Copyright at Trent University  

We're working on a new set of webpages for copyright.  See new pages.

A new form for requesting copyright clearance is also being developed. In the meantime, use the form in the box below.

Trent University is committed to following copyright laws and regulations which provide for a fair and balanced approach to the dissemination of knowledge and materials within an educational institution. Trent University's copyright guidelines are derived from the AUCC Fair Dealing Policy for Universities as well as the CAUT Guidelines for the Use of Copyrighted Material.

Link to
Copyright Clearance Form

Beginning with the summer semester (May 2013), all digital course resources should be posted in Blackboard, after copyright clearance has been obtained. Please use this form to request copyright clearance for all course materials posted in Blackboard.

Instructors:

• For multiple copyright requests for the same course please submit only one form with your personal information and course information. Send bibliographic information in response to the confirmation e-mail you will receive immediately following your submission.
• Please reply to your confirmation e-mail and copy and paste the bibliographic information for multiple requests into the e-mail, or attach your syllabus and indicate which resources you wish to place in Blackboard.
• You will be notified via e-mail when your copyright request has been processed. After receiving copyright confirmation you may make the resources available for students in Blackboard.
• Please allow 2-3 days for this process.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact copyright@trentu.ca

The Copyright Modernization Act received royal assent on June 29, 2012 and on November 7, 2012 many of its provisions came into force. Bill C-11 introduced important changes to several areas of the Copyright Act, including broadening the fair dealing exception to include education, parody or satire, along with the existing exceptions of research, private study, criticism, and review. These important additions to the fair dealing exception, along with several other key changes to the Copyright Act provide Trent faculty, staff, and students with greater flexibility to reproduce and display works within the university environment.

A few of the important educational exceptions as they apply to Trent University include:

• The fair dealing exception has been expanded to include three new purposes: education, parody or satire. This allows educational institutions or a person acting under its authority for the purposes of education or training on its premises, to reproduce a work, or do any other necessary act, in order to display it.
  

• An educational institution or person acting under its authority for the purposes of education or training on its premises may reproduce, communicate by telecommunication and perform for students, works that are available on the internet, subject to various conditions.
  

• An educational institition or person acting under its authority for the purposes of education or training on its premises may make, at the time of its communication to the public by telecommunication, a single copy of a news program or a news commentary program, excluding documentaries, for the purposes of performing the copy for the students of the educational institution for educational or training purposes.

• An educational institution or person acting under its authority may communicate lessons to enrolled students by telecommunication and distance learning and the recording or such lessons is permitted, subject to certain provisions.
  

Bill C-11: Summary of Key Changes

Fair Dealing

The fair dealing exception now includes three new purposes: education, parody or satire.

s.29 Fair Dealing for the purposes of research, private study, education, parody, or satire does not infringe copyright.

Expanded Educational Exceptions

An educational institution or a person acting under its authority, for education or training purposes on its premises, can:

-reproduce a work, or do any other necessary act, in oder to display it

-perform a film or other cinematographic work in the classroom, as long as such work is not infringing copy and was legally obtained

-reproduce, communicate by telecommunication and perform for students, legitimately posted works that are available through the Internet, provided that source and author are attributed, unless:

• the works are protected by "digital locks"
  

• a clearly visible notice (and not merely the copyright symbol alone) prohibiting such acts is posted on the website or on the work itself
  

• the educational institution knows or should have known that the works are available on the Internet in violation of the copyright owner's rights
  

Instructors using news and commentary under the educational exception do not have to pay royalties, destroy copies of news or commentaryprograms after one year, or keep records of the copies made of news commentary programs.

Lessons by Telecommunication

Faculty may communicate via telecommunication and distance learning to students enrolled in the course and such lessons may be recorded. The student can also make a copy of such telecommunicated lessons to be viewed or listened to at a later time provided that:

-the student and institution must destroy the recording or copy within 30 days after the receipt by students of their final course evaluations

-the institution must take measures to limit the audience to students only, and to protect the lesson itself.

Reduced Statutory damages for Non-Commercial Infringements: Statutory damages for copyright infringements with non-commercial purposes have been reduced to $100 - $500 for all infringements in a single proceeding for all works (not for each work infringed).