Using Content in Courses: Print & Electronic

1. Books or textbooks to be purchased by students.
2. A custom course pack prepared for printing by the York Bookstore. There are also local copy shops who provide comprehensive copyright clearance services and who can confirm full compliance with all copyright legislation for material submitted. If York University’s service is unable to produce course kits one of these local copy shops may be able to assist.
3. A book or a copy of an article placed on reserve in the York Libraries.
4. For materials not licensed by York's Libraries, a class handout of a single copy of a short excerpt from a copyright-protected work for each student (see Application of the Fair Dealing Policy for Universities to Teaching and Research by University Faculty for details). If, after that review, your item qualifies as Fair Dealing, you may wish to contact York's Printing Services to print the copies.  Or, for assistance when copying falls outside of York's Fair Dealing Guidelines just email copy@yorku.ca. Staff will be able to provide you with a list of options that are available to you.
   
5. Your own works, for which you own the copyright.
6. Copies of works in the public domain.
7. Copies of works that are published under an Open Access or Creative Commons licence.
8. An instructor is allowed to copy, play in class, or distribute to students, materials that you have found on the Internet, under the following conditions:
   • the material was posted legitimately - work available through the internet can not be reproduced if the educational institution or person acting under its authority knows or should have known that the work was made available through the Internet without the consent of the copyright owner;
   • there is no visible notice prohibiting use (and not merely the copyright symbol);
   • there is no digital lock preventing access or copying; and
   • the source and author of the work is properly acknowledged.

Electronic Format on a York University Course Learning Management System (LMS)

1. Works in the public domain or published using an Open Access or Creative Commons licence that allows distribution.
2. Laws, Statutes, Judicial Decisions and Government of Canada Publications.
3. A link to a website on the internet (check the website's terms of use to determine if there are any restrictions to linking).
4. A link to an eBook or eJournal that is accessible via the York University Library eResources catalogue. Information on how to integrate library resources into your course LMS, including how to make a permanent link to an item in the library catalogue, can be found here. In some cases, the terms of the library’s licence permit posting the article directly on a course website. See Library subscriptions for a more detailed explanation of permitted uses).
5. A short excerpt of a protected work (book, article, newspaper article, audiovisual work, sound recording) that is covered under the Fair Dealing exemption. See York's  Application of the Fair Dealing Policy for Universities to Learning Management Systems for details and limits.
6. Your own works, for which you own the copyright, including lecture slides used for classroom presentations (e.g. Powerpoint presentations).
7. If an extract to be included on an LMS exceeds the limitations of a short excerpt as set out in the Fair Dealing Guidelines, transactional permission for making the copy should be secured from the copyright holder or from the holder’s licensing agent. Contact York University’s Copyright Office at copy@yorku.ca for assistance in obtaining transactional permissions for your LMS. Keep track of the materials you provide to students as you go through the course so that over the term the excerpt from a source never goes over the limits set out in the Fair Dealing Guidelines.
8. An instructor is allowed to copy, play in class, link to, embed,or distribute to students, materials that you have found on the Internet, under the following conditions:

• the material was posted legitimately - work available through the internet can not be reproduced if the educational institution or person acting under its authority knows or should have known that the work was made available through the Internet without the consent of the copyright owner;
• there is no visible notice prohibiting use (and not merely the copyright symbol);
• there is no digital lock preventing access or copying; and
• the source and author of the work is properly acknowledged.

Note: The embed feature can be found on many platforms, such as YouTube, Vimeo, etc. Once enabled it appears to grant a limited licence to copy and distribute the content. However, if someone uploads infringing content they have no legal right to grant that licence. The licence can only be granted by the rights holder or their representative.  When evaluating internet content look for statements that they have the right to post the material either because they created the content or have obtained the permission from the creators or the company representing them. To determine if you are viewing a legitimate version of a copyrighted work start by looking at the creator’s official web site.  They may sell their work directly or have links to representatives authorized to sell it on their behalf. If they do, it is an indication that the internet version is not from a legitimate source. If you have any doubts? Contact copyright owner or the internet site where you found the content.

Copyright Q & A Sessions

If you would like more information on copyright and your course website, consider attending a Copyright and Your Course Website Q & A session. All copyright-related questions or concerns can be discussed with staff from York's Copyright Office.