Review of Canadian University Fair Dealing Policies

The past three years have seen a number of changes in the area of copyright law, particularly in the area of education. As a result, Canadian universities have had to make policy decisions to account for these changes and the resulting expansion of fair dealing rights. The content and consistency of the resulting policies may have a significant effect on the future interpretation of fair dealing rights. In this paper I analyze the current state of fair dealing policies and supporting information found on university web sites. I conclude that an ideal fair dealing policy is open ended and flexible, and incorporates mention of the significant elements of copyright legislation, court decisions, and other areas of law, in a way that is accessible to its intended audience of faculty and instructors

Access Copyright & Technology: Legal and Policy Issues in Educaiton

Access Copyright is a collective organization representing thecopyright interests of publishers and creators. The collective offerscopyright licences that allow certain limited uses of works in thecollective\u27s repertoire. The use of collective licences as part ofcopyright management policy was common in post-secondary educationadministration until 2010, when many universities opted out of acontractual relationship with Access Copyright.The growing movement towards online open access publishing andCreative Commons public licensing has made information more widelyavailable without requiring payment and with fewer restrictions onuse. The addition of education to the list of fair dealing purposes inthe Copyright Act, along with the inclusion of provisions allowing fornon-commercial user-generated content and use of materials availableon the Internet, means that educational institutions can moreconfidently rely on the user rights afforded by the law. The 2012Supreme Court decision in Alberta (Education) v Access Copyrightconfirms that exceptions to copyright infringement in the legislationshould be interpreted broadly.I will discuss the innovations in information technology, legislativechanges, and court decisions that have led some to question theutility and economy of collective licences

Comparison of Fair Dealing and Fair Use in Education Post-Pentalogy

While traditionally American fair use has been thought of as broader in scope than Canadian fair dealing, I claim that in 2013 this is no longer the case. I further argue that educational administrators and academic and library associations in Canada have yet to take full advantage of this expansion of users’ rights.In Part I I give a brief and general overview of copyright in Canada and the United States. In Part II I compare the legislation and jurisprudence specifically with respect to fair dealing and fair use, using the fairness factors as a guide. Specifically, this part will examine differences with respect to the fairness factors in general, transformativity, amount and substantiality, market harm and licences, and institutional practice and policy. Part III is a discussion of the advocacy efforts of Canadian and American educational and library professional associations and the development of best practices and guidelines. I conclude that colleges and universities in Canada may now confidently develop copyright policies that reflect the rights of users, but educational administrators and associations in Canada are lagging behind their American counterparts in leveraging this opportunity

Awareness and Perception of Copyright Among Teaching Faculty at Canadian Universities

In this talk I discuss the results of a survey of Canadian university faculty members undertaken from October to December 2014. The survey sought to determine teaching faculty awareness of copyright law and institutional policy and training, and how they would respond in various scenarios. Analysis of the results suggests that while faculty members are aware of the existence of their institution\u27s copyright policy, much fewer know whether their institution offers training. Of those who do know about training, only one-third have attended. However, faculty who have attended copyright training find that their knowledge is enhanced by the experience. It also appears that respondents are more comfortable reproducing and displaying materials in class that are freely available on the Internet, like YouTube videos and images, but more likely to ask for permission or guidance when it comes to print materials or electronic versions of print materials like PDFs

FIPPA Requests : A How-To Workshop

Ontario\u27s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act regulates information privacy and access to information in the public sector. It applies to information held by the provincial government and its agencies, including colleges and universities. Provincial institutions must delegate an officer to handle such requests, and deal directly with the individual who is seeking access. Appeals of the institution\u27s decision are handled by the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner. This workshop will cover the process of filing a formal information request, tips for ensuring that you obtain relevantrecords, and how to challenge an institution\u27s decision to withhold information

Conflict between Contract Law and Copyright Law in Canada: Do Licence Agreements Trump Users’ Rights?

I argue in this paper that it is not a settled issue in Canadian law that copyright exceptions provided in the Canadian Copyright Act can be trumped by contractual agreement, and that a strong argument can be made that they cannot. I first frame the issue by discussing the increasing use of digital rather than print materials in academic libraries, and the potential conflict between subscription agreements and the Copyright Act. I then address three approaches (jurisdictional, purposive, and statutory right) that can be taken to determine whether contractual terms are preempted by statutory provisions, and conclude that, in Canada, copyright exceptions are statutory rights that cannot be removed by contract. Finally, I briefly discuss technological protection measures and argue that their recent inclusion in the Copyright Act does not necessarily indicate legislative support for private ordering

Open Textbooks and Provincial Government Policy: A Look at the Issues

In 2012, the British Columbia government announced a plan to fund a program that will result in the creation of open access textbooks for 40 lower-year university courses — the first such program in any of the provinces. This paper will argue that Ontario should follow British Columbia’s lead and invest in the development of a project to create and promote the use of open textbooks. The introduction will discuss the concept of open textbooks and the various initiatives and legislation that have been introduced in the United States, and British Columbia’s plan will be described in more detail. The second section will put forth the reasons that British Columbia’s approach is superior to Ontario’s current approach to rising textbook prices, addressing such issues as affordability, flexibility in teaching and learning, and the commodification of information. Section three will address and respond to several concerns and criticisms of government funding of textbook publishing and open textbooks

Licence Agreements and Copyright: An Examination of the Issues

In this presentation I will discuss some of the factors that are relevant to an understanding of the relationship between copyright and private ordering of legal obligations such as licensing agreements and technological protection measures. I will conclude that there is a strong argument to be made that provisions purporting to limit fair dealing and other exceptions may be unenforceable

Open Access: Historical Highlights, Issues and Policies

Print publishing relies on enclosure of information in a physical object (book). The digital environment potentially increases access (online journals). Publishers, however, can implement control beyond that which is possible in a print world; for example, license agreements that try to restrict user rights such as fair dealing. Open access is an increasingly popular publishing option, and represents a progressive application of technology and alternatives to traditional intellectual property. This moderated panel discussion with University of Western Ontario scholars, is an introduction to the origins of problems in scholarly publishing, current open access initiatives, and educational policies