Copyright overview

Copyright as Intellectual Property (IP)

As IPdefined by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, “IP is what you create, invent or develop as a result of your intellectual activity.” As with other types of property, the owner of the property has certain rights. IP rights include but are not limited to:

• copyright
• patents
• trademarks
• industrial designs

This guide covers copyright only.

Learn more about your author rights at Concordia.

Concordia's Policy on Intellectual Property (VPRGS-9) further specifies the IP rules and rights that apply to students and staff.

IP groups and subgroups

IP can be divided into two main groups: Copyright (literary or artistic) and Industrial Property. These two groups contain subgroups.

Copyright includes literary works (including software) and dramatic, musical and artistic works.

Industrial Property includes patents, plant breeds, protected geographical indication (PGI) and protected designations of origins (PDO) (to protect food and drink products from specific regions or produced with traditional processes), trademarks, designs and models.

About copyright

This video and quiz are from Module 1: An Introduction to the CARL Copyright Training Modules, by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), and are used under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence.

Copyright is...

How does copyright in Canada work?

In Canada, copyright is governed by the Copyright Act (R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42) which regulates the use and reproduction of intellectual and artistic creations.

Among other things, copyright protects works from being copied, published, reproduced, performed or distributed without the permission of the copyright holder (usually the author or the creator of the work). The Copyright Act provides exceptions for special circumstances such as education and research.

Copyright automatically applies to original and fixed works such as books, articles, videos, music, paintings, photographs, digital works, broadcasts, and performances.

When using and distributing copyrighted work, you should not reproduce, adapt, distribute, or perform copyrighted work unless at least one of the following conditions applies:

• you have permission from the copyright holder
• your use qualifies for fair dealing
• another exception included in the Copyright Act applies
• a licence allows you to do so
• the work is in the public domain
• an Open Access licence, for example, a Creative Commons licence, authorizes its use, and you use it in accordance with the terms of that licence
• it is an unsubstantial part of the work and is properly cited/quoted

In addition, at Concordia University, the Policy on Copyright Compliance as well as the Copyright Guidelines for Instructors have specific rules for our community.

Copyright Act

The following sections highlight some parts of the Copyright Act that are relevant to learning and research at Concordia.

Citation and attribution

Proper citing of sources is essential in academic work and in research. The Copyright Act, however, does not dictate any particular citation style. Copyright laws do not contain rules about proper citation; instead, citation is part of the rules regarding academic integrity, research integrity, and proper scholarship.

That being said, academic integrity and citation touch upon a creator’s moral right to attribution, which falls under the Copyright Act (s. 14.1 of the Copyright Act). Indeed, the Copyright Act describes the importance of acknowledging the maker or author and the source of a work (s. 29), and failure to do so could be an infringement of the Copyright Act. It is worth noting that the title and subtitle of a work are considered part of the work (s. 2).

Although citation styles are not part of the Copyright Act, the order and format for the attribution elements of author, title, and source are regimented by proper citation practices, which are essential in academic work and research. For more information on citing and quoting material, consult Concordia’s Academic Code of Conduct and see the section of the Concordia website about academic integrity. Guides to citation styles (such as MLA style, APA style) are also available on the Library's website.

Moral rights

Moral rights include the author’s rights of paternity, integrity and association with respect to their work.

The right of paternity includes the author’s right to claim authorship over the work, their right to use a pseudonym or pen name, or their right to remain anonymous.

The right of integrity allows the author the right to not have their work distorted, mutilated or modified in a way that is harmful to the author’s honour or reputation.

The right of association is related to the right of integrity. It provides the author with the right to bar others from using that author’s work in association with an entity, cause, product or service.

From the Copyright Act

Ideas, facts, and originality

Ideas and facts are not protected by copyright, but the original expression of an idea or of facts may be. For example, if a person had a new idea for a research study, the idea is not protected by copyright, but their planning notes would be.

Only works that are original and fixed are protected by copyright. A work is "fixed" when produced in any media, like paper or within a digital file. A work is considered "original" when it is the product of the author's own skill, judgment, and creativity, and it has not been merely copied. An original work demonstrates more than a trivial, mechanical level of skill and judgement.

For instance, statistical data on the Montreal population is not protected, but a table presenting these data in a specific way may be. Data is not an original creation—anyone could collect the raw numbers. However, the creator of a table presenting the data may exhibit skill and judgement in their representation, and the ensuing representation could be protected by copyright.

Duration of copyright

After copyright expires, a work becomes part of the public domain and may be freely copied, distributed, adapted and performed without permission from the author or the payment of royalties. In most cases, copyright lasts up until 70 years after the creator’s death following the end of the calendar year. Generally, copyright protection expires on the 31st of December in the year dated to 70 years after the creator’s death.

When assessing the duration of copyright note that the term of copyright increased from life plus 50 years on December 30, 2022 (s. 6). Works that entered the public domain before December 30, 2022, with the life of the creator plus 50 years, remain out of copyright. A term of life plus 50 years generally applies to works where the author died before December 30, 1972.

Exceptions to the life of the creator plus 70 years exist for specific types of works, including anonymous works, posthumous works, joint authorship, cinematographic works, and crown copyright (s. 6-12). For example, for cinematographic works (most feature films), copyright lasts for 70 years after the making of the work and can be extended to 75 years if the work is published before copyright expires to a maximum of 100 years from the making (s. 11.1).

From the Copyright Act

Copying, scanning, or reproducing for private personal use

You may make a copy of a portion of a work if you are using a non-infringing copy which you have legally obtained and which you will use for your private purposes or for other purposes permitted under the Copyright Act. This includes uses of that material in a manner that complies with the fair dealing exception or other exceptions under the Copyright Act. Otherwise, in order to use a work, a specific agreement, such as a licence agreement, must exist between you and the copyright holder.

With respect to the fair dealing exception, it is important to note that how much of a work can be copied, or what might be considered "fair," is not defined in the Copyright Act and must be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. For more information see the sections Substantial/insubstantial and fair dealing.

From the Copyright Act

Digital distribution: Email and internet

How much or how little of a work one can deliver electronically to one or many colleagues, students or staff depends upon the fair dealing provisions and other exceptions in the Copyright Act.

Email

It is generally not advisable to attach copyrighted works to an email unless you own copyright over the work or have been explicitly granted the right to do so. If you wish to share an electronic article, website, or other electronic resources with others, it is preferable to provide a permanent link and bibliographic reference in your email. For example, if you wish to send an article from an electronic journal provided by the Library to a colleague, a student or group of students at Concordia, send the link to the article, not the entire article (see: How to create permanent links to online articles). A colleague at another university may obtain the document from their home institution. If you wish to share a webpage, it is preferable to provide the link in the email as opposed to attaching the page to your message.

Internet

If you post copyrighted works on a publicly accessible website, you potentially would not benefit from an exception under the Copyright Act’s research or private study exception since this is a form of distribution. On the other hand, fair dealing allows education, parody, satire, criticism, review and news reporting, which may require posting a work on the internet. The quantity of the image, recording, video, text, and other works that you post should be proportional to the amount of criticism, review and news reporting that is done, and proper attribution must always be given to the original creator. It is preferable to provide links to the work rather than reproduce it in whole or substantially on the open internet.

Insubstantial/substantial

The Copyright Act protects substantial parts of works as well as whole works. Copyright specifically protects a "work or any substantial part thereof" (s. 3 of the Copyright Act), which implies that use of insubstantial parts of works protected by copyright are permissible pursuant to the Copyright Act.

Since "substantial" is not defined in the Act, the quantity and importance of what is being copied must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. In deciding whether a part of a work is considered substantial, the whole work must be considered. A few sentences from a novel would probably be considered insubstantial but a single line from a poem might be essential to the work and be considered substantial.

Keep in mind that the legal distinction between insubstantial and substantial could be further clarified by future case decisions.

Guiding questions include:

• Am I using only what is needed to serve a permitted purpose such as to make my argument or give adequate context?
• Can I make my point using something that I created myself?
• Will the creator’s copyrights be adversely affected by my use of this portion of the work?

The Insubstantial/substantial section was modified from Substantiality Guidelines by Western University and is used under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.

Quotation

It is generally understood that quotations fall under the “insubstantial use” doctrine, so long as they are of a reasonable length. The maximum allowable length of a quotation will depend on many factors such as the length and nature of the original work. For example, quoting half of a short poem is probably not an “insubstantial” use, while quoting a few paragraphs from a scholarly book may qualify as insubstantial.

Your discipline matters

Different disciplines have their own accepted practices. Academic integrity and authorship practices in your discipline may provide more important constraints to using insubstantial parts of copyright protected works (i.e., in determining the maximum length of a citation) than the Copyright Act. If you are a graduate student, it is highly recommended that you discuss such norms with your thesis supervisor or thesis committee or contact your subject librarian.

From the Copyright Act

Exceptions

Educational exceptions

(s. 29.4 to 30.04)

Under certain conditions, educational institutions or persons acting under their authority can make limited copies for instruction and examinations. See also sections of our guide covering translation and performance, broadcasting and playing sound recordings and images.

From the Copyright Act

Work available through the internet

You may, for educational or training purposes, do any of the following with a work available through the internet (s. 30.04):

• reproduce it,
• transmit it electronically to your students,
• perform it for an audience consisting of your students, and
• do any other act necessary for the purpose of the above acts.

However, the following conditions must be met:

• You must give attribution to the creator and source of the material.
• No technological protection measure restricts access to the material or the website where it is posted, such as a measure like a password that limits the material to individual use.
• The work or other subject-matter was not posted on the internet without the consent of the copyright owner.

Libraries, museums and archives exceptions

Canadian libraries, archives and museums benefit from exceptions that facilitate the delivery of print and electronic works. They may do anything that individuals may do for themselves so long as it is for private study, research, education, parody, satire, criticism or review (sections 30.1 to 30.4). For example, library personnel are allowed to make a copy of an article to be placed on course reserve for a faculty member.

From the Copyright Act

Exception for persons with perceptual disabilities

Reproduction in alternate format

The Copyright Act (s. 32) allows copying, translation, adaptation and reproduction of literary, musical, artistic or dramatic works to create a document in a format specifically designed for persons with perceptual disabilities. This exception does not apply in cases where the work is commercially available in an appropriate format or for cinematographic works.

From the Copyright Act

Fair dealing

The Fair Dealing Week video by University of Winnipeg Library is used under a CC-BY 4.0 licence.

Overview

"Fair dealing" offers some exceptions to the Copyright Act's general prohibition on copying. Faculty members, students, university staff, educational institutions, libraries, museums, and archives benefit from fair dealing (s. 29.4 to 30.4).

To qualify for fair dealing, the use of a copyrighted work must meet two conditions:

1. The use of a copyrighted work is for one of the following purposes:
   • research,
   • private study,
   • education,
   • parody,
   • satire,
   • criticism,
   • review, or
   • news reporting.
2. The dealing is fair.

In the CCH Canadian Ltd. V. Law Society of Upper Canada [2004] decision, the Supreme Court proposed the following criteria (a six-factor test) for evaluating whether a dealing is fair:

1. The purpose or goal of your use. Ask yourself what the real purpose or motive is when reproducing or distributing a work. A non-commercial purpose is more likely to be fair. It must be an allowable purpose.
2. The character of your use. Ask yourself how you will copy and distribute the work. A single, one-off copy is more likely to be fair than multiple, widely distributed copies.
3. The amount you are using. A small portion tends to be fairer than a large portion of a work. No more of the work should be used than is reasonably necessary to achieve the intended purpose.
4. Whether there are alternatives to the use. Your use is more likely to be fair if there were no reasonable alternatives to making the copy.
5. The nature of the work being used. Copying works that are not confidential or were intended to be widely shared is more likely to be fair.
6. The effect on the market for the original work. Copying will tend to be fair if it has no detrimental impact on sales of the original.

The purpose, character, amount, and alternatives available must be considered and outweigh the nature and the effect of the dealing on the work.

The Overview section was modified from Copyright Open Educational Resource for University Instructors and Staff by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) and is used under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence.

Fair dealing flowchart

The flowchart below can guide you through considering whether fair dealing applies to your situation.

Fair dealing for using copyright-protected work in research or education

The fair dealing six-factor test applies on a case-by-case basis whereby the interplay between factors generates overlap. The six factors need to be evaluated collectively in each use case.

Six-factor test

Consider where your use falls on the fairness continuum:

1 - Fundamental purpose

2 - Character of the dealing 3 - Effect of dealing on the original work 4 - Nature of the work 5 - Available alternatives 6 - Amount of the work

Fair Dealing and Open Educational Resources

Code of Best Practices in Fair Dealing for Open Educational Resources: A Guide for Authors, Adapters   Adopters of Openly Licensed Teaching and Learning Materials in Canada

Canadian Open Educational Resources authors and instructors adapting or customizing openly licensed materials may want to consult best practices for fair dealing. The code is a Canadian adaptation of the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational Resources. The adaptation is the result of extensive work from Canadian Copyright librarians and officers from the CARL working group and subsequent review from notable legal scholars, Carys J. Craig and Lucie Guibault, and practicing lawyer Michal Jaworski.

Licences

Licences are contracts that regulate the reproduction and use of works alongside the requirements of the Copyright Act. Some licences impose other restrictions on the use and reproduction of works. Others waive certain rights that are part of the Copyright Act. In the context of the university, faculty members and students should know about the following types of licences:

• The COPIBEC licence, which is an agreement between COPIBEC and the majority of Quebec universities, regulates the reproduction and distribution of copies of works for teaching. The licence specifies limitations on what can be reproduced (such as percentage of total work, type of work) and the payment of royalty fees. Learn more about the COPIBEC licence. For information on the creation of course packs and ePacks, see the most recent COPIBEC memo issued by the Office of the Provost.
• Most of the databases available through the Library have licences that govern use and reproduction of their contents. For instance, while some database licences allow for full-text journal articles to be sent to oneself by email, others do not. Most of the licences limit the usage of the database to non-commercial purposes. If you are uncertain about using one of the Library's databases, contact your subject librarian.
• Open licences such as Creative Commons licences.

Basic concepts

Creative Commons (CC)

CC licences are standard copyright licences that any creator can apply to their work to allow others to share, remix, or use their work without requiring permission.

(From CC Licences and OER on Concordia Library's Open Educational Resources guide).

Creator/author

The author or creator holds copyright in their work as soon as it is created, unless and until they assign that right to another person, company, or organization. Publishing a work and creating a work during the course of employment are two situations in which copyright is often transferred.

"Creator/author" is adapted from Who owns copyright in the works I create at Simon Fraser University? by Simon Fraser University Library and is used under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence.

Exceptions to infringement of copyrights

Exceptions in the Copyright Act help balance the rights of authors and the rights of users of copyright-protected materials. Under certain purposes and certain conditions, exceptions allow for some use of works by those who do not own the copyright. Examples include Educational Institutions, Libraries, Archives and Museums, Persons with Perceptual Disabilities, Fair Dealing, Non-commercial User-generated Content, Reproduction for Private Purposes, Fixing Signals and Recording Programs for Later Listening or Viewing and Backup Copies.

Fair dealing

The fair dealing exception in the Copyright Act allows you to use other people’s copyright-protected material for the purpose of research, private study, education, satire, parody, criticism, review, or news reporting, provided that what you do with the work is ‘fair’ pursuant to the law. The fair dealing section of this guide has more information on criteria that determine fairness in the use of a work. (See section on fair dealing.)

“Fair dealing” is adapted from What is fair dealing and how does it relate to copyright? by Simon Fraser University Library and is used under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence.

Fixed work

A work is "fixed" when it is produced onto any media, like paper or within a digital file. Only works that are original and fixed are protected by copyright.

Licences

Licences are contracts that regulate the reproduction and use of works. Some licences impose further restrictions on the use and reproduction of works and some waive certain rights that are part of the Copyright Act.

Concordia University has signed the COPIBEC licence, and Concordia University Library subscribes to licences, allowing access to electronic resources and publications through Concordia Library’s databases (see: Licences). The Library’s Usage Rights Database has information about licence restrictions for most of the Library’s databases and other digital resources.

Moral rights

Separate from economic rights, the creator of a copyright-protected work also holds moral rights, which include the right of paternity over the work (to claim authorship, remain anonymous or adopt a pseudonym); the right of integrity of the work (to prevent distortion, modification or mutilation of a work); and the right of association with the work (to control activities associated with a work).

“Moral rights” is copied from What are moral rights and what do they have to do with copyright? by Simon Fraser University Library and is used under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence.

Public domain

The public domain consists of works that are not protected by copyright or on which their copyright protection has expired. In Canada, for works not in the public domain before 2023, the term of copyright is the life of the author plus 70 years, and 75 years after publication of cinematographic works and sound recordings. Works that are not under copyright are part of the public domain and can be freely copied, distributed, adapted and performed without permission nor payment of royalties.

Rights holder

The rights holder is the person or entity (such as an editor or organization) who owns copyright in a work. Economic rights pursuant to this ownership include the right to produce, reproduce, present, communicate or publish the work, or to authorize said uses and to benefit financially from the work. Economic rights can be licensed (temporarily) or assigned (permanently) and are different from the moral rights of the author.

"Rights holder" is adapted from What rights does a copyright owner have? by Simon Fraser University and is used under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence.

Technological protection measures (TPM) / Digital locks / DRM

Technological protection measures (TPM, also known as digital locks or digital rights management (DRM)) are any digital management tools used to restrict what users can do with digital materials. TPM are defined in Canada's Copyright Act as:

“any effective technology, device or component that, in the ordinary course of its operation, (a) controls access to a work, to a performer's performance fixed in a sound recording or to a sound recording and whose use is authorized by the copyright owner; or restricts the doing – with respect to a work, to a performer's performance fixed in a sound recording or to a sound recording – of any act referred to in section 3, 15 or 18 and any act for which remuneration is payable under section 19.” (s. 41)

TPM are generally put in place by the copyright holder or content provider (i.e., website owner) to control the ways in which that content can be used. The Copyright Act prohibits the circumvention of a TPM, even to instructors in an educational institution under the Educational exceptions.

What are technological protection measures?

There are two types of TPM:

• access control measures, which restrict access to a work, and
• copy control measures, which restrict what can be done with the work.

Examples of access control TPM include:

• passwords,
• paywalls or subscriptions,
• registration keys,
• time limits (e.g. 48-hour movie rental),
• limits on the number of simultaneous users (e.g. library ebooks),
• encryption/scrambling (e.g. regional encoding on DVDs, IP blocking based on location) and
• selective incompatibility (e.g. a CD that will read in a CD player but not a computer CD drive).

Examples of copy control TPM include:

• read-only works (e.g. ebooks),
• download blocking (e.g. streaming content),
• copy blocking (e.g. digital music and movies),
• print blocking,
• labeling and
• watermarks.

"Technological protection measures (TPM)" is adapted from Technological Protection Measures (TPM) - Fact Sheet by Simon Fraser University and is used under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence.

Terms of use / terms of service

Online content on websites will often have a use agreement of some kind which has implications for copyright. The terms of use for a website, sometimes known as terms of service, will typically be found in a link (frequently named “Legal” or “Terms”) on the bottom of a webpage.

It is your sole responsibility to review and respect terms of use / terms of service.

FAQ

General FAQ

1. What is copyright? What does it do?

In Canada, copyright is governed by the Copyright Act (R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42) which regulates the use and reproduction of intellectual and artistic creations.

Copyright protects original work from being copied, performed or distributed without the permission of the copyright holder. The Copyright Act, however, provides exceptions to allow certain uses of copyrighted works, such as the use of copyrighted works for education and research. (See: Copyright Overview).

2. What is covered by copyright?

Copyright automatically applies to original works such as books, articles, videos, movies, music, images, paintings, photographs, digital works, broadcasts and performances. It does not apply to facts and ideas. (See: Copyright Overview).

3. How do I know if I can legally reproduce, translate, or adapt someone else’s work?

The question of whether you can use someone else’s work depends on whether the work is currently copyright protected and whether a licence authorizes you to do so or an exception applies. If the work is copyrighted, and there is no applicable licence or exception, you will need to ask permission. Depending on the particulars of your use, you may need to:

• Investigate whether the work is in the public domain
• Consider whether your use is an insubstantial part of the work
• Confirm if you already have permission such as through a licence, including open licences
• Validate if the Copyright Act provides an exception in such circumstances (education, research, library, archive)
• Read up on whether your use qualifies as fair dealing
• Ask for permission from the copyright holder

4. How can I get permission to use someone’s work?

When seeking permission, seek it in writing. The first step is to determine who holds copyright in the work that you want to use. Note that this is not always the author/creator and can sometimes be an editor, agent, publisher or someone else. Then, contact the rightsholder to seek permission.

If you are a graduate student, see how to seek permission to include copyright works in your thesis.

5. Are there cases where copyright doesn’t apply, and I can freely reproduce, adapt, or translate someone else’s work?

Copyright doesn’t apply to titles, names, slogans, word combinations, ideas, and facts – as well as works with expired copyright (public domain). In addition, some creators intentionally choose to allow others to freely reproduce their work, often by applying open licences. Learn more about open use.

It should be noted, however, that there may be situations where copyright does not apply but another intellectual property right, like trademark law or patent law does. This is especially true in the case of corporate names, logos, slogans, etc.

It should also be noted that you can freely use your own work unless you have transferred copyright over that work to a publisher or another individual. In that case, you may need to obtain appropriate permissions from the current copyright holder.

See also:

• Substantial/insubstantial
• Exceptions
• Fair dealing

6. How do I know if something is in the public domain?

Works over which copyright protection has expired are part of the "public domain" and can be freely copied, distributed, adapted, and performed without permission from the author or the payment of royalties. Learn more about the public domain and open use.

It is worth noting, however, that translations and other ‘original’ adaptations and annotations are also protected by copyright, so if you plan on using a translation, adaptation or annotation of a work, even if the original work is in the public domain, you will need to check to see if that work is also in the public domain.

7. Can I use copyright-protected work, including images and videos, for teaching (on Moodle, in lecture slides, as handouts in class, etc.)?

Before using copyright-protected work such as images and videos for teaching, please refer to the For Instructors section. You can also learn about Open Educational Resources, which can be reproduced and shared freely. For instance, it is not an infringement of copyright for educational or training purposes in respect of a work that is available through the internet to reproduce it or perform it, if the work is not protected by a technological protection measure (like a digital lock), and there is no prohibition to such reproduction or performance in a clearly visible notice (s. 30.04 Work available through the internet). There can be some limits to the amount of material that can be reproduced from any given copyright-protected work and in the ways the content can be shared.

8. I’m a student. Can I use images and videos from the internet in assignments and projects for my courses?

Although there are websites that allow free downloading of images, mostly for personal use only, many websites include copyrighted images. Find out more about whether your use constitutes fair dealing and visit the By media type section.

Fair dealing (s. 29.1) allows you to make copies of images that are copyright protected for the purposes of research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, and review.

9. Do I have copyright over the work I produce as a Concordia student, faculty or staff?

In most cases, students have copyright over their coursework. It is worth noting, however, that there are some exceptions to this principle, e.g., when a student has signed a sponsorship agreement, is a co-author to a work, or in particular instances when another intellectual property right other than copyright may apply. See the For students section of this website as well as Concordia's Policy on Intellectual Property.

Faculty and staff members’ copyright is determined by several factors, including their union’s collective agreement and the circumstances in which the work was created. For more information, see the Policy on Intellectual Property (VPRGS-9) and your collective agreement.

10. What is COPIBEC and how does it apply to me?

Concordia University, along with other Quebec universities, is party to an Agreement with COPIBEC, a not-for-profit collective representing authors and publishers. As part of this Agreement, Concordia University pays an annual fee to COPIBEC, in return for which Concordia is authorized to prepare and provide copyrighted materials to its students, including by way of paper and digital course packs and digital Library Course Reserves. The licence specifies the limitations on what can be reproduced (such as number of pages, percentage of total work, type of work) and the payment of royalty fees. Learn more about the COPIBEC licence

11. What is the difference between copyright and a patent?

Inventions with unique functionality can be protected by patents. Copyright is the right to reproduce or perform an original literary, artistic, dramatic, or musical work. It is worth noting that, in certain instances, software may be protected by both copyright and a patent. Learn more from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.

12. What is the difference between citing a source and needing someone's permission to use a work?

The proper citing of sources is essential in academic work. Citation is primarily governed by academic integrity practices, which are not the same as copyright rules. The creators' moral rights, which include their right to attribution or to remain anonymous, are part of copyright. Citation practices guide how to format the name and title, amongst many other bibliographical details, whereas the Copyright Act does not.

For more information on citing and quoting material, consult the Academic Code of Conduct as well as A guide to academic integrity. Guides to citation styles (such as MLA, APA) are available on the Library's website.

13. How can I tell if the materials I find online are legal copies?

Figuring out if content was legally posted online can be difficult. That said, there are a few things to keep in mind when assessing content that will help you make a more informed decision.

Keep the following in mind:

1. What website was it posted on? What is that website's reputation?
   If the content is posted on a reputable website, it is more likely to be legal content. For example, if content is posted on the website of a newspaper (e.g., The Globe and Mail) it would be more likely to be legitimate content than material posted on an individual’s blog. Be more cautious with sites that allow users to upload content, such as YouTube and other social media sites, as many users do not consider the copyright implications of posting content without permission. Content put up on the internet without permission has a higher likelihood of getting taken down. Where possible, go straight to the source. For example, when looking for a copy of a news broadcast, go straight to the news organization's page or to their account on the service you are using.
2. Who posted the content, and who is the copyright owner of the content?
   Have a look at who posted the content and think about how likely they were to have permission to post the content. For example, if they are the copyright owner, they don’t need permission. If they are the creator of the work, they are more likely to have permission or be the owner. Here are a couple of examples:
   1. A video of a BBC news broadcast is more likely to be a legitimate copy if it was posted by the official BBC account on YouTube, than if it was posted by an anonymous individual user.
   2. An image posted on a photographer’s digital portfolio is more likely to be a legitimate image than a copy found on another individual’s blog.
   3. What attribution or permission statement is present?

   If content is posted on a website, and it is unlikely that the website owner is the copyright owner, look for an attribution statement that indicates that permission was sought to use the content. This would be something like, “Image posted with permission of Photographer X.” You may also find that content posted by the copyright owner is posted with the terms of use or a copyright statement which sets forth the scope of authorized use.

   If you've gone through these tips and are having trouble determining if the content you have was legally posted, please contact a librarian.

   "How can I tell if the materials I find online are legal copies" is adapted from the University of Waterloo Copyright Advisory Committee and is used under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.

14. How do I know if it’s OK to use a video that I find online?

Most online content will have terms of use of some kind. Consult the terms of use before showing the work in class, saving it, or using it in your own work. Please pay attention to technological protection measures (digital locks) or clearly visible notices prohibiting or limiting use. It is not an infringement of copyright to reproduce or perform a video that is available through the internet for educational or training purposes provided that the requirements set forth in the Copyright Act are respected (see the Exceptions section).

Even if the content is available freely on the web, it may still be covered by copyright and you must adhere to the terms of use of a website, which can often be found in a link (frequently named “Legal” or “Terms”) on the bottom of a webpage. Of particular note, the CBC has an FAQ page for use of their digital content. For live television programs, see the section on Radio and Television Broadcasts and Educational Exceptions for Radio and Television Broadcasts.

You should also avoid linking to, copying, or downloading videos from questionable websites that are known for pirating videos without the creator’s consent.

15. What if I want to create “non-commercial user-generated content,” like a fun video to put on YouTube or TikTok, using other people’s works?

There are some situations where s. 29.21 of the Copyright Act, sometimes called the “mashup provision,” allows for the use of copyrighted material in user-generated content. See the User-generated content section for more information.

Instructor FAQ

1. As an instructor, do I own copyright in my teaching materials?

You should consult your collective agreement. Furthermore, Concordia’s Policy on Intellectual Property (VPRGS-9) states that instructors retain copyright in any works they create (see sections 28-32), which includes teaching materials.

Instructors always maintain moral rights over the course materials that they create. However, “in the case of a Work commissioned by the Employer, the Copyright shall remain with the Employer, unless the terms of the commission state that Copyright shall remain with the member” (CUFA collective agreement, 27.30). Commissioned work means that an agreement between the University and the author has been signed that states who owns the copyright over that work, among other things.

2. Why consider adding an open licence to my teaching materials?

As a course instructor, you can consider adding open licences to your course materials to grant permission for reuse and to control how your work is shared in the educational community as well as in other contexts, while also enabling students and other instructors to readily identify how and whether they can copy and alter copied versions of the work. Learn more about Creative Commons licences, a commonly used set of open licences.

3. What can students do with my teaching materials?

Course materials that you have created are part of your intellectual property. Inform students if you have given your instructional materials an open licence, making the name of the licence, its terms, and attribution statement clear. If not openly licensed, course materials such as lecture notes, presentation slides, syllabi, and lecture recordings are to be used only by students registered in your course, for their own private study or for other uses authorized under the Copyright Act. This means that students should not distribute or share materials, including uploading them to note-sharing websites.

Students should obtain your permission if they want to record your lectures for their own use or contact the Access Centre for Students with Disabilities, if appropriate.

4. Can I use a work that I have published elsewhere in a course that I am teaching?

If you have transferred your exclusive economic rights in copyright and a copyright exception does not apply, you will have to obtain the consent of your publisher to use your work in class. They might permit you free of charge or charge a fee. For this reason, it can be helpful to look closely at publishing agreements before signing. Negotiate the terms to meet your teaching needs, and keep track of your publishing contracts, which let you track the details and know whether you have signed away your copyright.

Student FAQ

1. As a student, does the professor of a course own my work created for the course?

No. “Student Intellectual Property means any Inventions or Works conceived, developed or first reduced to practice by a Student as work product of a “for credit” course or extra-curricular activity where such activity is not governed by a Sponsorship Agreement and/or does not involve the Substantial Use of University Facilities, and where such Invention or Work was conceived, developed or first reduced to practice without the inventive contribution of a Non- Student Member” (Policy on Intellectual Property). Relevant areas of the Policy on Intellectual Property include the section on Coursework and Extra-Curricular Activities.

In summary, as a student at Concordia, you hold intellectual property rights (including copyright) in inventions and works you create in courses or in extra-curricular activities. Exceptions include:

1. entering into a Sponsorship Agreement
2. with respect to inventions, making substantial use of the University’s facilities
3. involving the “inventive contribution” of a faculty or staff member.

It is worth noting that a work may be owned by multiple copyright owners in cases of co-authorship or team work.

2. What can I do with my instructors’ teaching materials?

Course materials are their creators’ intellectual property. It is recommended that instructors inform students if they have given the materials an open licence and, if so, the terms of that licence. If not openly licensed, course materials such as lecture notes, presentation slides, syllabi, and lecture recordings are to be used only by students registered in the course for their own private study. This means that as a student, you should not distribute or share materials, including uploading them to note-sharing websites. Obtain your course instructors’ permission if you want to record lectures for your own use or contact the Access Centre for Students with Disabilities, if appropriate.

Page last reviewed on: 2024-05-07