In the US at least, you don't need a license to protect your work, you get it by default. You retain full ownership and copyright of any creative works that you

In the US at least, you don't need a license to protect your work, you get it by default. You retain full ownership and copyright of any creative works that you author. Nobody can use your work in any way without permission, with exceptions for fair use. Whether you can afford to defend those rights is another question entirely.