Teaching is the bread and butter of what we do at Langara. As such, when we talk about copyright on campus, we tend to focus on user rights like fair dealing, which allow us to share copyright-protected content with our students. However, it’s important to note that copyright law seeks to balance users’ interests with the rights of copyright owners. While attending the recent Scholarship Café, I was reminded that many (if not all) members of the college community are creators too. Whether you’re an artist, musician, author, app designer, or applied researcher, your works are protected by copyright.
On May 10th from 12:30pm-1:20pm, the Copyright Office will host its inaugural Copyright for Creators workshop in partnership with the TCDC (register here). In the meantime, here are a few copyright ‘quick takes’ for those creating content:
- Copyright is automatic. Your work is protected as soon as it’s fixed in a format (whether digital or analog).
- Creators have a bundle of rights. Only creators have the right to publish, reproduce, distribute, adapt, and perform their works.
- Creators can negotiate which rights they waive or assign to a publisher. The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) and other organizations provide authors with tips and resources for preserving important rights when publishing.
In addition to the Canadian Copyright Act, the rights of Langara creators are set out in the College’s Intellectual Property policy (B3006) and the LFA Collective Agreement (pages 59-60).
Keen to learn more? Please join us on May 10th!
