Copyright is the sole and exclusive right of a copyright owner to produce, reproduce, perform, publish, adapt, translate and telecommunicate a work, and to control the circumstances in which others may do any of these things. Copyright owners grant permission to others through what are legally referred to as licenses. All original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work, computer programs, translations and compilations of works are protected by copyright. Copyright is technologically neutral: it applies in the same way regardless of a work's format or location.
Generally the creator of the work. However, works created during employment may be owned by the employer, unless otherwise agreed. Copyright owners have the right to transfer the copyright in their works to other parties. This often happens when publishing papers in journals: publication agreements often require authors to transfer their copyright to the publisher. See the UNBC Library's Scholarly Communication guide to learn more about your rights as an author.
In Canada, copyright lasts for 70 years after the death of the author. Crown copyright lasts for 50 years after the publication date of material. If in doubt, assume that the work is protected by copyright.
The work enters the Public Domain. This means it is no longer protected by copyright, and there are no restrictions on its use. You do not need to ask the creator's permission to use it. You also are not obliged to attribute the work's creator, but you should anyway because attribution is necessary for academic integrity. For more information on the Public Domain, see UBC's very useful guide, or contact the UNBC Copyright Office.
No. Works only enter the public domain when their copyright expires. This is true no matter the work's format or location. Please assume online materials are still protected by copyright unless otherwise indicated.
Yes. This copyright applies as soon as you create these works. If your instructor wants to use these in their own teaching or research, they need your permission.
Yes. Though you will need to sign a licence with UNBC so we can post your work onto the Institutional Repository, this licence is non-exclusive. This means you keep all of the rights to your work, including the right to publish it elsewhere.
Citing and copying are two separate actions. You need to cite works for the sake of academic integrity, but citing a work does not mean you can copy it. You can copy a work if your use is permitted under the exceptions in the Copyright Act. If not, then you will need to ask permission from the work's copyright holder.
Copyright protection does not apply to insignificant excerpts of a work, such as short quote from a work, so you do not need to request permission for those. As a student, you do not need permission to include copyrighted material, such as tables, figures or longer quotes, in your unpublished coursework. However, you would need permission to include those same items in published work, such as theses, dissertations, projects and articles.
If you are trying to access an article and the publisher is requesting payment, this means you have hit a paywall. DO NOT PAY. Your tuition pays for access to resources through the UNBC Library and Interlibrary Loans. Log in and access articles through the UNBC Library, either through the library’s website or at the article’s landing page: https://libguides.unbc.ca/c.php?g=745575&p=5397709
If the UNBC Library does not have access to the article, request the article through Interlibrary Loans: https://www.unbc.ca/library/services/interlibrary-loan
Depending on the length of the chapter, you may be able to copy it so you can continue to access it throughout your research. Fair Dealing allows the copying of short excerpts, such as one chapter or 10% of a book, for the purposes of education, research, private study, news reporting, criticism, review, satire or parody. It is also possible to request single chapters through Interlibrary Loans. Please note that Fair Dealing still will apply, and chapters that make up large parts of a whole book may not be delivered. In these cases, it is best to borrow the book.
No. Whether copying qualifies as Fair Dealing depends on the cumulative amount copied from the book. If the two chapters together make up less than 10% of the whole book, the copying could still be interpreted as Fair Dealing. If they exceed 10%, it is less likely the copying qualifies as Fair Dealing. For more details, please see the University of Northern British Columbia Fair Dealing Guidelines or contact the Copyright Office for assistance.
Yes. Graduate work posted to UNBC's Institutional Repository will be publicly available to anyone online. This is a much larger audience than your committee, instructors or classmates, so it is not advisable to rely on Fair Dealing for copying. A list of items that require permission can be found here.
Many publishers do not charge money for permission to include their material in theses, projects or dissertations. Some methods to request permission are described below. Please contact the Copyright Office if you would like help with this process.
Many academic publishers use the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) to handle permissions on their behalf. Journal articles often display a button or link to request permissions, leading to a form to request permission through the CCC. Alternately you can go the to CCC website and search for the resource you need permission to use. In some cases, the CCC indicates they cannot provide permissions, and instead directs you to contact the material's rightsholder (the author(s) or publisher). We recommend filling and sending the copyright holder a Graduate Copyright Permission Form. The workflow below provides basic steps for requesting permission.
No. Permission must be granted in writing. Written permission includes the rights holder completing and signing off on your Graduate Copyright Permission form, or just sending an email stating that you have permission to use their material in your thesis. A licence from the CCC also is written permission. Keep these documents and correspondence on file in your personal records.
Creative Commons licences allow creators to specify how others to use their work. The licences range from from very open to more restrictive. For more information, see Creative Commons Licensing.
Not usually. Publishing copyrighted material in a journal is a different use of the material than publishing it in a thesis. You will need to reapply for permission. If the copyrighted material is licensed under an open access or Creative Commons licence, ensure the terms of the licence allow you to use the material in the journal article, especially if the journal is not open access. For example, Creative Commons licences that require noncommercial use or share-alike licensing may not permit material to be republished in a paywalled journal. In these cases, ask the copyright holder for permission.
Whether you can share your published article depends on whether you kept the copyright in your work or signed it over to your publisher. The Author Rights section on the Scholarly Communications guide provides information on your rights as an author, and possible outcomes of giving up your copyright.
If you kept the copyright to your article, you should be able to share it without asking permission. However, check your agreement or licence with your publisher to see if you have agreed to any conditions regarding the article's distribution (e.g. embargoes).
If you did not retain the copyright to your article, you may be able to still share it with others under the Fair Dealing or Educational provisions in the Copyright Act. If the UNBC Library subscribes to the journal in which you published the article, you can also share the article according to the terms of the library's licence with that publisher.
No. In fact, this is not allowed. UNBC Communications and Marketing provides directions on using UNBC's logo. Page 18 of their Graphics Standards Manual states that no items may encroach on the logo's minimum required space.
This will depend on whether the poster is being displayed in a manner and context where the Fair Dealing or Educational exceptions can be applied. This may include the following situations:
The following situations will require permission:
Please contact Library Copyright if you have any questions.
The UNBC Copyright Office makes every effort to provide accurate copyright information for educational purposes. This information is not to be construed as legal advice and should not be relied upon in that regard.