Working with Copyright

*October 2022

This instructional module is not intended as legal advice. All Opening Up Copyright modules are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0) International license. 

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HOW DOES COPYRIGHT WORK?

All Rights Reserved

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©

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Prison… seriously?

CONTROL… LIMITED CONTROL

©

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= CONTROL

©

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What kinds of rights do I have?

What kinds of rights do we have?

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED… MAYBE

©

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All Rights Reserved

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©

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Mine… it’s all mine

Some for me… and some for others

SHARING IS CARING

Cool! Thanks for sharing

This thing is great

I can see why this made you famous!

BETWEEN ALL RIGHTS AND �NO RIGHTS

No special rights for anyone

No special rights for anyone

Public Domain

©

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All Rights Reserved

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©

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“A short quote…”

(insubstantial copying)

Please, may I…

THE LIMITS TO COPYRIGHT

©

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©

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It’s mine… and it’s protected

Public Domain

©

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Has anyone seen Yorick? We’ve both been gone a long time

Hamlet

and

Zombies

INSUBSTANTIALITY

Public Domain

©

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A short quote from a long work is often not a substantial piece of the work.

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Insubstantial amounts of a work do not fall under copyright protection at all.

“A short quote…”

“A short quote…”

“A short quote…”

EVERYONE IS A CREATOR �AND A USER

Public Domain

©

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All Rights Reserved

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No special rights for anyone

©

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Creator

User

I’m a creator and a user… just like everyone else!!

OPEN LICENSING

How can I share this…

on my terms

©

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… no, too restrictive

Open Licences

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Perfect!

Cool! Thanks for sharing

This thing is great

I can see why this made you famous!

USING OTHERS’ WORK

???

Talk about easy to understand

ASKING PERMISSION

I wish we could copy the whole thing

©

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Sure… for five bucks

Please, may I…

COPYRIGHT ACT EXCEPTIONS

Please, may I

Exceptions to Infringement ss. 29-32.2

COPYRIGHT ACT EXCEPTIONS

Exceptions to Infringement ss. 29-32.2

Fair dealing (s. 29)

Individual Exceptions (ss. 29.21 to 29.24)

Institutional Exceptions (ss. 29.4 to 30.4)

FAIR DEALING

STEP 1: Assess the Purpose

STEP 2: Assess the Dealing

INDIVIDUAL EXCEPTIONS

User-Generated Content (UGC)

Time shifting (recording for later use) and

Format shifting (switching media)

Backup Copies

Backup Copies

Backup Copies

Don’t forget to check the conditions (limitations)

INSTITUTIONAL EXCEPTIONS

Don’t forget to check the conditions (limitations)

Didn’t you just say that?

Yeah, but it’s important!

IT’S ALL ABOUT BALANCE

“A short quote…”

(insubstantial copying)

©

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©

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

You should now be able to:

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• Recognize when copyright is a factor when using material created by someone else

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• Describe the range of ways copyright might impact use from all rights reserved to no special rights for anyone

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• Understand that term lengths, substantiality and a variety of exceptions aim to balance the interests of rights holders and users

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

2. Balance is a big deal in copyright law. What are the provisions in the Copyright Act, as a whole, attempting to balance? 
1. Financial compensation for authors and students needing to copy educational materials.
2. Slices of cheese and measuring weights.
3. Interests of rights holders and users of works that are subject to copyright protection.
4. Financial compensation for rights holders and libraries needing to make copies of works for posterity.

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1. “All rights reserved” in the front of a book means you can never, ever legally reproduce any part of that book.
1. True
2. False

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QUESTIONS

4. If something is freely available on the internet then it is in the public domain and you don’t have to worry about copyright. 
1. True
2. False

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• Which of the following exceptions to copyright infringement is the most common and most important?
• Fair Dealing
• Educational Institutions
• Personal Desire
• Emergency Measures

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3. You can legally make and share copies of a copyright-protected work under which of the following scenarios?
1. When your use is supported by an exception to infringement in the Copyright Act. 
2. When the rights holder has given you permission to do so.
3. When the amount of the work you are using is insubstantial.
4. All of the responses are correct.

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QUESTIONS

Murray, L. J., & Trosow, S. E. (2013). Canadian copyright: A citizen’s guide (2nd ed.). Between the Lines. 

Vaver, D. (2011). Intellectual property law: Copyright, patents, trade-marks (2nd ed.). Irwin Law.

REFERENCES AND RESOURCES

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). (n.d.). FBI anti-Piracy warning. PD. From Patel, N. (2011). Does senate bill 978 make YouTube and video game run-through videos illegal? Not Really. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2011/07/06/senate-bill-978-youtube-video-game-lets-play-videos-illegal

FBI. (2012). FBI anti-piracy warning. PD. From Webster, A. (2012). US Government unveils new piracy warnings for DVDs and Blu-rays. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2012/5/9/3009210/us-government-dvd-blu-ray-piracy-warnings

Jolan Soens. (2016). Prison. The Noun Project. CC BY. https://thenounproject.com/icon/prison-567031/

endritprenku. (2021). Prison doors closing. FreeSound. CC0. https://freesound.org/people/endritprenku/sounds/613498/

Gan Khoon Lay. (2018). Boss. The Noun Project. CC0. https://thenounproject.com/icon/boss-1587076/

Oksana Latysheva. (2017). People group. The Noun Project. CC BY. https://thenounproject.com/icon/people-group-1310753/

IMAGE AND SOUND REFERENCES

Tippawan Sookruay. (2021). Artist. The Noun Project. CC BY. https://thenounproject.com/icon/artist-4275231/

Creative Commons. (n.d.). [Creative Commons Logo]. https://creativecommons.org/about/downloads

AFY Studio. (2019). Scale. The Noun Project. CC BY. https://thenounproject.com/icon/scale-2772463

Jeff Ahlberg. (2013). Circus Tent. The Noun Project. CC BY. https://thenounproject.com/icon/circus-tent-9821/

Rob Crosswell. (2017). Library. The Noun Project. CC BY. https://thenounproject.com/icon/library-1122689/

Bieu Tuong. (2018). School. The Noun Project. CC BY. https://thenounproject.com/icon/school-1983588/

Martin Droeshout. (1623). William Shakespeare. Wikimedia Commons. CC0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shakespeare_Droeshout_1623.jpg

IMAGE AND SOUND REFERENCES

Arif Karya. (2018). Book. The Noun Project. CC BY. https://thenounproject.com/icon/book-1787402/

ProSymbols. (2018). Art. The Noun Project. CC BY. https://thenounproject.com/icon/art-1976897/

DinosoftLabs. (2018). CD. The Noun Project. CC BY. https://thenounproject.com/icon/cd-2152164/

Creative Commons. (n.d.). [Creative Commons Logos]. https://creativecommons.org/about/downloads

Ruslan Dezign. (2017). Target. The Noun Project. CC BY. https://thenounproject.com/icon/target-1005058/

ATOM. (2017). Copy. The Noun Project. CC BY. https://thenounproject.com/icon/copy-1474212/

Тимур Минвалеев. (2016). Percent. The Noun Project. CC BY. https://thenounproject.com/icon/percent-397874/

b. farias. (2017). Decision. The Noun Project. CC BY. https://thenounproject.com/icon/decision-1074053/

AFY Studio. (2018). Leaf. The Noun Project. CC BY. https://thenounproject.com/icon/leaf-1737325/

IMAGE AND SOUND REFERENCES

Gregor Cresnar. (2015). Dollar sign. The Noun Project. CC BY. https://thenounproject.com/icon/dollar-sign-171145/

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Closing Slides Music: Rybak, Nazar. (n.d.). Corporate Inspired. HookSounds. CC BY. http://www.hooksounds.com

Unattributed materials are contributions from the Opening Up Copyright Project Team and placed in the Public Domain.

IMAGE AND SOUND REFERENCES

University of Alberta. (2022). Working with Copyright. Opening Up Copyright Instructional Module. https://sites.library.ualberta.ca/copyright/

LICENSING AND ATTRIBUTION

Suggested Citation:

For the project overview and complete list of modules please visit the project website at: https://sites.library.ualberta.ca/copyright/

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Questions, comments, and suggestions should be directed to: ouc@ualberta.ca

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This module is made available and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

CONTRIBUTORS

Copyright Office

Faculty of Education

Adrian Sheppard

Amanda Wakaruk

Mireille Smith

Michael B. McNally

Centre for Teaching and Learning

Graeme Pate

University of Alberta Library

Michelle Brailey

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The Opening Up Copyright (OUC) module series is made available by the University of Alberta Copyright Office.

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OUC modules have been produced with the assistance of funding at the University of Alberta through its Centre for Teaching and Learning's Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF) (2017-21) and OER Grant Program (2020), and through a Support for the Advancement of Scholarship (SAS) grant (2021).