Michael Byun, Manager, Bookstores
Tim Paul, Manager, Academic Technology Services.
Responsible for Audio/Visual Recording and online content used for instructional purposes.
Katharine Shipley, Associate Director of Learning Resources.
Responsible for copyright in relation to use of Library print and digital collections.
Debra Flewelling, Open Education Librarian.
Copyright Notice Template for Douglas College Instructors
While all Douglas College course materials developed for instruction are automatically copyrighted, instructors may wish to make it clear to students that they do not want their PowerPoint presentations, class recordings, assignments etc. to be posted on third-party commercial sites (e.g. note sharing site, third party commercial site) with an explicit notice to that effect.
Instructors can consider the following options when it comes to their own copyright protection:
Do nothing. Work is automatically granted copyright. Discuss copyright and model copyright compliance with students.
Add a copyright notice on course materials © Your Name YYYY. The protection is no different than step 1 but may dissuade some from re-posting.
Be explicit about the status of all course materials, including 3rd party materials used under Fair Dealing or with copyright clearance. A statement such as:
This material is designed for use as part of <Course Name> at Douglas College and is the property of the instructor unless otherwise stated. Third party copyrighted materials (such as book chapters, articles and images) have either been licensed for use in this course or fall under an exception or limitation in Canadian Copyright law. Copying this material for distribution (e.g. uploading material to a commercial third-party website) can lead to a violation of Copyright law.
Add a creative commons license to your materials such as:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.”
Creative commons licenses allow for sharing and re-use of materials. The creator can specify what attribution they want and if materials can be shared or altered using a Creative Commons license. To learn more about this, go to creativecommons.org. See Douglas College resources for Open Education here.
If you find your instructional material on a third-party site without your permission, you can request that the site remove the material with a takedown notice – Takedown notice.
The above information and documents have been adapted in part from the University of Victoria Libraries, Queen’s University Library and Copyright @ York University.
Douglas College Faculty Request to remove online material infringing copyright (Takedown Notice)
As per the FPSE Faculty Common Agreement 2014-2019, copyright for work that “has been prepared or created as part of assigned duties, other than the duties listed in Article 5.1.2 below, and the copyright to all copyrightable material shall be the sole property of the employee(s) and shall be retained throughout his or her lifetime and upon his/her death by his/her heirs or assigns”.
This means that if your assignments or evaluations or any other course materials prepared by you as part of your instructional work is posted on commercial file sharing sites such as Course Hero, you can request that the site remove the material by sending them a takedown notice.
A takedown notice is issued by a copyright owner or a nominated agent acting on their behalf, notifying an individual or an organization of an allegation of copyright infringement. The copyright owner or agent must write to the site’s agent and/or Internet Service Provider (ISP) to request that the materials be removed from their website. Once you have determined who should be contacted, you can use one of the two templates in this LibGuide depending on the location of the Online Service Providers (OSP). The forms comply with section 41.25 of the Canadian Copyright Act and section 512(c) of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (US).
Where do I send my Takedown Notice?
For Canadian websites:
Contact the website’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) if the website itself does not have a Takedown Notice section. A copyright holder can send a notice to an ISP who hosts a website containing infringing material. This notice, if it meets the requirements set out in the Copyright Act, will then be forwarded to the alleged infringer. A copyright holder can identify the ISP hosting the website with the help of any number of free online services. One such example is Whoishostingthis.com
For US websites:
You can sometimes contact the Website directly to file a Takedown notice e.g. https://www.coursehero.com/takedown-notice/#/ and https://www.studocu.com/en-ca/support for studocu.
Otherwise, send your notice to the Online Service Providers’s (OSP) registered DMCA agent, which can be found by searching the U.S. Copyright Office’s DMCA Designated Agent database - dmca.copyright.gov/osp/. Any OSP that provides caching, hosting, or linking services that wants to claim a safe harbor from monetary liability for copyright infringement must register a DMCA agent with the U.S. Copyright Office and must post certain contact information for their designated agents on their websites in a in a publicly accessible place; frequently this information is located in their Terms of Service. Other places that contact information regarding the site’s DMCA agent may be located in the site’s Community Standards section or by searching the site for the term “DMCA.” From https://www.copyright.gov/512/
If you need assistance with a Takedown Notice, please email copyright@douglascollege.ca.
The above information and documents have been adapted in part from the University of Victoria Libraries, Queen’s University Library and Copyright @ York University.
Template for Canadian websites
Subject: Copyright Infringement Notice
To whom it may concern:
This is notice pursuant to section 41.25 of Canada’s Copyright Act that your website service is hosting material that infringes copyright. You are required by section 41.26(1) of the Copyright Act to:
(a) as soon as feasible forward the notice electronically to the person to whom the electronic location identified by the location data specified in the notice belongs and inform the claimant of its forwarding or, if applicable, of the reason why it was not possible to forward it; and
(b) retain records that will allow the identity of the person to whom the electronic location belongs to be determined, and do so for six months beginning on the day on which the notice of claimed infringement is received or, if the claimant commences proceedings relating to the claimed infringement and so notifies the person before the end of those six months, for one year after the day on which the person receives the notice of claimed infringement.
Work(s): [Title(s)]
Location(s): [List all URLs]
File/Excerpt Name: [List all file names, If applicable]
Date and time of infringement: [Date infringement was found and viewed, note also if “ongoing”]
Infringing poster: [Name/profile name/account/any other identifying information if available]
I am the author and the copyright owner of the work(s) listed above. This/these work(s) has/have been posted to your service without my permission. [Note that if your copyright-protected content has been inserted into a larger work, you must identify the specific parts of the work(s) in which you own copyright.]
Claimant name: [Your name]
Contact information: [Business address, email, & phone number]
Please contact me at the email listed above indicating your prompt response.
Name
Date
Template for US websites
Subject: Copyright Infringement Notice
To whom it may concern:
This is notice pursuant to section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that your website service is hosting material that infringes my copyright. As a service provider, you are required to “expeditiously remove or disable access to” the infringing material”.
Work(s): [Title(s)]
Location(s): [List all URLs]
File/Excerpt Name: [List all file names, If applicable]
Infringing poster: [Name/profile name/account/any other identifying information if available]
I am the author and the copyright owner of the work(s) listed above. This/these work(s) has/have been posted to your service without my permission. [Note that if your copyright-protected content has been inserted into a larger work, you must identify the specific parts of the work(s) in which you own copyright.]
Claimant name: [Your name]
Contact information: [Business address, email, & phone number]
I have a good faith belief that the use of the material that appears on the service is not authorized by myself, the copyright owner, my agent, or by operation of law.
I declare under penalty of perjury, pursuant to the laws of the United States of America, that this notification is true and accurate, and that I am either the copyright owner or I am authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or by operation of law.
Please contact me at the email listed above indicating your prompt response.
Signed,
[Electronic or physical signature]
Name
Date
Sample copyright Information for students that Instructors can include in course syllabi
As per the Douglas College Policy College Use of Copyrighted Works, students, like faculty, must comply with the Copyright Act when using works for educational purposes. The key principles to keep in mind are: cite all sources; do not copy more than what is allowed under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Act and do not copy if a work explicitly states that it is not permitted to do so.
See the Copyright at Douglas College Guide for more detailed information. Contact copyright@douglascollege.ca for further assistance.