre, and Jonathan Mitchell QC, who is a practicing Queens Counsel in the Murray Stable of the Faculty of Advocates and a visiting Research Fellow at the Centre. Andres Guadamuz, a co-director of the AHRC Centre, is helping with the project in various ways.