Copyright guide for Camosun College  

The College has a general copyright policy.

Access Copyright is a collective of creators and publishers that provides access to copyrighted materials for a fee.
For more information about the Access Copyright Tariff visit their Information for Education site

 General Questions contact Sybil Harrison (harrisons@camosun.bc.ca or 3604)

Coursepacks contact Laura-Lea Berna (Bookstore Manager) (bernal@camosun.bc.ca or 3081/4081)

DVD/video in classroom contact Nancy Henwood (henwood@camosun.bc.ca or 3611) or Ron Driedger (media@camosun.bc.ca or 3607)

Reserves - to place items on reserve contact lanreserve@camosun.bc.ca or intreserve@camosun.bc.ca 

As an instructor you are likely facing questions about how you can legally and ethically use materials created by others in your teaching and course materials. Copyright law - like law in general - deals with competing values. On one hand, copyright law is designed to protect the rights of the original authors; on the other hand, it also allows public access. What's clear is that determining what you can and cannot do can be complicated. For help, you can start here. 

Canadian law defines copyright as "the sole right or the right to allow others to publish, produce and to perform in public a literary or artistic work, for any purpose".   Copyright protection is automatic upon the creation of a work (there is no requirement to register copyright in Canada; however registration is available and can really help you protect your intellectual property). As a creator, your copyright exists until 50 years after the end of the year in which you die.  

Since copyright protection is automatic and lasts for such a long period, you should always assume that all works (print, audio-visual and those published on the web and other electronic media) are copyright protected and restricted in use. 

To use copyrighted materials you must:

• Act within the parameters of fair dealing (see below - this is a legal term, not just your opinion and there's a five-part analysis involved) OR
• Ensure the copying is "insubstantial" and therefore covered by the college's tariff agreement with Access Copyright (see left) OR
• Seek permission directly from the copyright holder

Fair dealing is the right within limits to reproduce a substantial amount of a copyrighted work without permission for the purpose of research, criticism, review, news gathering or private study. 

Fair Dealing is defined in section 29 of the Copyright Act.

Camosun College uses the ACCC (Association of Canadian Community Colleges) Fair Dealing policy to guide its practice.