2. Topics
1. What is Copyright?
2. What is covered by copyright?
3. What rights do copyright owners?
4. How long does a copyright last?
5. How to register a copyright in Canada?
6. What is a valid copyright notice?
7. International Copyright Protection
8. Best Practices in Fair Use
9. Other Copyright Resources
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3. 1. What is Copyright?
• In the simplest terms, "copyright" means "the
right to copy." In general, only the copyright
owner, often the creator of the work, is
allowed to produce or reproduce the work or
to permit anyone else to do so.
-Canada intellectual Property Office
4.
5. 2. What is covered by copyright?
Copyright applies to all original, dramatic, musical,
artistic and literary works (including computer
programs). It also applies to performances,
communication signals and sound recordings.
6. 3. What rights do copyright owners
have under the Copyright Act?
The Copyright Act of 1976 grants a number of exclusive
rights to copyright owners, including:
– reproduction right -- the right to make copies of a protected work
– distribution right -- the right to sell or otherwise distribute copies to
the public
– right to create adaptations -- the right to prepare new works based on
the protected work
– performance and display rights –
the rights to perform a protected work
or to display a work in public.
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8. 5. How to register a copyright in Canada?
• You can register your copyright by filing a
simple application and depositing one or two
samples of the work (depending on what it is)
with Canada Intellectual Property Office
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16. 9. Other Copyright Resources
For information about all other matters related to
copyright (policy, royalties, licences), refer to the
following sites:
– Copyright and International Intellectual Property Policy Director
(Industry Canada)
– Copyright Policy Branch (Canadian Heritage)
– Copyright Board
– Access Copyright
– COPIBEC
– SOCAN
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17. Reference
• Canada intellectual Property Office
http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site
• Stanford University Library - Copyright and Fair Use
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview
• Wikipedia
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Berne_Convention.png
• Baruch College's Guide to Using Copyrighted Media
http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/tutorials/copyright
• Digital Copyright Slider by Michael Brewer
http://librarycopyright.net/resources/digitalslider
Notes de l'éditeur
To qualify for copyright protection, a work must be "fixed in a tangible medium of expression." This means that the work must exist in some physical form for at least some period of time, no matter how brief. Virtually any form of expression will qualify as a tangible medium, including a computer's random access memory (RAM), the recording media that capture all radio and television broadcasts, and the scribbled notes on the back of an envelope that contain the basis for an impromptu speech. In addition, the work must be original -- that is, independently created by the author. It doesn't matter if an author's creation is similar to existing works, or even if it is arguably lacking in quality, ingenuity or aesthetic merit. So long as the author toils without copying from someone else, the results are protected by copyright. Finally, to receive copyright protection, a work must be the result of at least some creative effort on the part of its author. There is no hard and fast rule as to how much creativity is enough. As one example, a work must be more creative than a telephone book's white pages, which involve a straightforward alphabetical listing of telephone numbers rather than a creative selection of listings.
This bundle of rights allows a copyright owner to be flexible when deciding how to realize commercial gain from the underlying work; the owner may sell or license any of the rights.
The general rule is that copyright lasts for the life of the author, the remainder of the calendar year in which the author dies, and for 50 years following the end of the calendar year.
Copyright protection rules are fairly similar worldwide, due to several international copyright treaties, the most important of which is the Berne Convention. Under this treaty, all member countries -- and there are more than 100, including virtually all industrialized nations -- must afford copyright protection to authors who are nationals of any member country. This protection must last for at least the life of the author plus 50 years, and must be automatic without the need for the author to take any legal steps to preserve the copyright. In addition to the Berne Convention, the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) treaty contains a number of provisions that affect copyright protection in signatory countries. Together, the Berne Copyright Convention and the GATT treaty allow U.S. authors to enforce their copyrights in most industrialized nations, and allow the nationals of those nations to enforce their copyrights in the U.S.
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education by the Center for Social Media at American University, The Media Education Lab at Temple University, and The Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, Washington College of Law, American University.
Assess the intellectual property status of a specific image. The Digital Image Rights Computator (DIRC) program is intended to assist the user in assessing the intellectual property status of a specific image documenting a work of art, a designed object, or a portion of the built environment. Understanding the presence or absence of rights in the various aspects of a given image will allow the user to make informed decisions regarding the intended educational uses of that image.
Digital Copyright Slider by Michael Brewer, American Library Association Office for Information Technology Policy - Copyright Advisory Committee
Baruch College's Guide to Using Copyrighted Media in Your Courses
Stanford's Copyright Renewal Database Check to see if select works (publ. 1923-1963) were renewed.