Copyright and Students

Toronto Metropolitan University Fair Dealing Guideline and Students

The Toronto Metropolitan University Fair Dealing Guideline does not apply to students except to the extent that a student is an employee of the university, e.g. as a teaching assistant or instructor. The university does not condone copyright infringement by students. Students who copy or communicate copyright-protected works should either obtain the permission of the copyright owner or be satisfied that copying or communicating the works falls within one of the exceptions in the Copyright Act. The university is not liable for any infringing copies made or communicated by students including such copies made or communicated using copiers or scanners made available by the university.

For information regarding the Toronto Metropolitan University Fair Dealing Guideline, the fair dealing exception and Canada’s copyright law, contact Ann Ludbrook/Copyright Coordinator at copyrt@torontomu.ca

Copyright Infringement and Exceptions

It is an infringement of copyright to copy all or a substantial part[1] of a copyright-protected work or to communicate all or a substantial part of a copyright-protected work to the public[2] by telecommunication without the consent of the holder of the copyright, unless copying or communicating the work falls within an exemption from copyright infringement. One of the main exemptions is the fair dealing exemption.

The Fair Dealing Exception

The fair dealing exemption in the Copyright Act (sections 29, 29.1 and 29.2) provides that fair dealing with a copyright-protected work for one of the following eight purposes: research, private study, criticism, review, news reporting, education, satire or parody, does not infringe copyright. Any fair dealing for the purpose of news reporting, criticism or review must however mention the source and, if given in the source, the name of the author or creator of the work.

Depending on the circumstances, a student may copy or communicate an extract of a copyright-protected work under the fair dealing exception without the permission of the copyright holder and without infringing copyright.

For information regarding the Toronto Metropolitan University Fair Dealing Guideline and Canada’s copyright laws, contact Ann Ludbrook/Copyright Coordinator at copyrt@torontomu.ca

Toronto Metropolitan University Fair Dealing Guideline in Brief

The university has adopted the Toronto Metropolitan University Fair Dealing Guideline based on the AUCC Fair Dealing Policy for Universities. The Toronto Metropolitan University Fair Dealing Guideline applies to faculty members, instructors and staff members of the university. The guideline permits faculty members, instructors and staff members to communicate and reproduce short excerpts of copyright-protected works for specified purposes without infringing copyright.

Definition of Short Excerpt

The Toronto Metropolitan University Fair Dealing Guideline defines a short excerpt as follows:

• • up to 10% of a copyright-protected work (including a literary work, musical score, sound recording, and an audiovisual work)
  • one chapter from a book
  • a single article from a periodical
  • an entire artistic work (including a painting, print, photograph, diagram, drawing, map, chart, and plan) from a copyright-protected work containing other artistic works
  • an entire newspaper article or page
  • an entire single poem or musical score from a copyright-protected work containing other poems or musical scores
  • an entire entry from an encyclopedia, annotated bibliography, dictionary or similar reference work

provided that in each case, no more of the work is copied than is required in order to achieve the allowable purpose.