FAQ
1) Can I upload journal articles or book chapters from TMU Library electronic resources to GenAI tools like Gemini or NotebookLM?
Generally, no. TMU Libraries electronic resources are under licence agreements that often prohibit uploading content to GenAI tools or using this material to train AI models. Some licences may allow limited use (e.g., short excerpts) under fair dealing for education or research, with proper attribution. Always check the specific database terms of use for details or email copyrt@torontomu.ca.
2) Is it my responsibility to Check License Terms?
Yes, TMU users are responsible for reviewing database-specific terms before uploading content to institutional AI tools to ensure compliance, as permissions and restrictions vary across licensed resources. If you have questions about licence terms please email copyrt@torontomu.ca.
3) Fair dealing and GenAI use of Library Resources, is it allowed?
You may be able to upload content under fair dealing if a licence allows it. However, fair dealing is limited in Canada as it allows only short excerpts to be used for certain purposes (research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism or review and news reporting). Proper attribution is required when reusing for criticism or review and news reporting.
4) What can I upload to GenAI products like Gemini or NotebookLM?
You may upload content under the following conditions:
- Permissive Library Licenses: If the specific database terms explicitly allow for AI processing, or allows for fair dealing in the licence (under fair dealing you can upload a short excerpt of a work, and attribute the source if you reuse the output).
- Public Domain & Creative Commons: Material that is no longer under copyright (such as works in the public domain) or are marked with a Creative Commons license. Please preserve the CC licence and attribution if reusing in a paper for example.
- Open Internet: Material freely available on the public web (not behind a password or paywall), as long as the Terms of Use does not prohibit reuse if using for educational purposes, or you are using a short excerpt under fair dealing, with appropriate attribution.
- Print Materials: Short excerpts from physical books or journals, provided they meet fair dealing criteria, and if using the work for criticism, news reporting or review you include an attribution of the work.
5) If I use prompts to create an image or text using a GenAI tool like Gemini or NotebookLM do I own the output?
Under current Canadian law, copyright protection can only be granted to a natural person and requires human authorship. As a result, content generated entirely by GenAI tools with human prompts is currently unlikely to be eligible for copyright protection in Canada. The work needs significant human contribution to be considered for copyright protection, and to date there has been little legal precedent set on this question in Canada.
6) Why should I use TMU versions of AI tools like Gemini or NotebookLM (when this goes live)?
Institutional versions offer more protections to users than public commercial versions. If GenAI tools retain or use uploaded content for training, this may breach both copyright and TMU licence terms, especially if safeguards are not turned on. Institutional versions of GenAI tools do not allow the content that is uploaded by TMU community members to be shared outside of the institution.
Introduction: Copyright and GenAI
This page provides guidance for Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) faculty, staff, and students on the appropriate and responsible use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools in relation to copyright, intellectual property, and licensed electronic resources..
- Please note that the terms of use for the TMU Gemini Responsible use guidelines explicitly discourages the uploading of any copyrighted content to the TMU Gemini instance. SEE: It isn’t appropriate to share copyrighted information nor the intellectual property of others with Gemini – including your students’ work and resources provided through the TMU Libraries.
- Under current Canadian law, copyright protection can only be granted to a natural person and requires human authorship. As a result, content generated entirely by GenAI tools is generally not eligible for copyright protection in Canada.
- Where human involvement is limited to entering prompts, the resulting output is unlikely to have any copyright protection.
- GenAI outputs may not be unique and may be generated for multiple users.
- Because GenAI-generated content is not protected by copyright, users should not claim copyright ownership over such outputs. For example, copyright notices or symbols should not be applied to images or text created solely using GenAI tools.
GenAI Tools and Terms of Use, Opt outs, and Privacy
Before using any GenAI tool, users must review and comply with the tool’s terms and conditions, including:
- What types of content may be uploaded;
- How uploaded content is stored, reused, or disclosed; and
- Whether uploaded content may be used to train GenAI models.
TMU strongly recommends configuring GenAI tools to opt out of training or reuse of uploaded content wherever this option is available. For example, in ChatGPT accounts (including free accounts), users can disable model training under Settings/Data Controls/Improve the model for everyone. When this setting is turned off, content uploaded while logged in is not used to train the model. TMU’s enterprise Gemini environment already includes these protections.
Users should not upload confidential, personal, proprietary, unpublished, or sensitive information including student data, research data, or community-governed knowledge into GenAI tools.
Fair Dealing in Canada
Fair Dealing is an exception in the Canadian Copyright Act which allows you to use other people’s material for the purpose of research, private study, criticism, review or news reporting, education, and satire or parody without having to seek permissions. Fair dealing is a long-standing and important user right under the Canadian Copyright Act. It allows a short excerpt of copyrighted protected works to be used without permission. Fair dealing is assessed case by case, taking into account factors such as the purpose of the use, the amount taken, and the nature of the work. The TMU Fair Dealing Guideline governs fair dealing at our institution for the use of material for teaching.
Legal requirements for attribution
Under the Canadian Copyright Act, when a fair dealing amount of a work is used for the purposes of criticism, review, or news reporting, the source and the author (where possible) must be clearly acknowledged. In addition, authors retain moral rights, including the right to be properly attributed and the right to the integrity of their work.
GenAI Model Training and Fair Dealing
Most large-scale GenAI models have been developed by copying and analyzing very large collections of text and data. Because Canada does not currently have a specific text and data mining exception in its copyright law, developers have generally relied on copyright exceptions such as fair dealing, or on licensed and publicly available content, to justify this activity, however this analysis is uncertain.
There is ongoing legal and policy debate, both in Canada and internationally, about whether existing copyright exceptions, including fair dealing, are sufficient to support the training of GenAI models, particularly where models are developed or deployed for commercial purposes.
While fair dealing may support limited uses of copyrighted material by individuals for purposes such as research, private study, and education, it does not automatically extend to large-scale copying or model training, nor does it override licence terms or technological protection measures.
Technological Protection Measures (Digital Locks) and Fair Dealing
The Copyright Act contains provisions that restrict the circumvention of technological protection measures (TPMs), also known as digital locks. These restrictions apply even when the intended use might otherwise qualify as fair dealing.
When a work is protected by a TPM, users may be legally barred from accessing, copying, or reusing the material regardless of purpose. In addition, digital works are governed by licence agreements that may further restrict permitted uses. Together, TPMs and licence terms can significantly limit how fair dealing operates in digital environments.
Because of this, TMU staff and students should be cautious and avoid uploading copyrighted materials into GenAI tools unless they are clearly allowed to do so. Because GenAI tools store and process content in ways that are not always transparent, students and staff should use fair dealing cautiously and avoid uploading copyrighted content unless they are confident the use is permitted.
Fair Dealing and Print Materials
Print materials from sources such as physical books or journals are generally not subject to licence restrictions or digital locks, making fair dealing more straightforward to apply. Fair dealing will often apply to the use of short excerpts from a print works, such as:
- A chapter from a book
- A journal article
- Selected pages or passages from a printed source not exceeding 10% of the work
- An image, illustration, or map or graph, etc.
In these circumstances, fair dealing can support using limited portions of copyrighted print material with GenAI tools, for example, to summarize, explain, or assist with studying the material, provided the use is limited, non-commercial, and for personal academic or research purposes. The TMU Fair Dealing Guideline governs fair dealing at our institution for the use of material for teaching and research.
Fair Dealing and Works on the Internet that are publicly accessible
As long as there is not a clearly visible notice that prohibits reuse you can use the material for education (with attribution) OR use a fair dealing amount of content from a public website (a short excerpt) under some conditions, with attribution.
- Please make sure the works you access are legally posted.
- Please make sure that you do not remove copyright notifications like watermarks.
Openly licensed content
Material that is found on a public webpage, including open access books, open access journals, images, charts, maps and illustrations that have Creative Commons licences applied to them can be used in their entirety if uploading content to an AI tool.
Openly licensed content and Attribution
When using known content licensed under Creative Commons or other open licences, and uploading to GenAI tools like Gemini to remix, users should follow the specific attribution requirements of the licence, including crediting the creator, providing the licence name, and linking to the licence if that is in the terms, if they reuse the work.
Using Electronic Library Resources with GenAI
In most cases, TMU Library electronic resources may not be used with GenAI tools. TMU Libraries license electronic content from vendors and publishers under contractual agreements that specify permitted uses. TMU users are required to comply with these licence terms.
Many licences explicitly prohibit:
- Uploading licensed content into GenAI tools;
- Using licensed content to train GenAI models; and
- Automated, large-scale, or non-human uses of database content (such as the use of webcrawlers)
Some licences may permit the use by authorized users of fair dealing amounts (i.e., short excerpts) for allowable purposes such as education or research. These acceptable uses under fair use (the US term) or fair dealing are typically narrow, non-commercial, and require appropriate attribution. Users must review the terms of use for each database to understand the specific limitations that apply. See the TMU Libraries Electronic Resources Terms of Use. for further details.
Attribution and GenAI outputs
GenAI tools may paraphrase, summarize, or remix content without providing reliable citations. Users remain responsible for ensuring that appropriate attribution is provided where required, regardless of whether GenAI tools were used to assist with the work.
When using copyrighted material with GenAI tools, users should:
- Keep track of the sources they input into the tool.
- Clearly acknowledge original authors and sources where required by law.
- Avoid presenting GenAI assisted paraphrases as original work when they are taken from identifiable sources.
When using content licensed under Creative Commons or other open licences, users must follow the specific attribution requirements of the licence, including crediting the creator, providing the licence name, and linking to the licence if that is in the terms.
What material can I use with GenAI Tools
We recommend using content that is openly licensed or in the public domain whenever possible, and also works that may qualify under fair dealing under certain circumstances (see above). According to the Creative Commons FAQs on AI you can use Creative Commons licensed works as long as the license conditions are followed. This means you will need to attribute each Creative Common licensed work according to the licence terms.
Before using content with GenAI, ask:
- Is it openly licensed or public domain?
- Is it subject to a licence or digital lock?
- Does the GenAI tool allow me to opt out of LLM training?
- Am I using only a short excerpt under fair dealing for my personal use?
- Can I provide appropriate attribution?
GenAI Upload Permissions for Faculty
| Material Type | Can I upload this to a GenAI tool? |
| Material on public Webpages, without clearly visible notices prohibiting educational reuse | Yes, in accordance with the TMU Fair Dealing Guideline |
| Print Journal Article, Print Book Chapter | Yes, in accordance with the TMU Fair Dealing Guideline |
| Print Image, Illustration, Map, or Graph | Yes, in accordance with the TMU Fair Dealing Guideline. Webpage images are subject to certain conditions, read the Terms of Use. Watermarked images should not be remixed. |
| Open Access material assigned Creative Commons licences material on the public Internet | Can use whole work, please track and retain attribution information if you remix and reuse. |
| Library Electronic Book (Ebook) or Chapter | If protected by digital locks, in most cases, no. |
| Library Electronic Journal Article | In most cases, no, but there are exceptions. Proquest One and some other journal databases have their own AI summary tools which are available to use with articles contained in the database. More information. Please contact aludbrook@torontomu.ca for further details. |
| Library licenced Digital Images, Illustrations, or Graphs | In most cases, no, but there are exceptions. Please contact aludbrook@torontomu.ca for further details. |
| Any Material Protected by Digital Locks (TPMs) | No, but there amy be some exceptions for personal use of TMU Library licenced content if you are an authorized user. Please contact aludbrook@torontomu.ca for further details. |
| Licensed Library Databases/Datasets | In most cases, no, but there are exceptions. Please contact aludbrook@torontomu.ca for further details. |
Important Requirements
Even when an upload is permitted (such as from a print source), the following Canadian legal requirements can still apply:
- Attribution: The source and author must be clearly acknowledged.
- Moral Rights: The author’s right to the integrity of their work must be respected.
- Purpose: Use must remain limited, non-commercial, and for personal academic or research purposes.
Note on Electronic Materials: Digital works are governed by specific license agreements and Technological Protection Measures (Digital Locks) that often override standard Fair Dealing exceptions. Always verify before uploading digital content.