Copyright and Intellectual Property

The Guide is provided for informational and educational purposes, to promote compliance with copyright laws and best practices.  It is not intended as legal advice. Consultations on the guide were held with members of the faculty and Deans.

Guide revised in 2014 to reflect changes in Canadian legislation, recent court decisions, University policy and the introduction of the UDST learning management system (D2L). This guide is not intended as legal advice.

Guide was revised in 2018 and 2020. A partial revision was undertaken in 2022.

Operating a campus of a Canadian institution in an international country presents interesting challenges and interpretations when dealing with country-specific legislation and international treaties.  Copyright falls with this domain.

In 2007, the Vice-President, Qatar Project provided the following direction, "Employees of CNA-Q are expected to respect and comply with the laws of the State of Qatar and, unless they conflict, the laws of Canada on all matters including copyright protection." This direction has guided the work on copyright adherence and support at the Qatar campus.

University policy and procedures and the Library's licensing agreements guide copyright compliance at UDST.

Copyright compliance at CNA-Q recognizes international and national laws and conventions, legal decisions, college policy and learning resources licensing agreements.

The new law gave educators and individuals more rights:

• Fair dealing was extended for education purposes.
• Films can now be run on campus for education or training purposes, subject to certain conditions.
• You can use internet materials for educational purposes, subject to certain conditions.
• Educators can post lessons online, subject to certain conditions.
• We can make back-up copies, BUT we cannot circumvent a TPM. Technological Prevention Measures (TPMs), also known as digital locks, include password encryption and digital rights management technology.
• We can make mash-ups, subject to certain conditions.
• We can now legally format-shift and time-shift, if the source copy was legally obtained and if the signal is received legally.
• The damages for copyright infringement with non-commercial purposes were reduced.

The Courts have been instrumental in their interpretation of the Copyright Act.  The copyright pentalogy refers to five recent court decisions which have shaped user's rights in Canada.

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The copyright symbol is automatically applied to original works such as books, articles, videos, music, paintings, photographs, broadcasts, performances, software and digital works (CDs, DVDs, websites).