The purpose of this guide is to inform faculty, staff, and students of Olds College about your rights and responsibilities pertaining to the use of copyrighted material, and to assist you in making decisions regarding the use of copyrighted work.
In Canada, copyright is governed by the Copyright Act which regulates the use and reproduction of intellectual and artistic creations. Olds College is committed to upholding intellectual property rights and respecting the work of content creators. Ensuring compliance with copyright laws is essential to avoid potential legal violations for faculty, staff, student, and Olds College.
For more information on the specifics of copyright law, please go to the Copyright Act of Canada.
See Olds College A29 - Use of Copyright Material Policy:
Disclaimer: This guide is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered as legal advice. Canadian law is complex and constantly evolving, and this guide may not address all aspects of your specific situation. This site is maintained by library staff and is not reviewed by legal counsel.
Copyright is the exclusive legal right to produce, reproduce, publish or perform an original literary, artistic, dramatic or musical work. The creator is usually the copyright owner. However, an employer—for example, a film studio—may have copyright in works created by employees unless there is an agreement in place stating otherwise.
The Canadian Copyright Act automatically grants protection for a work when it is fixed into a tangible medium, such as a book, software code, a video, etc. Copyright applies to original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works that are in a fixed material form (i.e., written, recorded) and means that a copyright owner has:
Generally, copyright lasts for the life of the author, the remainder of the calendar year in which the author dies, and for 70 years following the end of that calendar year. Therefore, protection will expire at the end of the 70th calendar year after the author dies.
Before , the general term of protection was 50 years after the death of the author. On , this term was extended to 70 years after the death of the author. The extension of this term does not have the effect of reviving copyright in works for which protection expired prior to .
Reference:
Government of Canada. (2024, February 21). A guide to copyright. https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/guide-copyright#copyrightDefinition
Copyright: The legal right of a creator of a work or the corporation who sponsored the work to copy, use, print or make it publicly available as they choose.
Copyright holder: The person or organization that holds the rights to publish/use/copy a particular work.
Copyrighted Material/Work: Any original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work created with skill and judgment and fixed in tangible form. “Original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work” includes every original production in the literary, scientific or artistic domain, whatever may be the mode or form of its expression, such as compilations, books, pamphlets and other writings, lectures, dramatic or dramatico-musical works, musical works, translations, illustrations, sketches and plastic works.
Fair dealing: Refers to exceptions made in Canadian copyright law to allow for the use of copyrighted materials for the purpose of study/education. However, there are limits as to what is considered fair.
Fair use: American version of fair dealing. American copyright laws differ from those in Canada, so please make sure you are consulting Canadian information when making decisions on the use of copyrighted materials.
Cite: To indicate that the information being quoted or referred to is from an outside source.
Citation/in-text citation: The use of the author’s last name followed by the publication year, either as part of the narrative of the text or in parentheses, placed after the information you are borrowing to attribute the thought to the original author. For example (Jones, 1984).
Reference: This is a list of all of the resources that you have referred to in a report, project, presentation, etc., usually located at the end of the paper, slideshow, etc.
Public domain: Works in the public domain no longer require permission from the copyright owner to be used by others. Copyright of a work continues for 70 years after the death of the creator. After that time, the work may be used/reproduced without permission, but full citations must still be used!
Creative Commons: Creative Commons is an alternative to copyright, in which the creator allows for reproduction of the work with fewer restrictions. There are several designations under Creative Commons.
OER: Stands for Open Educational Resource - a work created for the purpose of education for which the copyright holder allows the user to print, distribute, and in some cases modify, for the purpose of education. Make sure you read the usage rights for each resource, as they may vary.