Copyright Requirements for Faculty & Staff

Background & Purposes

In keeping with its commitment to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge, the University of Windsor wishes to provide faculty, staff and students with broad access and exposure to copyrighted works in a manner that facilitates evolving educational and instructional methodologies, while simultaneously respecting the proprietary intellectual property rights of knowledge creators.

Members of the University of Windsor campus community are creators of various forms of intellectual property, as well as consumers of intellectual property. As creators, we rely on the protections offered by intellectual property laws to ensure that our work product is protected from improper use. As consumers of intellectual property, we are legally (and morally) obligated to respect the intellectual property rights of others, just as we expect others to respect our intellectual property rights.

One intellectual property right that transcends all academic disciplines, and therefore is relevant to the whole campus community, is copyright.

Copyright is the sole and exclusive right of a copyright holder to produce, reproduce, perform, publish, adapt, translate and telecommunicate an original work, and to control the circumstances in which others may do any of these things. Copyright holders have the ability to allow others to use their copyrighted works through what are legally referred to as Licenses.

Copyright law in Canada protects a wide range of works. If you wish to reproduce a substantial part of a copyrighted work, you may only copy the work if the Copyright Act specifically allows you to do so, or if you have express permission from the copyright owner or another person with the authority to grant permission. The Copyright Act provides a number of exceptions (or user rights) that enable certain classes of users, such as universities and persons acting under the authority of a university, to copy and utilize copyrighted works in specific situations without first securing express permission. These exceptions provide a balance between providing copyright holders with legal rights to control the use of their works, and allowing users access in specific circumstances that are in the public interest.

As an established post-secondary institution, the University of Windsor is constantly developing and adapting the learning and teaching experience it offers by, among other things, adopting and expanding the use of digital technologies in its classrooms, including the use of electronic learning management systems, such as Blackboard Learn. In so doing, the university needs to ensure that faculty and staff recognize and deal with copyright issues that arise within this constantly evolving environment. While recognizing the challenge that this may pose to the campus, the university is committed to ensuring that all teaching, research and instruction activities are conducted in a copyright compliant fashion

This document sets out University of Windsor’s requirements regarding copyright, which faculty and staff must adhere to in order to comply with copyright laws. For further information, please refer to the Copyright Guidelines and Fair Dealing Policy (as defined below).

1. Definitions

1.1 As used in these University of Windsor Copyright Requirements, the following defined terms shall have the meanings provided below:

"Circumvent" means, in respect of a Digital Lock, to descramble a scrambled work, decrypt an encrypted work or otherwise avoid, bypass, remove deactivate or impair the Digital Lock.
“Copyright Act” means the Copyright Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42, as amended from time to time.
“Copyright Guidelines” means the Copyright Guidelines & Flowchart as may be amended from time to time by University of Windsor.
“Copyrighted Work” means any original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work including without limitation computer programs, translations, annotations, and compilations of works, in which copyright subsists, unless copyright in such work has expired in accordance with the Copyright Act.
"Digital Lock" means any effective technology, device or component that, in the ordinary course of its operation, controls access to a work, a performer's performance fixed in a sound recording or a sound recording, and whose use is authorized by the copyright owner.
“Fair Dealing Exception” means the exceptions to copyright infringement provided under Sections 29, 29.1 and 29.2 of the Copyright Act, which allows any person to make a copy of a copyrighted work for the allowable purposes of research, private study, education, satire, parody, criticism, review or news reporting
“Fair Dealing Requirements” means collectively, the Fair Dealing Policy and the Copying Guidelines, as may be amended from time to time by University of Windsor.
“Other Staff” means full-time and part-time staff members of University of Windsor and any other person who works at or under the auspices of University of Windsor who is not Teaching Staff.
“Statutory Exception(s)” means various exceptions under the Copyright Act that permit certain things to be done by educational institutions, or persons acting under the authority of an educational institution, that would otherwise infringe copyright. These include, without limitation, the Fair Dealing Exception. A current list of the Statutory Exceptions available to University of Windsor is set out under Step 4 of the Copyright Guidelines.
“Student” means a person registered or engaged in a course, unit or program of academic, continuing, professional, or vocational study administered or hosted by University of Windsor, including a person who is granted deferred standing in a course.
“Teaching Staff” means any person who teaches at or under the auspices of University of Windsor, including without limitation faculty members, adjunct and clinical faculty, lecturers, instructors, and teaching assistants.
“University of Windsor Licensemeans a license agreement between University of Windsor (or the Ontario Council of University Libraries, OCULs representative.
“University Person(s)” or “you” means collectively and individually, Teaching Staff and Other Staff.

2. General

2.1 In accordance with University of Windsor’s desire to promote the educational, research and private study activities of its Students, Teaching Staff are encouraged to provide their Students with requisite materials, whether in print or electronic form, provided that this is balanced with University of Windsor’s need to respect the intellectual property rights of copyright holders and comply with copyright laws. As University of Windsor considers copyright infringement to be a serious matter, every University Person must comply with applicable copyright laws when dealing with Copyrighted Works, and not infringe on the intellectual property rights of the copyright holders of such Copyrighted Works.

3. Digital Locks

3.1 When copying, reproducing, performing, communicating, displaying, distributing or otherwise dealing with any Copyrighted Work, University Persons should not Circumvent any Digital Lock to access such Copyrighted Work unless such person is authorised by the copyright owner to do so. Sections 4 and 5 are subject to this obligation. Therefore, even if a University Person would otherwise have been able to reproduce a Copyrighted Work under a Statutory Exception or Fair Dealing Exception, he or she must not Circumvent a Digital Lock to access the Copyrighted Work, unless he or she is authorised by the copyright owner to do so.

4. Statutory Exceptions

4.1 If a University Person wishes to reproduce a substantial part of a Copyrighted Work, he or she may only copy the work if the Copyright Act specifically allows this under a Statutory Exception, or he or she has express permission from the copyright holder.

4.2 If a University Person wishes to rely on a Statutory Exception to copy, reproduce, perform, communicate, display or otherwise deal with a Copyrighted Work, he or she must comply with any specific conditions required by such Statutory Exception. A current list of the statutory exceptions is found under Step 4 of the Copyright Guidelines.

5. Fair Dealing Requirements

5.1 If a University Person wishes to rely on the Fair Dealing Exception to copy, reproduce, perform, communicate, display or otherwise deal with a Copyrighted Work, he or she must comply with the terms of the Fair Dealing Policy

5.2 In order to ensure that any copying and distribution of Copyrighted Works takes place in a manner that directs Students not to further distribute or disseminate the Copyrighted Works and has appropriate safeguards in compliance with applicable laws, Teaching Staff and Other Staff must comply with the Fair Dealing Policy when making paper copies of Copyrighted Works to distribute to Students as part of classroom instruction, or posting Copyrighted Materials onto secure, password-protected learning management systems and course websites.

5.3 University Persons should be aware that some Leddy Library Licenses that provide access to Copyrighted Works in electronic format restrict the making or dissemination of copies and limit the Fair Dealing Exception, and that if there is a conflict between the terms of a license and the terms of the Fair Dealing Policy, the terms of the license shall prevail. Thus, if a Copyrighted Work is subject to the terms of a University of Windsor License, University Persons shall comply with the terms of the license. If you have any questions or concerns about the terms of a University of Windsor License, please contact Your Librarian or email copyright@uwindsor.ca.

6. Print Coursepacks

6.1 Where a Teaching Staff members wish to utilize the University's Document Imaging Centre for the production of a print coursepack, it is the responsibility of the Teaching Staff member to ensure that materials to be included fit into at least one of the following categories:

where the professor holds exclusive copyright;
where the professor has obtained consent from the copyright holder in accordance with Section 6 below;
where the content is freely available for non-commercial use (e.g. Creative Commons and Open Access sources);
in accordance with the Fair Dealing Policy if the fair dealing exception applies;
in accordance with the terms of a Leddy Library License, if such terms allow for the production of print coursepacks;

Note: The Leddy Library's Copyright Clearance Service is unable to clear copyright for print coursepacks.

6.2 Where a Teaching Staff member wishes to a third-party production facility (e.g. Canadian Scholars Press) for the purpose of producing print coursepacks, in addition to the requirements stipulated in 6.1, it is the responsibility of the Teaching Staff member to further ensure that

the production facility has a commercial license for copying to produce print coursepacks;
the making of copies of protected materials is done ONLY by the production facility, not by Teaching Staff or Other Staff at the University of Windsor;

7. Obtaining Consent from Copyright Holder

7.1 If you wish to make a copy that is not permitted by Sections 3 through 6 above, then you must seek the express permission of the copyright holder.

7.2 These permissions need to be sought on a case by case basis, and there is no obligation for the copyright holder to grant your request. Permission is required for each new use of the protected material, (e.g. new permissions must be sought each semester that the material is used).

7.3 The university offers the Leddy Library Copyright Clearance Service , however the service is NOT available for the production of Print Coursepacks.

8. Infringement

8.1 Should you be aware of copyright compliance deficiencies, you should bring them to the attention of the Copyright Office (copyright@uwindsor.ca) so that appropriate action can be taken to address the situation.

8.2 Copyright infringement is a serious matter and can result in legal liability for you personally, as well as for University of Windsor.

8.3 In addition, failure to comply with the terms of these University of Windsor Copyright Requirements may result in disciplinary action being taken by University of Windsor against you.

Some content has been adapted from materials developed and owned by The University of British Columbia (the UBCand are used with consent of the University of British Columbia (”They are provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal advice. UBC takes no responsibility or liability for any use of these materials, or the UBC Materials, including any changes or modifications made to the UBC Materials.