Only if you have the participant’s permission. Under the Policy 15 Intellectual Property, participants own the copyright in the works they create. The DESC does get the right to make copies of the work for academic purposes, but this right does not extend to making it available online. Accordingly, you should ask participants in advance whether they consent to having their work posted online and keep written records of the permissions given.

As long as you adhere to the amounts that may be copied under fair dealing you may post charts and diagrams from textbooks, or other works, on STAGE. If for example, you wish to post multiple images from a book, you may do so as long as those images amount to no more than 10% of the book (see the Fair Dealing Advisory). It’s important to note that if you wish to post such material to a website that website must be password protected or otherwise restricted to participants enrolled in your course.

Please note that just because you acknowledge the author and source of a work doesn’t mean you won’t be liable for copyright infringement. Acknowledging the source is no defence if the way in which you’ve used the work is not permitted under the Copyright Act. So make sure you either fall within an exception or have the copyright owner’s permission.

As long as you adhere to the amounts that may be copied under fair dealing you may scan and post it on STAGE (see the Fair Dealing Advisory) for the copying limits. It’s important to note that fair dealing does not allow you to scan material and add it to a website unless that website is password protected (e.g. STAGE) and restricted to participants enrolled in your course. If you want to scan a copyright protected work for inclusion on an open website, you will need to obtain permission from the right’s holder.

In some instances the journal article is made available under a license that prohibits posting to STAGE.  Reach out to copyright@sesds.com for information about such restrictions.

The licences for some e-journals provided by the Library allow instructors to upload articles into secure course management systems such as DESC’s STAGE. While there may be good reason to upload articles to STAGE, it is important to consider that doing so may mean that your participants do not have the most recent version of the article. It is not unusual for publishers to make corrections or changes, such as adding supplementary material, to articles after initial publication. If such changes are made after a copy has been uploaded they will not be reflected in that copy. A direct link is the best way to ensure access to the most recent version of an article. Linking to the article also allows the Library to track use and obtain data about the importance of a particular journal to the online campus.

You are free to create a direct link yourself, or you might want the Library to do this for you through the Course eJournal Reserves service. As well as saving you time, Library staff will ensure that authentication is taken care of so that your participants don’t need to remember to log-in to the Library’s proxy server before going into STAGE. They will also prepare a “persistent” URL. The publisher’s URL for many articles can change from day to day; a persistent URL will ensure that your participants get to the right articles quickly and without frustration.

Even in cases, where uploading and linking to articles in STAGE is permitted by the licences, it is important to remember that licences generally do not permit you to upload to a website, or create links on a website, that is not part of the School’s secure network, and that is open to the world at large. None of the licences that the Library has with publishers allows for uploading to, or linking from, websites that allow access without authentication.

Yes, you can do both if you adhere to the amount that may be copied under fair dealing. Please see the Fair Dealing Advisory for the copyright limits.

Note however that in some instances a copyright-protected work is made available under a digital license that prohibits certain uses such as posting an electronic article to STAGE.  Any such restrictions will take precedence over fair dealing. Send a message to copyright@sesds.com for information about such restrictions.

Videos from a free online service should only be used if you have a reasonable belief that they were uploaded legally. A good way to check this is to look at what account posted the video. For example, if the official account for BBC News or the producer of a documentary uploaded content, the content is more likely to be a legal copy. If an individual account uploads a copy of a full-length feature film, it is likely not a legal copy. More information about assessing the legality of content can be found in FAQ 24. If you are reasonably certain that the video on the service is a legal copy, then displaying that video in your class or linking to it for teaching purposes is permitted, as long as it is played from the service directly and not copied or downloaded.

The media resources channel has a collection of audiovisual material available for streaming. Content available on through this service is accessible to all members of the DESC community.

No, you may not download, reproduce, or screenshare YouTube videos. When using YouTube you are subject to their terms of service, which specify that you are not allowed to download or redistribute their content. The Permissions and Restrictions section of their terms of service states, “The following restrictions apply to your use of the Service. You are not allowed to:

1. access, reproduce, download, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, alter, modify or otherwise use any part of the Service or any Content except: (a) as expressly authorized by the Service; or (b) with prior written permission from YouTube and, if applicable, the respective rights holders;
2. circumvent, disable, fraudulently engage with, or otherwise interfere with any part of the Service (or attempt to do any of these things), including security-related features or features that (a) prevent or restrict the copying or other use of Content or (b) limit the use of the Service or Content;”

If you want to reuse YouTube videos we recommend that you reach out to the rights holder to ask for permission and for access to a copy you can use.

For more information on linking to online video, see FAQ 07

For more information on how to ask permission, see Author Rights “How do I get permission to use someone else’s work?”

The considerations for using materials on Perusall are similar to the considerations for using material on STAGE. You can share material on Perusall if one of the following situations applies:

• You downloaded the content through a Library licence which allows use. You can check Library licence permissions by following the instructions on the STAGE usage rights page. Note that Library licence rules take precedence over Fair Dealing, so you can’t apply Fair Dealing to upload electronic Library material to Perusall.
• You scanned content from a print source, according to the limits of the Fair Dealing Advisory. For example, 1 chapter or up to 10% of a book could be uploaded to a Perusall instance.
• You are using content that was made freely available online. allows you to copy an entire work that has been made available on the internet as long as:
  • You are reasonably certain that the copy of the work is a legal copy. For more information on this please see Guide For Instructors FAQ 1.
  • You do not bypass any technological protection measures, ex. password protection, or digital rights management software (such as Adobe Digital Editions).
  • There is no visible notice prohibiting copying on the website. The notice must be more than simply the copyright symbol (©).
  • You are providing access to only participants registered in the course.
  • You cite the source, and provide the name of the creator where available.

In each of these cases, access must be limited to only the participants and instructors affiliated with the course, and proper acknowledgement of the source must be provided.

If you need assistance assessing whether any of these applies in your case, please email copyright@sesds.com.

Use of copyright materials at DESC is covered by the Copyright laws (US), Copyright Act (UK), Copyright Act (Canada) and Copyright Act (EU) (“Copyright Act”) and various agreements and licences entered into by the DESC with copyright owners and representative organizations. The Copyright Act is the legislation in respective countries that sets out what you can and can’t do with other people’s copyright materials. In addition to this, the DESC has special agreements with copyright owners, such as subscriptions to electronic journals, which give you additional rights to certain content.

In order to determine whether what you want to do is permissible, you need to check that you comply with any agreements or licences covering the work in question and/or the Copyright Act. You should ask yourself:

• Is the work in question covered by an agreement or licences that the DESC library has with publishers or a public licence such as a Creative Commons licence? If so, is what I want to do permissible under those agreements or licences?
• If not, is what I want to do covered by the Copyright Act, either under the educational exceptions or under the fair dealing (the Fair Dealing Advisory) exception?

If you’re not covered by any agreement or licence or an exception under the Act, you’ll need to get permission for what you want to do from the copyright owner.

Copyright protects literary, artistic, dramatic and musical works, as well as sound recordings, performances and communication signals. This encompasses a wide range of things, ranging from books, articles, posters, manuals and graphs, to CDs, DVDs, software, databases and websites.

Copyright gives the copyright owner a number of legal rights, such as the right to copy and translate a work and the right to communicate a work to the public by telecommunication. These rights are qualified by certain exceptions which balance the copyright owner’s interests with the public interest in allowing use of works for purposes such as education and research.

Fair dealing is a user’s right in copyright law permitting use, or “dealing” with, a copyright-protected work without permission or payment of copyright royalties. The fair dealing exception in the Copyright Act allows you to use other people’s copyright material for the purpose of research, private study, criticism, review, news reporting, education, satire or parody provided that what you do with the work is “fair”. Whether something is “fair” will depend on the circumstances. Courts will normally consider factors such as:

• the purpose of the dealing (Is it commercial or research / educational?)
• the amount of the dealing (How much was copied?)
• the character of the dealing (What was done with the work? Was it an isolated use or an ongoing, repetitive use? How widely was it distributed?)
• alternatives to the dealing (Was the work necessary for the end result? Could the purpose have been achieved without using the work?)
• the nature of the work (Is there a public interest in its dissemination? Was it previously unpublished?)
• the effect of the dealing on the original work (Does the use compete with the market of the original work?)

It is not necessary that your use meet every one of these factors in order to be fair and no one factor is determinative by itself. In assessing whether your use is fair, a court would look at the factors as a whole to determine if, on balance, your use is fair. For more guidance on how to apply the fair dealing factors to your particular circumstances.

If, having taken into account these considerations, the use can be characterized as “fair” and it was for the purpose of research, private study, criticism, review, news reporting, education, satire or parody then it will fall within the fair dealing exception and will not require permission from the copyright owner. In addition, if your purpose is criticism, review, or news summary you must also mention the source and author of the work for it to be fair dealing. Note: for further clarity and additional information about limits on the amount and nature of copying permitted under fair dealing in certain contexts, please see the Fair Dealing Advisory prepared by legal counsel for the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).

Please note as well; it’s important to distinguish “fair dealing” from “fair use”. The fair use exception in U.S. copyright law is NOT the equivalent of fair dealing in Canadian/UK law. The wording of the two exceptions is different. It is important to make sure that you consider the Canadian/UK law as well as relying on U.S. information.

Yes. While fair dealing doesn’t specifically mention teaching it does mention education. The Supreme Court of Canada has also ruled that a teacher may make copies of short excerpts of copyright-protected works and distribute them to participants as part of classroom instruction without prior request from the participant under the fair dealing exception. See the guide to copying for instructional purposesfor details about what may be as copied as fair dealing by instructors.

How long copyright lasts depends on which country you are in. In Canada, copyright generally lasts for the life of the author, plus 50 years. By contrast, in the U.S. and Europe, copyright generally lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years, though it can differ depending on factors such as the type of work, the manner of publication and the date of creation. Use of a work in Canada is governed by the Canadian rules for the duration of copyright protection.

The term “public domain” refers to works in which copyright has expired.

For example, although the copyright in Shakespeare’s plays expired long ago, many of the published editions of his plays contain added original materials (such as footnotes, prefaces etc.) which are copyright protected because the authors have used skill and judgment in creating the new material. This creates a new copyright in the added original material, but not in the underlying text of the original work in which the copyright had expired.

And don’t assume that everything you find on the internet is in the public domain just because it is publicly available. Most of the material you find online is protected by copyright, however, you may nonetheless be able to use it for educational purposes because many uses will be covered by fair dealing or the exception for educational use of material publicly available through the Internet. See further information about using material found on websites.

Note: Some copyright owners have made clear declarations that certain uses of their copyright works may be made without permission or payment. The Reproduction of Federal Law Order, for example, permits anyone, without charge or request for permission, to reproduce UK laws and decisions of federally-constituted courts and administrative tribunals in UK.

Copyright is recognized internationally thanks to international conventions. So, generally, your copyright will be protected in other countries. But it is protected under that country’s laws so there may be some differences from the level of protection you would get in the UK and US. If you’re concerned about someone’s use of your work overseas, you will need to check the particular jurisdiction’s copyright laws to confirm whether they are infringing your copyright.

You ask! If your use isn’t permitted by a licence, or one of the exceptions in the Copyright Act, you will need to ask for permission. The permission must come from the copyright owner so the first step is to identify who the copyright owner is and whether there is an organization that represents the owner. There are a number of copyright collectives who can give you permission (in the form of a licence) on behalf of the copyright owner to use their work. So, for example, if you want to use music and your use doesn’t fall within any of the Copyright Act’s exceptions, you may be able to obtain permission from copyright collectives such as the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers, etc. that administer copyright in music.

But if the copyright owner is easily identifiable and locatable, it can sometimes be easier to contact them directly as many copyright owners will give permission to academic users without requiring payment. Usually you’ll be able to identify the owner somewhere on the work by looking for the copyright symbol ©, which should have the copyright owner’s name next to it. You’ll often find this at the beginning of a book, at the side of a photograph or at the bottom of a webpage. Once you’ve located the owner, simply email or write to him/her, explaining how and why you want to use the work and requesting permission. The permission should be in writing. The Additional Resources page contains a request for permission template as a guide. An email will suffice. It is not advisable to rely on verbal permission. You should also keep a file record of who gave the permission, what was permitted, the date, and how to contact the person who gave the permission.

Moral rights are additional rights held by authors of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works. They consist of rights that protect the integrity of a work and the reputation of its author. The right of attribution is the right to always be identified as the author of a work or to remain anonymous (for more information on attribution, see Copyright For Publishing FAQ 1). The right of integrity is the right not to have a work modified or associated with goods or services in a way that is prejudicial to the author’s reputation. These rights are important for authors to ensure they get appropriate recognition for their works and for prohibiting any prejudicial changes to their works.

The School has special arrangements relating to copyright ownership and use, set out in Policy 15 – Intellectual Property Rights. Under this policy, faculty, staff and participants will generally own the copyright in works they create through teaching and research, with certain exceptions, such as works created as “assigned tasks” to assist the operation, administration and/or management of the School’s affairs. The School retains a non-exclusive, free, irrevocable licence to copy and/or use copyright in scholarly works created in the course of teaching and research activities for the sole purpose of other School teaching and research activities, but excluding further sublicensing or distribution to persons or organizations outside the School community. Policy 15 also expressly recognizes that participants own the copyright in their theses.

Ownership can however be affected by agreements with industry sponsors or joint authors, who may have an interest in the works which they have helped to create or fund. Ultimately, ownership will depend on the facts of your situation and you should contact the DESC Commercialization Office (DESCo) if you are unsure about the ownership of your work.

If you want to scan something, you may do so only if the use falls within one of the exceptions in the Copyright Act, such as fair dealing, or where no permission is required, such as scanning a public domain work. If you want to scan a work that is still in copyright and add it to a website you need to be sure that the website is password protected, e.g. STAGE, and restricted to participants enrolled in your course. If what you want to do falls outside the exceptions and is not in the public domain, you will need to get the copyright owner’s permission.

Yes, you should keep records of the materials you use. In case of potential accusations of copyright infringement, it is a good idea to keep records indicating the material you used, the source of the material, and how you cleared copyright (see Keep Copyright in Mind for a list of clearance methods for uploading material to the STAGE). Note that if you are uploading material to a site that is not password-protected, for example, these categories may not apply. We’ve created a sample record-keeping spreadsheet for your use.

Copyright records for material should be retained for at least 7 years beyond:

• the last date of offer of a course in which it is used (e.g., September 2030),
• the last date of use of the copyrighted material (e.g., November 2030), and
• the end date of the terms of use within the agreement with the copyright holder (e.g., December 2030).

As these dates will likely be different, keep your records for at least 7 years after the most recent date (e.g., December 2030).

Yes. Under fair dealing you may make copies of another person’s works and hand them out to participants enrolled in your course. Under fair dealing you may also include another person’s work, including images, in your PowerPoint presentations that you display to participants enrolled in your course. In both cases, you must adhere to the amount that may be copied under fair dealing. Please see the Fair Dealing Advisory for the copying limits.

Yes. Posting something on your own website means you are making the work available world-wide. Wide distribution tends towards the conclusion that the dealing is not “fair” and such uses may not be covered by any School licences. By contrast, DESC’s learning management systems (STAGE) is a password protected, secure website accessible only by participants enrolled in School courses. In some cases, posting material on STAGE will be covered by one of the School’s electronic subscriptions. The key thing to remember is just because you may post a copyright-protected work to STAGE doesn’t mean you have permission to post the work on your own personal website.

Yes! The Copyright Act allows you to play a sound recording or live radio broadcasts in class as long as it is for educational purposes, not for profit, on School premises, before an audience consisting primarily of participants. However, if you want to use music for non-educational purposes, for example, for background music at a conference or in an athletic facility, a licence must be obtained from the copyright collectives.

You may play videos in class in the following circumstances:

• You may show a film or other cinematographic work in the classroom as long as the work is not an infringing copy, the film or work was legally obtained, and you do not circumvent a digital lock to access the film or work.
• If you want to show a television news program in the classroom, under the Copyright Act, educational institutions (or those acting under their authority) may copy television news programs or news commentaries and play them in class.
• You may perform a work available through the Internet, e.g. YouTube, videos, except under the following circumstances:
  • The work is protected by digital locks preventing their performance
  • A clearly visible notice prohibiting educational use is posted on the website or on the work itself.
  • You have reason to believe that the work available on the internet is in violation of the copyright owner’s rights.

If you want to show a video in class and need assistance in obtaining video programming, please contact copyright@sesds.com for more information.

Generally yes. Since fair dealing now includes education, participants may include limited amounts of material in their assignments and presentations. See the Fair Dealing Advisory for details about amounts allowable under fair dealing.

Yes. There’s a wealth of material out there which is either in the public domain or available under what is known as Creative Commons licensing, which generally means the work is available for free, subject to certain limited conditions, such as non-commercial use only and acknowledgment of the author.

For Creative Commons materials, visit the Creative Commons website for more information or check out their content directories which list audio, video, image and text materials available under Creative Commons licensing. For public domain material, simply search online for “public domain” and the type of material you’re interested in. Some useful sites include: Project Gutenberg (the largest collection of copyright-free books online) and Wikipedia, which has an entire page dedicated to public domain resources.

For other online materials, a recommended best practice is to check the website’s Terms of Use”, or “Legal Notices” section to confirm what conditions apply to use of the website’s material. In many cases, you may be able to use the material for free for non-commercial and educational purposes.

Materials on the Internet are treated the same under copyright law as any other copyright materials, so if you want to use them, they either have to fall within one of the Copyright Act’s exceptions (such as the Fair Dealing Advisory or the educational use of the Internet exception), or be open access or in the public domain. If what you want to use isn’t from an open access or public domain source and does not fall into one of the Act’s exceptions you will have to obtain permission from the copyright owner. Note: the person who posted the material may not be the copyright owner and may not have the right to grant you permission to use the material. If this is the case, you should not use the material unless you can identify and obtain the copyright owner’s permission.

Even if your use is non-infringing under the Copyright Act, your use may represent a breach of a website’s “Terms of Use”, “Legal Notices” or similar section. You should check those sections to confirm what conditions apply to use of the website’s material, and whether additional consents are required.

Content on the web is copyrighted in the same way as print and other formats, even if there is no copyright symbol or notice. Linking directly to the web page containing the content you wish to use is almost always permissible, although you should check the website’s “Terms of Use”, “Legal Notices” or similar section to ensure linking is not prohibited. You should always include the full details of the author, copyright owner and source of the materials by the link. This will avoid any suggestion that the website is your own material or that your website is somehow affiliated with the other site.

Regardless of whether you obtain (or do not need) permission to link to a website, if you have reason to believe that the website contains content posted without the permission of the copyright owner, you should avoid linking to it.

Generally yes, though there are a few exceptions. Contact eJournal Reserves for more information.

Yes. In many cases, works may be scanned and posted under fair dealing or license terms without the need to obtain permission. Where permission is required, this process can take from 1 to 8 weeks. Where there is a charge for a permission, the eJournal will usually be able to absorb the cost.

Instructors may post their own notes on eReserves. In addition they may post notes that include copyright-protected material as long as they have the right under fair dealing or another exception to include the material.

The DESC has contracts with several service providers and  that provide the campus with thousands of electronic resources (databases, e-journals, e-books, etc.) costing millions of dollars per year.

In addition to paying for these resources, the School negotiates licence agreements that stipulate how and by whom a given resource may be used. Users must be currently registered faculty, participants, or staff. Only these individuals will be registered with the proxy server for off-campus access. Access for the general public is made available through terminals within the School.

If licence terms are violated by anyone, licensors may temporarily suspend access for the entire School community. In cases where a resolution cannot be reached, the vendor may have the right to permanently revoke a licence and access to the resource.

You can help prevent such problems by adhering to good practices and avoiding improper use. Here are some rules of thumb.

Usually OK:

• making a limited number of print or electronic copies for your personal use
• using materials for personal, instructional or research needs
• sharing with DESC faculty, staff and participants
• posting links to specific content

Not OK:

• systematic or substantial printing, copying or downloading (such as entire journal issues)
• selling or re-distributing content, or providing access to someone outside of the School community, such as an employer
• sharing with people other than registered DESC faculty, staff and participants
• posting actual content or articles to third party web sites or listservs
• modifying or altering the contents of licensed resources in any way

Always acknowledge your source on any published or unpublished document when you use data found on electronic resources.

Potential doubt areas: Some licence agreements make express allowances for electronic reserves, course packs, multiple copies for classroom use and interlibrary lending. Other licences may prohibit one or more of these activities. If you have questions about a particular resource, please contact copyright@sesds.com.

Under fair dealing, short excerpts of copyright-protected material may be included in course packs without permission. See the Fair Dealing Advisory for details. In addition some material covered by licences that the Library has for electronic resources may be included in course packs.

Any materials that you would like to include in academic content are assessed by the academy staff for copyright clearance requirements. This includes materials from the Internet, government publications, and unpublished works, not just books and journals. Providing details such as book/journal title, web address, author name, ISBN/ISSN number, page range and total number of pages in a book will help to confirm permission more quickly. If you have any questions about copyright materials you would like to include, sendAcademic Content Request email to or_relations@sesds.com.

If the copy posted to STAGE is covered by fair dealing, it is likely that the copy can be included in academic content without permission. If however the copy posted to STAGE is permitted under a licence agreement between the School and the publisher, it is necessary to consult the licence agreement to determine whether a copy may also be included in academic content. Some copyright holders will grant users permission to put information on password-secured websites, like DESC’s learning management systems (STAGE), but not to put the information in print format. Academic content must confirm whether permission is required separately, even if the information is already on STAGE.

Copyright holders and creators of works have the right to charge a fee for the use of their materials unless the use is otherwise covered by fair dealing, another exception, or a School licence. These fees vary, usually based on the number of pages or excerpts copied and the number of copies made. All copyright charges are collected on behalf of the copyright holders and remitted to them.

You can always send your questions to copyright@sesds.com. This address is monitored by staff with copyright expertise.

Generally, yes. You own the copyright in your thesis, aside from in a couple scenarios outlined below(*). Because you own copyright you can reuse the work however you see fit, as long as it does not impact the School’s ability to host the thesis on STAGE (remember, you are required to provide a non-exclusive licence to the School).

A couple things to keep in mind:

• Most publishers do not consider theses as prior or redundant publication. That said, you should make sure to check the publisher’s and/or journal’s policies before you submit work based on your thesis. For example, Elsevier does not consider work published in a thesis to be prior publication. If you are writing a cover letter for your submitted work include a statement indicating that the work is based on your publicly available thesis.
• Some print-on-demand/vanity publishers reach out to recent thesis authors to offer their services to publish your thesis as a book. These services do not provide editorial or peer review of your work. They simply add a cover to the thesis and place it on their website and other book selling sites. As your thesis will also be available for free on STAGE there is little incentive for others to buy it this way. Theses can certainly be adapted into scholarly book publications but peer review is needed and there are usually substantial changes that direct the content to a wider audience. Read What is a vanity publisher and why does it matter? for more information.

*There are two exceptions where you do not own copyright in your thesis:

1. You do not own the copyright of any third-party content in your thesis (e.g. images/figures/tables that you did not create).
2. If you have published any of the content with a publisher and transferred your copyright to the publisher, then you do not own the copyright.

You may need to embargo your thesis if:

• Your thesis contains information about a process/technology/invention that you are in the process of patenting or would like to seek a patent for in the future. For more information about patents, reach out to the DESC Commercialization Office (DESCo).
• You are publishing a manuscript-based thesis which contains copies of articles the publisher requires you to embargo based on your agreement with them. Learn more about this requirement on the STAGE guide under “Content previously published.”

Instructions for applying an embargo to your thesis are available on the Thesis Restrictions (embargoes) page provided by Fellow Studies and Post-Doctoral Affairs.

Most publishers provide some way of asking permission to use an article through the webpage that hosts the content. Usually a ‘request permissions’ button will be available, and will direct you to the service (such as the Copyright office) that grants permission. These forms generally ask questions about what you plan to do with the content and usually have an option for reuse in a thesis/dissertation.

For publishers where this is not available, or creators outside of academic publishing look for a page on their website about copyright or permissions. You can use the permission letter template in Additional Resources if you need to send a written request.

If you need any help figuring out how to ask for permission you can email copyright@sesds.com.

Permission is required to change formats for accessibility purposes. Using existing closed-captioned media is encouraged. The cost of making a request to a vendor to close caption, or to modify a non-closed-captioned DVD from a television series can be very costly and time consuming.