Copyright at College of the Rockies for Faculty & Staff

The phrase "audiovisual work" is a commonly used to refer to what the Copyright Act calls "cinematographic works." Section 2 of the Copyright Act defines "cinematographic work" as including "any work expressed by any process analogous to cinematography, whether or not accompanied by a soundtrack." Cinematography means the art of making movies, videos and films.

Showing an audiovisual work (such as a DVD or video) on school premises

Section 29.5(d) of the Copyright Act permits showing an audiovisual work such as a DVD or video as long as the work is not an infringing copy or the person responsible for the showing has no reasonable grounds to believe it is an infringing copy. The showing must be for educational or training purposes, not-for-profit and for an audience consisting of enrolled students, faculty or persons responsible for curriculum.

This users' right permits showing an original copy purchased or rented from a retail store, an original copy borrowed from the library, an original copy borrowed from a friend, and a YouTube video provided the Terms of Use allow classroom use.

Instructors may not copy an audiovisual work at home and then show it in the classroom. Making a copy of an audiovisual work without permission is an infringement of copyright in Canada. The resulting copy is not a legal copy.

The College also maintains Feature Film Public Performance Entertainment licences with Criterion Pictures and Audio Ciné. From the ELN site --

• "Under the Canadian Copyright Act any viewing or exhibition of a film in a public place must have a Public Performance Rights license. At not-for-profit institutions, the showing of films in the classroom no longer requires obtaining a PPR licence; however, other uses such as student movie nights do require an Entertainment license.
• Entertainment Rights licenses are available from two vendors, Audio Cine Films and Criterion Pictures. Between them they cover almost all of the major US and Canadian studios and production companies and many independent producers and foreign films.
• The PPR license covers any showing of films as long as the video is legally obtained. It can come from the library's collection, the instructor's personal collection, or a video rental store. Copies that have been dubbed from broadcast or cable, or transferred from another copy, or illegally downloaded, are not covered"

The licences cover and allow for the presentation of legally obtained copies of media programs covered by the Licensor within an entertainment context. For titles covered under the licences, consult the search pages at Audio Ciné and Criterion Pictures Canada.

Student Associations and other such groups may conduct on-campus, not-for-profit presentations for non-educational purposes. Presentations must be limited to students and faculty enrolled or employed at College of the Rockies. Limited “outside” participation to on-campus entertainment presentations is acceptable, so long as no direct advertising is done outside campus boundaries and the event is not open to the general public.

Event advertising must be limited to media targeted at the College and its students and staff. In the case of print advertising, the advertisements may only appear in campus media (e.g. a student newspaper) and not in general community newspapers.

Can I show a video or movie from the Internet in class?

For educational or training purposes, you may show a video/movie from the Internet as long as you adhere to the following rules (which are derived from section 30.04 of the Copyright Act):

• the video is available through the Internet;
• you did not break or circumvent a digital lock or technological protection-measure (ie. unauthorized password access) to access or obtain a copy of the work;
• there is no clear and visible notice on the website or on the video itself that prohibits the use or reproduction of the video (the notice must be more than just a copyright symbol);
• you do not suspect that the video was posted without the consent of the owner of the video (e.g. the website is generally reputable and the person who posted the video appears to have a connection with the content. An example where you know or ought to suspect that a video is infringing is where you find a clip from a Game of Thrones episode that is posted by anyone other than HBO); and
• you identify the source of the work and, if available and applicable, the author, performer, maker or broadcaster of the work.

Can I show a video or movie from the Internet in class?

For educational or training purposes, you may show a video/movie from the Internet as long as you adhere to the following rules (which are derived from section 30.04 of the Copyright Act):

• the video is available through the Internet;
• you did not break or circumvent a digital lock or technological protection-measure (ie. unauthorized password access) to access or obtain a copy of the work;
• there is no clear and visible notice on the website or on the video itself that prohibits the use or reproduction of the video (the notice must be more than just a copyright symbol);
• you do not suspect that the video was posted without the consent of the owner of the video (e.g. the website is generally reputable and the person who posted the video appears to have a connection with the content. An example where you know or ought to suspect that a video is infringing is where you find a clip from a Game of Thrones episode that is posted by anyone other than HBO); and
• you identify the source of the work and, if available and applicable, the author, performer, maker or broadcaster of the work.

Can I show a Netflix or iTunes movie/TV show in class?

Section 29.5(d) of the Copyright Act allows you to show legally obtained videos in class. However, because you sign end-user licence agreements with both Netflix and iTunes to access their content, you are bound by their Terms of Use. The Netflix agreement states for “household use” and the iTunes agreement states for “personal use”. Neither of these would be considered ‘classroom use’, so viewing in the classroom would be considered a breach of contract and you should seek written permission from iTunes and Netflix.

Can I use a YouTube video in or for a class?

The Terms of Use for YouTube videos may create similar concerns for educational users.
To avoid the use of copyright infringed material, you must ensure that the video has been uploaded to YouTube by the copyright holder, If it is not posted by the copyright holder you cannot use the video. If it is uploaded by the copyright holder - and there are no limitations on the terms of use - you can show the video in class. You can also link to/embed the video in COTROnline or a website. Do not make a copy of the video and upload it to COTROnline.

There are some alternatives for YouTube videos:

• YouTube offers a free program of thousands of educational videos specifically for use in the classroom.
• Sending students a link to a YouTube video for their own private viewing would not raise concerns about the Terms of Service.
• In terms of downloading and using YouTube videos, YouTube specifically marks which videos are allowed to be copied and used via their own YouTube video editor. Such videos are marked with a Creative Commons attribution, such as (CC-BY) licence notification. See YouTube's policy.

Can I show/play live broadcasts of a television/radio program or a sound recording in class?

Section 29.5(b) and (c) permits instructors to play sound recordings, radios, and televisions subject to all of the following conditions:

• the playing of the recording, radio or television program must take place on the premises of an educational institution
• it must be for educational or training purposes
• it must not be for profit
• it must take place before an audience consisting primarily of students of the educational institution, persons acting under its authority, or any person who is directly responsible for setting curriculum, and
• it must not involve a “motive of gain”.

Can I record a broadcast of a television/radio program and show/play it in class?

If the program is a news program or news commentary, section 29.6 of the Act allows for the recording of a single copy of a news program or news commentary program – but not a documentary. The recording must be made at the time of broadcast. The recorded program must be shown/played on campus to an audience of primarily staff and/or students for educational purposes and must be free of charge.
You can record other programs (i.e., not news or news commentary) for review purposes only – you cannot show them in class. Only a single copy can be made and must be destroyed within 30 days of recording.

The potential for copyright infringement is very real in the case of student assignments where the final product is a video, whether posted to YouTube, a website or just simply shown to other students in a classroom setting. Students need to be very careful about the content they are including.

Section 29.21 of the Copyright Act contains a users' right permitting anyone, not just students and instructors, to use copyright-protected works to create new works.

This users' right is referred to in the Copyright Act as "non-commercial user-generated content." The copyright literature refers to this users' right as the mash-up provision.

The following conditions apply to the creation of non-commercial user-generated content.

• it may only be used for non-commercial purposes
• the original source must be mentioned, if it is reasonable to do so
• the original work used to generate the content must have been acquired legally
• the resulting user-generated content does not have a "substantial adverse effect" on the market for the original work.

This users' right allows students to use copyright-protected works to create videos, DVDs or mash-ups, as long as the conditions above are all met.

The mash-up provision permits user-generated content created under this users' right to be disseminated. Dissemination includes uses such as posting a video to YouTube, or on a website.

The users' right is not available if the user circumvents a Technical Protection Measure (TPM) in order to access the content for the mash-up.

In the past, the Access Copyright licence and the Interim Tariff prevented the creation of derivative works. For example, copying one paragraph from one source, another paragraph from another source and then another paragraph from yet a different source and then bundling it all together to distribute to students was not permitted. This is now permitted under the mash-up provision.
           ---Copyright Toolkit for ACCC Member Institutions’ prepared by Wanda Noel and Jordan Snel, Barristers and Solicitors