If you have questions or need help with copyright, contact:
Senior Editor & Copyright Officer: Nicholle.Carriere@norquest.ca
Or CurriculumDevelopment@norquest.ca
Understanding Canadian copyright law is important for anyone at NorQuest College—instructors, curriculum developers, or support staff—who uses materials composed or created by others. Appropriate use of OER requires an understanding of copyright and how it impacts our use of these resources.
Copyright protects the intellectual property rights of creators or rights holders, granting them exclusive usage rights. In order for others to use copyrighted materials, permission must be granted by the rights holder, or the use must qualify for an exception like fair dealing.
Open licenses operate within copyright law, but grant specific user permissions in advance.
OER include resources that are in the public domain, or have an open license that allows for reuse, adaptation and redistribution.
Public domain resources are no longer protected by copyright, either because these rights have expired or have been waived by the creator or rights holder.
Openly licensed resources are still protected by copyright, but certain user permissions have been granted. These permissions vary widely depending on the license.
The Spectrum of Rights by Teaching & Learning Innovations at CSU Channel Islands is licensed under CC BY SA 4.0
In order for a resource to be considered an OER, it must have a license that permits users to:
This
work is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
License. Details and Exceptions.