Copyright

Canadian Copyright laws have changed

Copyright in Canada has gone through some changes recently which will influence how we use copyrighted materials in our teaching, learning and research activities here at McMaster.

In order to support both our Fair Dealing Policy and current Access Copyright agreement, we have enhanced the McMaster landscape to ensure compliance, as well as to support the rights of ownership, authorship and scholarship in the context of copyright. Please take a moment to review the following points.

1. It is permitted to make a copy of up to 10% of a work (or 20% for a course pack); a whole chapter if less than 20% of the entire work; a whole newspaper article; a play, story, poem, encyclopaedia entry, or artistic work from an anthology if:

  • in the case of works originally in paper format (eg. books), the work is not on Access Copyright's exclusions list
  • in the case of works originally in digital format (eg. online reports), the work is on Access Copyright's inclusions list, and
  • the work/copy being copied was lawfully obtained, and
  • where reasonable, a credit is included on one page of the copy, as well as a notice stating "Copied under permission from Access Coyright. Further reproduction, distribution or transmission is prohibited, except as otherwise permitted by law."

2. Such copies may be posted on Avenue to Learn or other course websites accessible only to students in a specific course. It is permissible to scan such copies for posting on Avenue.

3. Custom Courseware production has remained unchanged and is still an excellent forum for the delivery of copyrighted materials.

4.  The Library has licensed access to more than 61,500 e-journals and 660,000 e-books which are available for use in teaching, learning and research. Durable links to specific resources can be created which provide secure local and remote access for McMaster use only. Such links can be included in our Course Management Systems. Information on creating durable links can be found at http://library.mcmaster.ca/linking. These durable links remain the best way to post items in Avenue. Many of these e-resources may also be used, for no additional copyright fees, in Courseware sold at Titles Bookstore or in print materials such as course handouts or exams produced within Media Production Services Print Division.