<<back to Research

What is Copyright?
What is Fair Dealing?
What is Access Copyright and the Access Copyright license?
Making Copies
What You Can't Copy
Algonquin College Documents and Directives
Useful Web Sites
Frequently Asked Questions

Copyright

What is Copyright?

Simply put, it means the right to copy. The copyright owner has the sole right to produce, reproduce or alter the work in any substantial part therein. Under the Canadian Copyright Act copying materials without permission is illegal. Copying materials must have the permission of the copyright owner or fall under the “fair dealing” clause of the Law. The Access Copyright license grants permission to copy published print materials.

What is “fair dealing”?

“Fair dealing” is a concept embedded in the Canadian Copyright Act and is not clearly defined, but in essence means under certain conditions copying can take place without contacting the copyright holder. If a small amount of copying is used for research, private study, criticism, review, and news reporting, Copyright Law is not infringed. Small amount incorporates both qualitative and quantitative elements of the work. In order for materials to be copied under the “fair dealing” clause credit must be given to the author and publisher and copying must be deemed fair. Fair dealing does not allow for multiple copies for classroom use and is not covered by the Access Copyright license.For a detailed description of Copyright Law in Canada consult the Government of Canada website:
http://laws.justice.gc.ca  

Using the law tab found at the top of the page you can search for the Copyright Act.

For general information on copyright and how it pertains to colleges please see The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) website.
http://www.aucc.ca Listed with the Publications and Resources area of their website is an AUCC pamphlet entitled Copying Right.

<Back to Top>

What is Access Copyright and the Access Copyright license?

For complete information see the Access Copyright website.
http://www.accesscopyright.ca/

In a nutshell, Access Copyright, the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, is a collective of copyright owners, and has the ability to authorize the use of printed published copyrighted works within certain parameters. Algonquin College has signed an Agreement with Access Copyright and now pays an annual fee to cover a variety of copying done at the College. The fees are passed on to copyright owners in the form of royalty payments. Because the Access Copyright license grants permission to copy published print materials within certain limits , it should make it easier for students, faculty and administrators to get their work done.

The License

• Has limitations and does not cover everything.
• Distinguishes between “incidental” copying and copying “for sale”.
• Does not cover Digital material. (See below)
• Does not cover anything on the Exclusions List. (See below)
• Does not cover Audio Visual material. (See below)
• Does cover print published material.

<Back to Top>

Making Copies

Incidental Copies

Incidental copying is defined as spontaneous, last minute copies not compiled in any way.

Library Reserves and Inter-Library loans come under this category.

You may make “incidental” copies for class distribution within the following guidelines:

Copyright Law requires a note to be placed on the copied material and must include

• The international copyright symbol: ©.
• The name of the author and publisher.
• A notice, which reads, “This material is copied under license from Access Copyright.

You may copy 10% of a published work or one of the following, whichever is greater.

• An entire newspaper article or page.
• An entire chapter, if it is not more than 20% of the book.
• An entire single short story, play, poem, essay or article, from a book or periodical issue, containing other works.
• An entire entry from an encyclopaedia, dictionary or similar reference book.
• An entire reproduction of an artistic work from a book or periodical issue, containing other works. (Artistic works include drawings, sculptures, paintings, prints, architectural works of art or works of artistic craftsmanship)

Copyright Law requires a note to be placed on the copied material and must include

• The international copyright symbol: ©.
• The name of the author and publisher.
• A notice, which reads, “This material is copied under license from Access Copyright. Resale or further copying is strictly prohibited”.

Copying for sale - Course Packs
Using the Access Copyright license does not replace buying educational materials, consequently the license has limits that must be adhered to.

Only the Algonquin Publishing Centre is authorized to generate course packs and only the Algonquin College Book Store is authorized to sell them.

Using Non-Textbook Materials in Course Packs

You may copy 15% of a work or one of the following, whichever is greater;

• An entire newspaper article or page.
• An entire chapter, if it is not more that 20% of the book.
• An entire single short story, play, poem, essay or an article from a book or periodical issue containing other works.
• An entire entry from an encyclopaedia, dictionary or similar reference book.
• An entire reproduction of an artistic work from a book or periodical issue containing other works. (Artistic works include drawings, sculptures, paintings, prints, architectural works of art or works of artistic craftsmanship)

When using textbook extracts for course packs

• The extract cannot exceed 5% or a single chapter of a textbook, whichever is less.
• It must not contain more than two extracts from textbooks written by the same author and published by the same publisher within a five-year period.
• No more than 50% of the pages in the course can be taken from textbooks.

The license requires a note to be placed on every extract of copied material and should include;

• The international copyright symbol ©.
• The name of the author and publisher.
• A notice that reads, “This material is copied under license from Access Copyright. Resale or further copying of this material is strictly prohibited”.

Fees

Fees are charged on a per page, per student basis.

The Algonquin College Publishing Centre will keep track of all copies made, and the Bookstore will keep track of all copies sold. Only copies which have been sold must pay the per page royalty fee. Course packs not sold must be destroyed.

Record Keeping

Accurate electronic records must be kept for all course packs copied, whether generated from textbooks or non-textbooks, as royalties have to be paid on a regular basis to Access Copyright. Access Copyright does not give refunds.

Course packs whether sold or not must be reported to Access Copyright.

<Back to Top>

What You Can't Copy

Under the license you cannot copy

Anything from the Exclusions List, and excluded categories, including but not limited to;

• Individual publishers and authors works named on the Exclusions List. The list is updated bi-annually.
• Unpublished works.
• Any materials intended for one time use, such as workbooks.
• Newsletters.
• Originals of artistic works (including photographs and prints).
• Sheet music.
• Business case studies.
• Letters to the editor.
• Works in which copyright is held outside of Canada and not named as covered in the license Agreement.

For more information on the Exclusions List, please contact Library Technician, Mary Anne Reinhard at ext. 7690 or via e-mail by clicking where indicated.

Digital Works are not covered by the Access Copyright license

Canadian Copyright Law applies to digital works in the same way as print material. In order to use digital material copyright, permission must be obtained and may involve a fee. A rule of thumb when considering copying digital material is to use the same guidelines as traditional formats. The same applies if you wish to copy material from a website.

For further details please see the Canadian Heritage Department guidelines.
http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/ac-ca/pubs/ic-ci/pubs/copymm_e.htm or contact the Learning Resource Centre at copyright@algonquincollege.com.

If you need to get permission to use a digital work Access Copyright can often assist with a digital transactional license. You can place a request for a digital transactional licence by emailing licensingadmin@accesscopyright.ca with the following information: Format (e.g. PowerPoint Presentations, Internet/Intranet posting, e-coursepack); Duration of the posting (with start and end date); Title and Author of Chapter/Article to be reproduced, Web address; Number of users that will be given access to the reproduction.

Audio Visual materials are not covered by the Access Copyright license

The Access Copyright license does not cover Audio Visual material, consequently Algonquin College must get permission to copy such materials.

For further details on AV copyright please see the following websites, or contact copyright@algonquincollege.com

The Audio Video Licensing Agency (AVLA) – www.avla.ca
Canadian Music Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRAA) – www.cmrra.ca
Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (SOCAN) – www.socan.ca
Visual Education Centre - Film rights - www.visualed.com

If you need to copy anything that falls outside the license please contact Algonquin College Learning Resource Centre copyright@algonquincollege.com

For more information, contact Mary Anne Reinhard reinham@algonquincollege.com

Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

<Back to Top>

Algonquin College Documents and Directives

Algonquin College Directive (pdf document) Currently under review Oct/06

Useful Websites

Access Copyright
http://www.accesscopyright.ca/

Copyright Matters! Some Key Questions and Answers for Teachers
A booklet produced by the Council of Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC) the Canadian School Boards Association (CSBA) and the Canadian Teachers' Federation to answer, in plain language, questions about copyright as it applies to the teaching environment.

The Copyright Act ( R.S. 1985, c. C-42 )

Government sites

http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/ac-ca/pubs/ic-ci/pubs/copymm_e.htm
http://www.justice.gc.ca/en/
http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/ac-ca/progs/pda-cpb/index_e.cfm
http://publications.gc.ca/helpAndInfo/cc-dac/crownis-e.html

University and College sites

http://www.aucc.ca/index_e.html

http://www.senecac.on.ca/library/
http://library.humber.ca/
http://www.carleton.ca

Sources used in the creation of the document

Harris, Lesley Ellen
Canadian Copyright Law : the indispensable guide for publishers, web professionals, writers, artists, teachers, librarians, archivists, curators, lawyers and business people / Lesley Ellen Harris : Toronto ; McGraw-Hill, c2001.

<Back to Top>