Except where otherwise noted, this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The information obtained from or through this website is provided as guidelines for using works for educational purposes and is not intended to constitute legal advice.
Copyright is a legal framework that protects creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, as well as sound recordings, performances and communication signals. This encompasses a wide range of formats including books, articles, CDs, DVDs, software, and websites.
Copyright protection exists as soon as a work is created.
The terms of copyright protection apply differently in various countries. In Canada, copyright protection generally applies to works for the life of the creator and for 70 years, the same as in the United States and Europe. After the copyright expires, a work enters the Public Domain, although copyright protection may still apply to more recent editions, arrangements or adaptations of the work. Also don't assume that everything you find on the Internet is in the public domain just because it is publicly available.
For more information about duration of copyright protection in Canada see the Government of Canada's Guide to Copyright
Use of a work in Canada is governed by the Canadian rules for the duration of the copyright protection.
Talk about copyright, plagiarism and intellectual property in your classes.
Include copyright information on your course syllabus. The following is a sample paragraph you can use or adapt:
Print and electronic materials are protected by copyright legislation. It is your responsibility to become aware of the legal uses of copyright-protected materials and to ensure that your use of these materials complies with copyright obligations. .
Encourage and expect copyright-friendly standards for student work. Copyright-friendly assignments will:
Remind students that, although fair dealing or educational exceptions may grant the right to reproduce without permission, they do not grant the right to adapt or modify materials, nor to change the format of materials.
Fair dealing permits the use of a copyright-protected work without permission from the copyright owner or the payment of copyright royalties. The fair dealing exception in the Copyright Act allows you to use other people's copyright material for the purposes of research, private study, criticism, review, news reporting, education (full detail of the education exceptions can be viewed in sections 29.4 to 29.9 of the Copyright Act), satire or parody providing the use is "fair."
While fair dealing doesn’t specifically mention teaching it does mention education. The Supreme Court of Canada has also ruled that a teacher may make copies of short excerpts of copyright-protected works and distribute them to students as part of classroom instruction without prior request from the student under the fair dealing exception.
For more detail, please check Fair Dealing page.
The process for checking the copyright compliance of your course materials may depend on whether you are preparing a coursepack or D2L page.
All coursepacks will need to be checked for copyright compliance BEFORE they are printed. Faculty will be asked to adhere closely to submission deadlines in order to ensure that students don't experience increased wait times for their materials. For further detail, please check Coursepacks page.
Instead of being sold as coursepacks, some materials may be distributed as handouts in face-to-face classes. Handouts must be prepared in accordance with Fair Dealing Guideline of Camosun College and Canadian Copyright Law. For further detail, please check Handouts.
All materials on the college's learning management system, D2L, should be prepared under Fair Dealing Guideline of Camosun College and Canadian Copyright Law. D2L materials are not required for copyright compliance check. For further detail, please check D2L page.
Copyright owners have a number of legal rights, including the right to copy and translate a work and the right to communicate a work to the public by telecommunication. Certain exceptions apply to these rights that are meant to balance copyright holders' interests with broader public interests, primarily the use of works for purposes such as teaching and research.
For more detail, please check Your Copyright page.
Some content in this Copyright Basic page has been copied and adapted from a Copyright FAQ from the University of Waterloo under a Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
The Fair Dealing provision in the Copyright Act permits use of a copyright-protected work without permission from the copyright owner or the payment of copyright royalties. To qualify for fair dealing, two tests must be passed:
1. The “dealing” must be for a purpose stated in the Copyright Act;
2. The dealing must be “fair.” In landmark decisions in 2004 and in 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada provided guidance as to what this test means in schools and post-secondary educational institutions. This Fair Dealing Policy applies fair dealing in non-profit K-12 schools and post-secondary educational institutions and provides reasonable safeguards for the owners of copyright-protected works in accordance with the Copyright Act and the Supreme Court.
Background Information
Effective August 31 2012, Camosun College has opted-out of any agreement with Access Copyright and will administer its own copyright procedures and controls. Many other Canadian universities and colleges made the same decision following the advice of the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC).
This decision to opt out was made in light of the Supreme Court of Canada decisions of July 12, 2012 that addressed fair dealing and the passing of the Copyright Modernization Act in June 2012.
Camosun faculty and staff are now required to adhere to the new Fair Dealing Policy. If copyrighted material used in a coursepack, in a classroom or on D2L etc. does not meet the standards of fair dealing (excluding materials used under the public domain or creative commons license) faculty will be asked to identify an alternative resource or seek permission for use from the copyright holder and pay any associated royalties. Assistance will be available when permission is required. If there are any immediate questions that are not addressed here please contact Copyright Advisor.
1. Teachers, instructors, professors and staff members in nonprofit educational institutions may communicate and reproduce, in paper or electronic form, short excerpts from a copyright-protected work for the purposes of research, private study, criticism, review, news reporting, education, satire and parody.
2. Copying or communicating short excerpts from a copyright-protected work under this Fair Dealing Policy for the purpose of news reporting, criticism or review should mention the source and, if given in the source, the name of the author or creator of the work.
3. A single copy of a short excerpt from a copyright-protected work may be provided or communicated to each student enrolled in a class or course:
4. A short excerpt means:
5. Copying or communicating multiple short excerpts from the same copyright-protected work, with the intention of copying or communicating substantially the entire work, is prohibited.
6. Copying or communicating that exceeds the limits in this Fair Dealing Policy may be referred to a supervisor or other person designated by the educational institution for evaluation. An evaluation of whether the proposed copying or communication is permitted under fair dealing will be made based on all relevant circumstances.
7. Any fee charged by the educational institution for communicating or copying a short excerpt from a copyright protected work must be intended to cover only the costs of the institution, including overhead costs.
Coursepacks are sold through the Camosun bookstore on a cost-recovery basis. To ensure your coursepack is ready at the beginning of semester you are advised to submit your materials early. All coursepacks will need to be checked for copyright compliance BEFORE they are printed. Faculty will be asked to adhere closely to submission deadlines in order to ensure that students don't experience increased wait times for their materials.
Coursepacks consist of four types of material:
Any work included in a course pack must carry a full and correct citation and the Copyright statement attached to it by the provider. Visit the library's citation guide for assistance. Please contact the Copyright & Institutional Repository Technician for any copyright related question.
These types of material are handled differently. Refer to the table below for a list of these different materials.
| Material | Definition | Forms Required | Citation list | Notes |
| Instructor created material |
Lecture notes, course outlines, lab manuals etc. that you or your department colleagues have created |
Coursepack requisition form from the Printshop |
Not required |
It is appropriate to cite the use of software programs when creating images. © Corel Draw |
| Public Domain | Material where the author has been deceased for 50 years or more (e.g. Stephen Leacock died in 1944 his works entered the public domain in 1994). |
Coursepack requisition form from the Printshop |
Required |
|
| Creative Commons License |
An open resource which has been published with a Creative Commons license. For example: |
Coursepack requisition form from the Printshop |
Required |
Ensure you are adhering to the terms of the specific CC license |
|
Copyrighted material short excerpts |
A short excerpt is defined by the college's fair dealing guidelines. |
Coursepack requisition form from the Printshop |
Required |
Copyright notice stickers are available in the Printshop or from the Copyright Advisor If an article or excerpt exceeds the limits of fair dealing, Please contact the Copyright Advisor |
On Commercialization of Intellectual Property (Camosun College Policy E-3.5), the College states the Ownership of Intellectual Property Guidelines.
Here's the guidelines for the students.
"Students own intellectual property in works developed as part of their normal course requirements, subject to any employment or other obligations between the student and the College, or any external parties that sponsor or support the student in the development of the intellectual property. The College shall have a right to use works developed by students in perpetuity for institutional, commercially non-competitive purposes and may retain prototypes or other original work developed by students using College resources." - Commercialization of Intellectual Property
Therefore,
You can also use students' works under Fair Dealing guidelines without permission (as news, journal articles or short stories). In this case, you must attribute the source and fill up Use of copyrighted materials form.
If you want to use students' works anonymously and revise it, the best option would be getting a written permission.
College doesn't have any specific "forms" for the permission since it is already addressed on our policies.
If you have any questions or need clarification please contact Copyright & Institutional Repository Technician.
When you use materials which you have not created (e.g. copyrighted, public domain, creative commons) in your coursepack, you must attribute the source of materials. Therefore, every coursepacks must includes the List of Copyrighted Materials page. Simply, if you didn't write it-cite it!
This list should be the first sheet in your coursepack. Any academic citation format will do. That means you can use your preferred citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago etc...) to produce the list.
At the top or bottom of the list page, you need to place the following prominent notice:
| © “This coursepack may contain short excerpts of copyrighted material. The copy is made solely for your personal use for research, private study, criticism or review only. Further reproduction, distribution, transmission, dissemination, or any other uses, may be an infringement of copyright if done without securing the permission of the copyright owner.” |
You can either use the template below to create the List of Copyrighted Materials page or put the notice sticker on your existing citation pages.
The citations page must include the following for each excerpt that will be used:
Examples:
© Susan Armitage, Making Connections: Gender, Race and Place in Oregon Country, Elizabeth Jameson and Sheila McManus, eds. One Step Over the Line: Toward a History of Women in the North.
© Schwartz, D.L. & Bransford, J.D. (1998). A time for telling. Cognition and Instruction, 14(4), 475-522.
Camosun College recommends our instructors to fill in Use of Copyrighted materials forms for materials which you have not created (e.g. copyrighted, public domain, creative commons) in your coursepack.
Please use the link below to download the form.
When you are ready to submit your coursepack for printing. You must include:
Please remember-you CANNOT charge a department royalty if you have material in your coursepack that was created by someone else. Only coursepacks that contain 100% original work can apply a department royalty. This includes charts, tables and diagrams.
Also, you CANNOT re-format, re-type or otherwise alter a copyrighted work without the express permission of the copyright holder.
SPRING/SUMMER TERM
MARCH 15th
FALL TERM
MAY 15th
WINTER TERM
OCTOBER 15th
The college's learning management system, D2L, can be used as a platform to organize your course readings.
Since D2L is computer based, you have choice of using variety of multimedia as well as printed materials of your coursepack.
For example:
The table below details how you can use various resources within D2L.
For more information and training regarding D2L, please check eLearning Tutorials at Camosun.
Please ensure you must follow Fair Dealing Guideline of Camosun College for all materials on D2L.
| Material | What you need to do |
| Open resource with Creative Commons license |
|
|
Public domain material |
|
| Images from books, internet etc. |
©“ This is solely for your personal use for research, private study, criticism or review only. Further reproduction, distribution, transmission, dissemination, or any other use, may be an infringement of copyright if done without securing the permission of the copyright owner. You may not distribute, e-mail or otherwise communicate these materials to any other person” |
| Scanned copy of a short excerpt |
©“This is solely for your personal use for research, private study, criticism or review only. Further reproduction, distribution, transmission, dissemination, or any other use, may be an infringement of copyright if done without securing the permission of the copyright owner. You may not distribute, e-mail or otherwise communicate these materials to any other person”
|
| Material from library's electronic resources |
|
|
PowerPoint slides from lectures |
|
| PowerPoint slides provided by publisher |
|
|
Videos & Music |
|
|
Links |
|
| Alternate Formats |
|
For more information about locating permalinks for library resources, refer to the Persistent Link page of our Troubleshooting eresources guide.
Camosun College Library, individually and through consortia, signs licensing agreements with vendors and publishers for access to electronic resources such as databases and eJournals.
Each resource has its own licensing agreement. Generally speaking, all electronic resource licenses do not allow:
Some licenses permit use in course packs and/or the creation of persistent links for insertion into an online course website such as D2L. Some licenses do NOT (for example, Harvard Business Review).
The terms of any license take precedence over the Fair Dealing Policy. If you are unsure of the terms of use for an item contact the Library.
1. Course Packs - Any work included in a course pack must carry a full and correct citation and the Copyright statement attached to it by the provider. Visit the library's citation guide for assistance.
2. Persistent Links - If you want to share an article, ebook, or chapter with other Camosun users, persistent URLs make it simple for the receiver to get to the document. A persistent URL or link is the web address of the document you want to share. You can copy and paste them into an email or a webpage.
The information in this table is quite brief, if you need more detailed information, please contact the library.
Database |
Use in Coursepacks |
Persistent Links |
|---|---|---|
Academic Search Complete |
No |
|
Access Science |
No |
|
Alt Health Watch |
No |
|
Applied Science Index |
Yes (a single article from an issue of a journal) |
|
ARTstor |
No |
|
Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport |
Yes |
|
Biological and Agricultural Index |
Yes (a single article from an issue of a journal) |
|
Biomedical Reference Collection |
No |
|
BC Stats Secure |
No |
|
Business Source Complete |
No |
|
Canadian Reference Center |
No |
|
Canadian Newsstand |
No |
|
CBCA (incl. Business and Reference) |
No |
|
CINAHL |
Yes (a single article from an issue of a journal) |
|
Consumer Health Complete |
No |
|
Criminology - from Sage |
Yes (a single article from an issue of a journal) |
|
EBMR: Evidence Based Medicine |
Yes |
|
ERIC |
No |
|
Not every materials are copyright protected. There are many alternative choices you can use which give you more flexibility and less restrictions than copyrighted materials. Most popular alternatives are:
Refers to works in which copyright has either expired or where the copyright owner has clearly specified that the work may be used without their explicit permission. Copyright protection may still apply to more recent editions, arrangements or adaptations of works in the public domain since copyright on public domain material is created when new content (footnotes, critiques, etc.) is added to the original material.
Each county has different copyright protection period. For example, Canada is life + 70, but New Zealand is life + 50. If there is some Public Domain materials on your course materials and you are expecting some students accessing D2L from any foreign county, please contact Copyright Advisor.
Further Detail: Copyright Term and Canada's Public Domain Chart, prepared by the Copyright Office at the University of Alberta / CC BY 4.0
Where to find public domain works:
Creative Commons (CC) is a nonprofit organization that helps overcome legal obstacles to the sharing of knowledge and creativity to address the world’s pressing challenges.
CC provides Creative Commons licenses and public domain tools that give every person and organization in the world a free, simple, and standardized way to grant copyright permissions for creative and academic works; ensure proper attribution; and allow others to copy, distribute, and make use of those works.
| Image | Condition | Description |
 |
BY (Attribution) |
Credit must be given to the creator |
 |
SA (Share Alike) |
Adaptations must be shared under the same terms |
 |
NC (Non Commercial) |
Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted |
 |
ND (No Derivatives) |
No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted |
Some content in this guide has been copied and adapted from Creativecommons.org licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0)
From: How To Attribute Creative Commons Photos by Foter, licensed under CC BY SA 3.0
For example:
How To Attribute Creative Commons Photos by Foter, licensed under CC BY SA 3.0
Open Access (OA) refers to scholarly literature that is freely available on the Internet.
These resources are sustained by the academic and scientific communities that produce them. They are typically found in peer-reviewed Open Access Journals and Institutional Repositories, which act as archives of institutions' scholarly output.
The library maintains a guide that outlines sources for open education resources, open access journals and books, and sources of open culture (images, video etc.). Open Resources Guide
Researchers
Educational Institutions
Businesses
Public
* Content on this page has been copied and adapted from Why Open Access? (SPARC)
The legality of open access materials is determined by the copyright holder. Some of the way holders can choose to disclose their material include a Creative Commons license, copyright free or Conditional Open Access. Unless the owner has set up the material as Open Access, it remains as copyrighted material in any circumstance until it comes to the public domain.
Various Academic services claim themselves as Open Access and their resources are legal. However, many of these services allow their users to upload materials and share. During this process, there is no permission or consent involved from its copyright holders. As a result of this, these sites are essentially File-sharing for books and articles, and are likely to be breaking copyright.
Camosun College supports legitimate Open Resources, but we do not support file-sharing sites which can break copyright.
One of the most recommended way to use copyrighted materials in your class is linking. Instead of copy and paste copyrighted materials without permission, you may put a hyperlink of the material on D2L. This won't be cons
idered as copyright infringement in Canada.
Copyright protects not only the creators' rights but also the users' rights. If copyright law is written too favorably to copyright holders, it will restrict users' rights and limit the goal of sharing knowledge across society. Therefore, there are always exceptions in copyright. For example, Canadian Copyright Law includes Fair dealing provision to protect users right. There are various exceptions more than Fair Dealing.
A person may use an existing work which has been published or otherwise made available to the public in the creation of a new work, provided:
Copyright Act, Section 29.21
A person may reproduce the source copy of a work they own or have licensed, provided:
Copyright Act, Section 29.24
A person may record a program for the purpose of listening to or viewing it later, provided the person:
Copyright Act, Section 29.23
A person may reproduce a work, for a private purpose, provided:
Copyright Act, Section 29.22
The following sections of the Copyright Act list other user's rights:
Exception |
Section |
|---|---|
| Persons with perceptual disabilities | Section 32 |
| News reporting of a public lecture | Section 32.2(1)(c) |
| Public reading of an excerpt from a copyright-protected work | Section 32.2(1)(d) |
| Use of a commissioned photograph | Section 32.2(1)(f) |
| Religious, educational, or charitable performance | Section 32.2(3) |
| Private music copying | Section 80 |
For a concise overview of exceptions to owners' rights for individuals, see pages 84-86 of Canadian Copyright: A Citizen's Guide (2nd ed.) (Murray & Trosow, 2013).
Adapted from Exceptions in Copyright Acts from Langara College under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
You have variety choice of using media materials in your class for online and offline.
If you have any question regarding using multimedia materials in class, please contact Patsy Scott (Media Librarian).
Most of images on the Internet are copyrighted that means you have to follow the same rules as other copyrighted materials when you use images on your course packs or D2L.
Here's little more details when you use images from the Internet.
If you have any questions or need clarification please contact Copyright & Institutional Repository Technician.
These websites provide copyright-friendly images you can use freely as long as you abide by any terms of use provided by the owner of the content.
1. Is it legal to download videos online?
2. Where can I find copyright-free videos?
3. May I change the format of a copyrighted film (e.g., digitize a VHS tape)?
4. May I show streaming video in the classroom?
5. May I show DVDs or videos in the classroom?
6. May I play a live television or radio broadcast in class?
7. May I copy a news program and use it in class?
8. May I copy a documentary or other TV programs for use in class?
Some Netflix original educational documentaries are available for one-time educational screenings.
Alternate Formats are different formats (either printed or electric) of primary documents. The goal of Alternate formats is to guarantees an equal access and opportunity to the information for everyone. Providing alternative formats makes content more accessible for everybody, including individuals with a disability.
Some common alternate formats are:
Copyright Act Canada Section 32 (1) permits making alternative format copies of copyrighted materials (such as Literary, dramatic, artistic and musical works, EXCEPT cinematographic) for individuals of perceptual disabilities.
32 (1) It is not an infringement of copyright for a person with a perceptual disability, for a person acting at the request of such a person or for a non-profit organization acting for the benefit of such a person to
(a) reproduce a literary, musical, artistic or dramatic work, other than a cinematographic work, in a format specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability;
(a.1) fix a performer’s performance of a literary, musical, artistic or dramatic work, other than a cinematographic work, in a format specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability;
(a.2) reproduce a sound recording, or a fixation of a performer’s performance referred to in paragraph (a.1), in a format specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability;
(b) translate, adapt or reproduce in sign language a literary or dramatic work, other than a cinematographic work, in a format specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability;
(b.1) provide a person with a perceptual disability with, or provide such a person with access to, a work or other subject-matter to which any of paragraphs (a) to (b) applies, in a format specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability, and do any other act that is necessary for that purpose; or
(c) perform in public a literary or dramatic work, other than a cinematographic work, in sign language, either live or in a format specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability.
Limitation
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the work or other subject-matter is commercially available, within the meaning of paragraph (a) of the definition commercially available in section 2, in a format specially designed to meet the needs of the person with a perceptual disability referred to in that subsection.
Camosun College has added the tool Ally into our D2L sites. Depending on what the original file format is, Ally will automatically generate the following alternative formats to support you during your program and courses on D2L.
Ally can only provide alternative formats for files that have been uploaded into the Course Content; it cannot create alternative formats of content on external websites that are linked from the Content.
These Alternative formats are for your personal use only; you may not copy, post or share the alternative format with others
For more information regarding ALLY on D2L, please contact Sue Doner.
For Instructors
Creating an inclusive and accessible learning environment requires the work of the entire college community. The Centre of Accessible Learning provides direct supports to students and is also committed to helping faculty learn more about disability services.
Contact
Phone
Lansdowne: 250-370-3312
Interurban: 250-370-4049
Lansdowne exams email: examslan@camosun.ca
Interurban exams email: examsint@camosun.ca
Further detail: Centre for Accessible Learning
