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Copyright for Faculty & Staff

Copyright Updates 2022

Copyright Statements

It's best to place the copyright statement where it is identifiable, but not distracting. For electronic documents, it's recommended that the statement be added to the footer on the first page or slide. Avoid using watermarks as they can make a document difficult to read. Additionally, screen readers cannot read watermarks.

Statements for Instructor-Created Materials at Assiniboine

As an Instructor at Assiniboine Community College you may already be aware of policy R-03 and how it affects ownership and intellectual property rights. This policy outlines what materials the college owns, which includes works that are created in the course of ones assigned duties. Curriculum, administrative, and instructional by-products may be included and, as such, they require a copyright statement to be attached. This statement helps others understand who owns the copyrights of the material and who to contact in case they wish to use them.

The following copyright statement should be added to all Assiniboine created course materials:

  • Copyright © [year] Assiniboine Community College. For requests to use this copyright-protected work in any matter, email copyright@assiniboine.net
    • For the year, provide the year of first publication and substantial revision where applicable.
    • E.g. Copyright ©2021 Assiniboine Community College. Last revised 2023. For requests to use this copyright-protected work in any matter, email copyright@assiniboine.net

Statements for Using Copyright-Protected Materials at Assiniboine 

The following copyright statement should be added to all copyright-protected materials used at Assiniboine which you have received permission to use.

  • This copy has been supplied to you for personal research and study use in compliance with the Canadian Copyright Act, and/or with permission from the copyright owner. No further reproduction, distribution, or transmission is allowed, except as otherwise permitted by law.

Course Materials

Assiniboine faculty and staff are able to show legally obtained copies of films or videos in a physical classroom. They must be shown on Assiniboine premises for education or training purposes to an audience composed mainly of Assiniboine students.

 

Section 30.01 of 2012’s ‘Copyright Modernization Act’ allows for the use of copyright protected works in the online environment that matches how copyright protected works can be used in the physical classroom. It requires that instructors:

  • destroy any fixation of the lesson within 30 days after the day on which the students who are enrolled in the course to which the lesson relates have received their final course evaluations
  • take measures that can reasonably be expected to limit the communication by telecommunication of the lesson to students
  • take, in relation to the communication by telecommunication of the lesson in digital form, measures that can reasonably be expected to prevent the students from fixing, reproducing or communicating the lesson other than as they may do under this section

For Assiniboine instructors wanting to use videos on Zoom, this means:

  • You can show our Library-owned DVDs to students over Zoom as long as the meeting is password protected and the students know they can’t record the meeting on their own; use copyright statement provided in online guide
  • You can record the class in which you show the DVD and embed in Moodle since it is password-protected and for registered students only
  • You must destroy the recording within 30 days of the students receiving their final grades
Faculty and staff are able to use information from websites for educational purposes unless the site specifically declares otherwise. Such declarations are often found in sections called Permissions, Rights, Legal Notices, Terms and Conditions, or Copyright. It is still best practice and a way to model academic integrity to cite any information which you are allowed to use.

Faculty and staff may have to request permission to use copyrighted materials from their owners in different circumstances, including those which fall outside of the realm of Fair Dealing. These permissions:

  • Can be made with individual copyright holders
  • Must be in writing, which can be email
  • Must be in place before the document is copied
  • Must be sent to the Copyright Officer, with a copy kept in the related School office
  • Are available as templates
  • Need to be accompanied, not replaced by, citations

Faculty and staff may use television/news programs in the following ways:

  • Show a television program at the time of broadcast or livestream
  • Record a television program and review it for up to thirty days
  • Record a news program and use in classroom
  • Broadcasts/livestreams other than news programs may not be recorded and shown in classrooms
  • Illegal/downloaded programs may not be shown
  • Cinematographic works for entertainment/conference purposes require separate licenses prior to viewing
  • Copies are for use by Assiniboine students, faculty, or staff
  • You are making only enough copies to provide one for each student, two for each faculty member, and whatever you need for administrative purposes
  • You are copying no more than 10% of a published work, or the copying is more than 10% of a published work but is one of the following:
    • An entire article from a periodical issue or book containing other works
    • An entire single essay, short story, play, musical score, or poem from a book or periodical issue containing other works
    • An entire newspaper article or page
    • An entire entry from an encyclopedia, annotated bibliography, dictionary, or similar reference work
    • A single item of print music from a book or periodical containing other kids of works, or
    • An entire chapter
  • You have included the following information on at least one page of each item copied:
    • The international copyright symbol ©
    • A credit to the publisher, or the author or authors of the work, where known
    • The artist or illustrator of any artistic work copied, where known

Alternate formats help provide equal access to information for everyone. 

Some common alternate formats are:

  • Electronic Text (Word, PDF, PowerPoint, etc.)
  • Large Print
  • Closed Captioning
  • Digital Audio (e.g. MP3)
  • Braille

 

The Copyright Act of Canada, Section 32 (2), limits alternate formats:

  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. This means that students requiring alternate formats because of a perceptual disability, or a person acting on their behalf at ACC such as an instructor or staff member, may create an alternate format if one is not available for sale in the required format. Students are not able to upload, email, or otherwise share this alternate format item.


Reproduction in alternate format

  1. (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.

Instructors in Canada may copy, translate, communicate electronically, show or play any copyright-protected work for a test or examination provided the work is not already commercially available in an appropriate medium for the purpose of a test or examination.
Instructors and students can copy and communicate the text of federal and some provincial/territorial statutes, regulations, and court decisions for educational purposes from provinces and territories. Permission to reproduce Government of Canada works, in part or in whole, and by any means, for personal or public non-commercial purposes, or for cost-recovery purposes, is not required, unless otherwise specified in the material you wish to reproduce. Check out the Federal Government webpage regarding Crown Copyright for more details.

 

For more details about provincial legislation and statutes please contact the copyright officer.

Considering creating a course pack with curated materials? This can be an excellent choice for your course and reduce or eliminate additional costs for students. Assiniboine's Copyright Officer can help ensure you remain copyright complaint and answer any questions you may have about sourcing materials for your course pack. Please contact the Copyright and Academic Integrity Officer at copyright@assiniboine.net.

Quick Reference Guide to Copyright

There are five questions to ask when attempting to use materials. Follow the University of Ottawa's handy flowchart to help you navigate these questions (shared with permission). We also recommend using our fair dealing tool and consulting the Fair Dealing section of this guide to help clarify and provide more detail.

Copyright & Online Learning

Educational institutions can transmit lessons to students in real time over the Internet or make a recording of a lesson available on-line. Students and schools who have made copies of lessons containing copyright-protected material are required to destroy them within 30 days after the students who are enrolled in the course receive their final evaluations.