Access Copyright
A collective that carries out the collecting and distributing of royalties or levies payable according to the Copyright Act. UNB's institutional licence with Access Copyright expired as of 31 December 2010. For more information, please contact your liaison librarian.
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Artistic Work
Includes paintings, drawings, maps, charts, plans, photographs, engravings, sculptures, works of artistic craftsmanship, architectural works, and compilations of artistic works.
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Audio Ciné
A collective that carries out the collecting and distributing of royalties or levies payable according to the Copyright Act. UNB Libraries negotiates a contract with Audio Ciné Films. Refer to UNB Libraries' Film and Video Collection for more information.
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Collective Work
Refers to any published work written in distinct parts by different authors, such as encyclopaedias, dictionaries, year books (or similar works), newspapers, reviews, magazines, or similar periodicals.
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Copyright Act
First enacted in 1921, the Canadian statute's purpose is to grant sole rights of economic exploitation to authors of original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works. The Copyright Act also promotes the advancement of knowledge by providing rights to the users of protected works.
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Copyright Infringement
The unauthorized use of material that is not your own, beyond the limits of Fair Dealing and Educational Exceptions.
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Criterion Cinema
A collective that carries out the collecting and distributing of royalties or levies payable according to the Copyright Act. UNB Libraries negotiates a contract with Criterion; refer to UNB Libraries' Film and Video Collection for more information.
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Crown Copyright
For any work prepared or published by the Canadian Government, copyright exists for the duration of the year in which it was published plus seventy years. However, unless otherwise specified in the work you would like to reproduce, written permission is not required if the reproduction will be used for personal or public non-commercial purposes or for cost-recovery purposes only. However, you are required to comply with the conditions set forth hereunder:
- Exercise due diligence in ensuring the accuracy of the materials reproduced.
- Indicate both the complete title of the work reproduced, as well as the author organization.
- Indicate that the reproduction is a copy of an official work that is published by the Government of Canada and that the reproduction has not been produced in affiliation with, or with the endorsement of the Government of Canada.
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Digital Locks (Technological Protection Measures)
A digital lock, or a “technological protection measure” (TPM), is a technology used to control or restrict access to copyright-protected content. Examples of digital locks include passwords, encryption software, access codes, and digital watermarks. The Copyright Act prohibits the circumvention of digital locks to access copyright-protected works. The fair dealing and educational institutions exceptions do not permit the circumvention of digital locks to obtain access to copyright-protected works. In order to access content behind a digital lock you must obtain the permission of the copyright holder.
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Dramatic Work
Any piece for recitation, choreographic work, or mime, the scenic arrangement of acting form of which is fixed in writing or otherwise; any cinematographic work; or any compilation of dramatic works.
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e-Resources
An umbrella term used to describe licenced electronic information resources accessed via the UNB Libraries' website. These resources are purchased under licence agreements that do not necessarily follow the terms of the Copyright Act.
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Educational Institutions Exceptions
A set of rules defined in the Copyright Act that permit educational institutions certain privileges that are not provided for in Fair Dealing.
The educational internet use exception permits the copying or communicating of an entire work from the web in the classroom (provided you identify the original source and utilize a legal copy that does not contravene digital locks or any notices prohibiting the use of the work). It is also possible to reproduce and communicate in digital format materials required for tests or examinations provided that the work is not available in a suitable commercial format.
Educational institutions may also copy and keep “news programs” or “news commentary programs” for performance in education or training for up to one year after the date of the copy.
The "mashup exception" allows instructors and students to create, for non-commercial uses, new works using copyrighted content (provided the original author is identified, a legal copy of the original is utilized, and the new work does not have a significant adverse effect on the original).
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Fair Dealing
For the purpose of research, private study, education, parody or satire, criticism or review, and news reporting fair dealing does not infringe copyright. To determine if you have “fairly” used the published works of others, you must consider six factors:
- Purpose: is the copying for research, private study, criticism or review, or news reporting? If “yes,” continue with the next five factors. If “no,” the dealing is not fair.
- Character: what is the intended use of the copy? For example, single copies are considered fairer than multiple copies; destroying the copy after use is also considered fairer.
- Amount: a larger volume of copying is considered less fair. However, it is important to note that in many circumstances it is necessary to copy entire works, such as photos, if they meet the remainder of the tests.
- Alternatives: are there other non-copyrighted works available that would have served the same purpose and was the copy necessary to achieve the purpose of the copy?
- Nature: is the work published and widely available? If the work is not published, then it is more likely to be considered fair.
- Effect: will the copy unduly affect the market value?
Specific examples of fair dealing are:
- a copy of an article from a scientific, technical, or scholarly periodical;
- a newspaper article;
- an entry from an encyclopaedia, annotated bibliography, or similar reference material;
- a short story, play, poem, or essay from a publication containing other works.
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Internet Works
Material available from the Internet may be copied and shared to an audience consisting of students and teaching staff of the institution for the purposes of education and training. The copy must include all bibliographic information. This is not possible if the work is restricted by a Digital Lock, has a clear notice restricting such use, or is an obvious unauthorized copy.
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Licence
A legal agreement that provides terms of access to copyrighted material. UNB Libraries has licenced agreements with book and journal vendors and aggregators, these contracts specify how material can be distributed, and generally restrict use to students, staff and faculty of the institution.
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Literary Work
Works, other than audiovisual, that are expressed in words or numbers in a format such as books, periodicals, manuscripts, tapes or diskettes.
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Moral Rights
The author's right to the integrity of his or her work. This includes the right to be associated with the work pseudonymously or anonymously. The term of moral rights coincides with the copyright in the work.
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Musical Works
Musical works include both a musical composition and lyrics. A composer and a lyricist may own copyright in their separate contributions to a musical work. The term of copyright in the musical composition is for the life of the composer and a period of 70 years from the end of the year in which the composer died. The term of copyright in the lyrics is for the life of the lyricist and a period of 70 years from the end of the year in which the lyricist died. As an example, although copyright in the musical composition may have expired, copyright may still subsist in the lyrics.
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Personal Use
The reproducing of material intended solely for the purposes of the individual who makes the copy.
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Photographs and Images
Defined as ‘artistic works’ in the copyright act, it is possible to incorporate images into class handouts and class notes by following the Fair Dealing guide (if using more than one photo from a single publication limit copying to 10% of the total number of photos in the book). Photo’s and images are protected for seventy years after the death of the creator.
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Public Domain
Public domain is the term used for materials that are no longer covered by copyright law. As of December 30, 2022 the Canadian Copyright Act limits the term of copyright to the life of the author or creator plus 70 years. After the term of copyright expires, the work becomes public domain. This means materials in the public domain may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the copyright owner. It is important to remember that translation and republication of a work constitute a new work and the term of copyright is extended. For example, the term of copyright for a translated version of a work would be for the life of the translator plus seventy years; this does not affect the duration of copyright for the original work. The recent change to the term of copyright duration adds new factors to determining if a work is no longer protected by copyright in Canada.
The following resource can help in determining if a work is in the public domain: Canadian Copyright Term and Public Domain Flowchart | University of Alberta
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Published Works
Works that have been reproduced for the purpose of public consumption.
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Short Excerpt
Within the limits of fair dealing, instructors and faculty can provide short excerpts of copyrighted content to students via handout, e-mail communication, D2L, lecture presentation, and classroom display. Examples of short excerpts from Universities Canada Fair Dealing Guidelines include:
- (a) up to 10% of a copyright-protected work (including a literary work, musical score, sound recording, and an audiovisual work)
- (b) one chapter from a book
- (c) a single article from a periodical
- (d) an entire artistic work (including a painting, print, photograph, diagram, drawing, map, chart, and plan) from a copyright-protected work containing other artistic works
- (e) an entire newspaper article or page
- (f) an entire single poem or musical score from a copyright-protected work containing other poems or musical scores
- (g) 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 under fair dealing.
For more details on fair dealing analysis, visit UNB’s Fair Dealing page or contact copyright@unb.ca.
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Sound Recordings
Copyright subsists in a sound recording separate and apart from any copyright that may subsist in a musical work, the performance of which is embedded in the sound recording. The term of copyright in a sound recording is different from the term of copyright in a musical work. In general, the term of copyright in a sound recording is 70 years after the end of the calendar year in which the sound recording was first recorded.
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Substantial Amount
Not all copying of a protected work needs to fit the definition of the exemptions or have the owners permission. The Copyright Act does not define “substantial part”. In determining what constitutes a substantial part the courts have focused on the quality of what was taken from the original work rather than the quantity that was taken. As a result, no quantitative percentage of a work can be used to determine what constitutes a substantial part of a work. In general, reproducing a few sentences from a periodical article or book as a quotation is not a reproduction of a substantial part of the work. It is not an infringement of copyright if only an insubstantial part of a copyright-protected work is reproduced or communicated, e.g. in a thesis or periodical article.
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Teaching and Training
Many exceptions are limited to teaching and training purposes. The Copyright Act defines this as “an educational institution, or a person acting under the authority of one.” Generally this includes the instructor and students in a course and may also include a teaching assistant, library staff and anyone employed by the institution assisting in the creation of a course (e.g. CETL staff or Multimedia Services).
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Term of Copyright
For most cases, the term of copyright in Canada is seventy years after the death of the author. This is often referred to as the "life-plus-seventy rule." In the case of joint authorship, copyright lasts for seventy years after the death of the author who dies last. The term of copyright for photographs is seventy years after the year of the creation of the negative or photograph. After the term of copyright expires, works become public domain and can be freely used.
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Transformative Use
Transformative use is a principle that informs the user-generated content exception to copyright in the Canadian Copyright Act. Popularly known as the “mash-up exception”, this provision allows instructors and students to create new works using copyrighted content for non-commercial uses. Reworking copyrighted content for a new purpose and/or new interpretive possibilities is a transformative use of existing materials. Examples of transformative uses include instances when you create and share short excerpts from existing works, such as movies and music videos or fragments from newscasts and political speeches. Keep in mind that you cannot break any digital locks in this process.
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UNB Copyright Office
A team of staff ready to help you with copyright questions.
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