What Copyright Is

According to the Government of Canada’s guide to copyright, copyright is defined as “the sole right to produce or reproduce a work or a substantial part of it in any form” and it “provides protection for literary, artistic, dramatic or musical works (including computer programs) and other subject-matter known as performer’s performances, sound recordings and communication signals.”

The laws that govern copyright vary from country to country. The term “copyright” (copy + right) was first recorded between 1725 and 1735.

The copyright owner of a work, such as a textbook, is permitted to sell or distribute their work as they deem fit. This includes by assigning a licence or offering permissions to another party. For example, if an author decides to sell a book to a publisher, the contract might state that while the author retains copyright, the publisher has the right to print and sell the first copies of the book globally. In other words, the publisher has “First-time, non-exclusive, worldwide rights,” and for this right, the publisher pays the author. After the publisher has exercised this right, the author may resell their work.

Exceptions to copyright ownership: employment

Section 13(3) of Canada’s Copyright Act explains that one’s employer owns copyright. Jean-Sébastien Dupont and Guillaume Lavoie Ste-Marie, from the law firm Smart & Biggar, Fetherstonhaugh, describe it this way: “if the work is created in the course of employment under a contract of service, and absent any agreement to the contrary, the employer will be the owner of the copyright (emphasis added) in the work created by the employee without the need for a formal assignment.” This may vary depending on contractual agreements at particular universities and colleges. At some Manitoba post-secondary institutions, tenure-track faculty retain copyright of their works, while the institution owns copyright of works produced by instructors and staff.

What can and can’t be copyrighted

In Canada, copyright in works are divided into seven categories. Under Canadian law, copyright protection applies to all original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, as well as other specific types of subject-matter. For a work to be protected, it must be original (involving the exercise of skill and judgment) and fixed in a material form, such as being written down or recorded.

Additionally, works that are prepared or published under the direction or control of the Government of Canada are protected by Crown copyright. This includes the same categories mentioned above when created by government departments or employees as part of their employment. See: Crown Copyright Request.

Works within the public domain are not restricted by copyright, so they are owned by the public. However, copyright laws vary from country to country. For a detailed discussion on the public domain in Canada, see UBC’s Copyright-Free Materials; or: Why Should I Learn About the Public Domain?

Intellectual property

The terms copyright and intellectual property are not synonymous. As stated above, copyright are permissions that apply to specific creative works whereas intellectual property is a broad term that refers to a form of creative effort that can be protected through a trademark, patent, copyright, industrial design or integrated circuit topography.

Intellectual property rights are the permissions that cover these creative efforts, of which copyright is one.

Introduction to fair dealing

In the Canadian academic context, fair dealing is defined as a fundamental user right within the Copyright Act that permits students, faculty, and researchers to use copyright-protected material without needing to obtain permission or pay royalties. Its primary goal in education is to foster creativity, innovation, and the public good by balancing the rights of creators with those of the users.

Canadian post-secondary institutions do not use fair dealing as a “loophole” to avoid paying creators. Instead, they implement fair dealing policies and services to ensure they remain respectful of the law while fulfilling their teaching and research goals. Fair dealing guidelines generally allow copying up to 10% of a work, one chapter from a book, a single article from a journal issue, or an entire artistic work from a publication containing other works, provided the use is for educational purposes.

Sources: Copyright at Concordia Guide; Access Copyright and Fair Dealing Guidelines in Higher Educational Institutions in Canada: A Survey

You can bust some common myths and facts in Canadian post-secondary context from this Fair Dealing in Canada document.

Do’s and Don’ts in copyright

Adapted from the University of Manitoba’s copyright office under CC BY-SA 4.0 International license