Copyright

Copyright laws exist to protect the creators of published workds and to provide access to such works for the benefit of society.

A published work can be defined as a literary or artistic work protected by copyright in Canada that has been made available to the public with the consent of the copyright owner.

The copyright symbol © does not need to be present in order for copyright to exist. In Canada, a work is considered to be copyright protected as soon as the work is created. So it is safe to assume that every creative work made available to the public is protected by copyright law.

The duration of copyright in Canada is life plus 50 years. What does this mean? Material remains protected by copyright for 50 years after the death of the author. In the case of multiple authors it is 50 years after the death of the last surviving author.

In the case of "joint authorship", where one person's contribution is not distinct from that of the other author(s), then copyright will be protected until 50 years after the death of the last surviving author. This is not the case for those that contribute as editors, illustrators, cover designers, unless they specifically co-authored the material as a whole.

As of June 23, 2015 Canada extended the protection of copyright for performances and sound recordings to 70 years after the release date of the sound recording.

Most of us think of a copy as something that is printed or photocopied from an original. But the legal definition is much broader than this.

Here is a list of common educational copying activities:

• Scanning
• Photocopying
• Printing
• Posting course notes that includes material under copyright
• Live performances
• Television, radio and film performances
• Displaying materials on lecture slides
• Translation

Whenever staff, faculty or students engage in any of these activities, copyright must be considered. However, copying published works is not necessarily illegal. Educators have special rights within the Copyright Act that allow us to legally copy published material, provided we follow broad guidelines such as those set out in Fleming's Fair Dealing Guidelines.