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Copyright Policy

Effective Date: October 13, 2022
Downloadable Version: PDF ICON Copyright Policy
  This document is available in alternate format on request.

Purpose/Rationale:

The Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (hereafter referred to as “Humber” or “the College”) is required to comply with Canadian Copyright Law, institutional licensing agreements and the Universal and Berne International copyright conventions to which Canada is a signatory.

This means that the reproduction, use and dissemination of copyright protected materials, regardless of format, are subject to certain limits and restrictions. In addition, Humber has adopted a Fair Dealing Policy which covers copying by Humber instructors and staff under the fair dealing exception of the Copyright Act.

Scope:

This applies to employees and students of the College using copyrighted works, whether in a College program or in the course of their work for the College. Copyright applies to all original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works.

Definitions:

Copyright: the exclusive legal right given to a creator to reproduce, publish, sell or distribute their work.

Technical Protection Measure (TPM): A technical protection measure is a software device designed to provide access and allow authorized uses of a work.

Policy:

It is the responsibility of all Humber faculty, staff and students to comply with Canada’s copyright law and to copy and distribute materials in accordance with institutional directives.

Humber’s Library communicates these requirements and provides guidance on acceptable practices via the Humber Library website as well as through other commonly used means of communication.

Individuals subject to this policy will only use material protected by copyright when one of the following criteria are met:

  1. The use is permitted under the exceptions within the Copyright Act;
  2. The college has a license which permits access to specific works pursuant to negotiated contract terms.
    1. Individuals are bound by the contractual obligations found within the license of personal subscription services like Netflix and iTunes. In most cases these licenses preclude the presentation and distribution of their content in an educational environment, therefore they cannot be used for teaching or other purposes at the college.
  3. Written permission from the rightsholder has been obtained;
  4. The work is designated as open access (through a creative commons license or other similar notice) or the copyright in the work has expired and entered the public domain in Canada.
  5. Access to the content has been acquired legally.
    1. The Technical Protection Measures provisions contained in the Copyright Act restrict the removal of access controls put in place by the copyright owner. This includes removing the encryption included on DVDs to prevent copying and the sharing of credentials used to access a password protected platform.

Individuals needing information regarding the use of copyrighted material can contact copyright@humber.ca