Copyright is governed by federal legislation that protects creative works as soon as they are stored on any physical media.

Under copyright, creators are given the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute and publish their works as well as authorize a third party to take those actions.

For more information, please refer to our Copyright Act overview page or the provisions of the Copyright Act itself.

By making their works available with a Creative Commons licence, authors can release users from certain obligations that would otherwise apply automatically under the Copyright Act.

Creative Commons abbreviations and symbols indicate what’s allowed. For information on the types of licences and the possible letter and symbol combinations, please refer to our article:

https://www.copibec.ca/en/nouvelle/501/creative-commons-c-est-quoi-

The Copyright Act doesn’t specify a clear rule; it’s usually case by case. The value of an excerpt or image isn’t based solely on the number of lines or the space it takes up.

However, college institutions in Quebec benefit from a licensing agreement with Copibec that allows them to use significant portions of creative works. The agreement clarifies those situations by providing relevant guidelines and ensuring that royalties are paid to copyright owners no matter how much of the content is used.

In Canada, at the end of the 70th year following the death of the author (or the last remaining contributor for a collaborative work), the copyright for that work usually expires. The work is then said to be in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission. Copyright protection applies to content  published in Canada or elsewhere.

For a translated work, the copyright doesn’t expire until the translator has also been deceased for more than 70 years. For example, a recent translation into French of a work by Shakespeare will be protected by copyright and may require clearance in order for copies to be made. The same principle would apply to an adapted work.

Copyright protection doesn’t depend on the publication date or whether the work is no longer commercially available for purchase. The copyrighted work will still be protected as long as its author, translator or adapter has not been deceased for at least 70 years.

Prior to January 1, 2023, the copyright term in Canada was 50 years. However, works that entered the public domain before 2023 were not affected by the change and did not recover their copyright protection if their author had been deceased for less than 70 years. For instance, novels and essays by Albert Camus, who died in 1960, remain in the public domain.

More information about the public domain is available in French in this article: https://www.copibec.ca/fr/nouvelle/344/le-domaine-public-c-est-quoi-

No. Permission must be obtained before reproducing an entire book even if it’s no longer commercially available for purchase.
You can request clearance through Savia, our user reporting system. We’ll contact the copyright owner for the applicable terms and rates.
However, you’re allowed to copy an entire book if it’s in the public domain.

No. Song lyrics are protected under the Copyright Act. However, the Copibec licence allows you to reproduce song lyrics from a paper format source (liner notes accompanying a sound recording) or a digital source.

If the song lyrics are included with other works in a coursepack or are uploaded to a secure course site, you need to report the use to Copibec so the artists can be compensated.

Under certain conditions, section 30.04 of the Copyright Act allows educators to use content that’s available to the general public online without prior permission. You therefore have to carefully examine the terms of use for the website and the work itself before making copies for educational purposes. Be sure to check that:

• the work has been made available with the copyright owner’s consent (it’s preferable to consult the websites of authors and publishers or official sites and avoid file sharing sites)
• there is no clearly visible notice prohibiting the use of the work or a technological measure (subscription or account) that limits access to the work. 

The document source and bibliographic references must be indicated.

If you’re not sure whether reproduction is allowed, please contact Copibec or the copyright owner to request clearance.

The Copibec licence authorizes works to be reproduced as long as they’ve been made available to the public with the copyright owner’s consent, they were published in the paper or digital format version of a book, newspaper, magazine or periodical and they don’t appear on the Exclusions List.

In addition to allowing content to be reproduced, Section 30.04 allows those resources to be displayed in-class or shared in digital format.

Canada’s Copyright Act contains an exception that allows fair dealing for the purpose of research, private study, education, parody or satire. This means a work can be reproduced for educational purposes without permission from or compensation for the copyright owner but only if the fair dealing exception applies. A similar legal concept in the United States is called fair use.

Determining what is fair dealing requires a case-by-case analysis. In general, it refers to a short excerpt from a work used for one of the purposes designated in the Act. However, neither the Copyright Act nor the courts have specified a percentage or number of pages that can be copied under the fair dealing exception.

As a result, even though fair dealing for educational purposes is sometimes interpreted as meaning up to 10% of a work or an entire chapter, that interpretation is not founded on the wording of the Act or any ruling by Canadian courts.

Thanks to the Copibec licence, educational institutions and teaching personnel can reproduce excerpts without having to do a case-by-case analysis. The licence therefore simplifies copyright management when copyrighted material is used, reduces the related costs and helps ensure that the institutions can operate smoothly while providing fair compensation to copyright owners.

The definition of a perceptual disability encompasses various physical and learning disabilities. For example, dysphasia, dyslexia and pervasive development disorders are considered perceptual disabilities.

When it comes to obtaining adapted educational material, the Copyright Act requires the material to be purchased if it’s commercially available in an appropriate format. To order a digital version compatible with speech synthesis software such as WordQ or Lexibar, you can go to our DONA platform where readable PDF versions of workbooks, textbooks and novels have been made available by dozens of publishers.

If you’re unable to obtain the necessary adapted version from Copibec or the publisher, the Act allows you to adapt it yourself.

With a licence issued by Copibec, you benefit from a simple, legal framework for reproducing excerpts from copyrighted material. The licence ensures that authors and publishers receive fair compensation for the use of their works so they can continue to create quality content.

Yes, the Copibec licence allows you to produce coursepacks containing excerpts that do not exceed the authorized reproduction limits. You have to report the copies to Copibec (whether they’re in paper or digital format), as required under the licence. This includes coursepacks sold at the educational institution’s bookstore or co-op, handed out free of charge in class, sent by email or uploaded to a course site.

The Copibec licence allows a sufficient number of copies to be made so the instructor and every student in the same group can have a copy.

You have to respect the limits in the Copibec licence for every book excerpt reproduced but there’s no maximum number of books that can be reproduced.

Yes. The Copibec licence describes the terms and conditions under which paper or digital format copies can be made and used.

No. Certain publishers’ titles and certain works can be photocopied but cannot be digitized or scanned. If a publisher or title appears on the Exclusions List for digital format copying, you have to submit a request to Copibec before making a digital format copy. Copibec will forward the request to the copyright owner and, if clearance is granted, a fee will be set for the pages that you want to reproduce.

No. Permission must be obtained before reproducing an entire dramatic work (play).

However, the Copibec licence authorizes you to reproduce a play as long as it’s part of another work (such as an anthology of plays), its length does not exceed the licence’s limits and it’s not on the Exclusions List.

Under an agreement between Copibec and the Association québécoise des auteurs dramatiques (AQAD), you can quickly get clearance to reproduce entire unpublished plays in digital format based on a fee scale.

In addition, an entire play can be copied if it’s in the public domain.

Government publications aren’t covered by the Copibec licence. They appear on the Exclusions List.

Many federal government publications are copyright-free and can be used without permission for educational purposes. At the provincial level, published legislation and regulations as well as certain specific documents are copyright-free.

You therefore need to check the terms of use for the document you’d like to reproduce and then request clearance if necessary.

Yes. Bibliographic references must always appear on the copies distributed to students and on the copies retained by teaching personnel.

• Which information has to be included in a bibliographic reference? 

A complete bibliographic reference consists of the following:  

• Author’s name

• Title of the work

• Publisher

• Publication place and year

• Page numbers reproduced

No, the college licensing agreement doesn’t allow artificial intelligence (AI) tools to be used on those copyrighted works. There are two reasons for that.

The Copibec agreement allows material to be reproduced on a secure course site (LÉA, Moodle, Teams) but not in a generative AI tool. Reproducing material in an AI tool requires special clearance directly from the copyright owner.

In addition, the agreement doesn’t allow copyrighted material to be modified, adapted or translated.

Copibec is a non-profit organization whose operating costs are covered by the comprehensive and one-time licences it issues. As determined by Copibec’s Board of Directors made up of copyright owners, 15% of the funds collected are used for operating expenses.

The other 85% share of the funds is redistributed to copyright owners based on all the content use reported to Copibec throughout the year. Every page use reported by a user represents an amount that will be paid to an author and publisher, usually split 50%/50%.

At Copibec, we do everything we can to ensure that payouts accurately reflect how copyrighted material is used in Quebec college institutions. That’s why it’s so important for teaching personnel to report their content use!

It depends. Publishers sometimes distribute their material online on an open-access basis but allow only free access for individuals. Reproduction rights are still in effect. The same is true for libraries’ digital collections: the right to reproduce the material is not necessarily included in the contract.

By definition, open access means you can only view the material. Teaching personnel can therefore direct their students to the relevant articles or chapters (by using a link, for example). But before you share a digital version or include that content in a coursepack, be sure to read the terms of use. If reproducing the material isn’t allowed, all you have to do is report your use to Copibec because the licensing agreement with Copibec covers that right.

You have to report your digital format copies included in a coursepack (compilation of two or more excerpts), regardless of the transmission method (sent by internal email, uploaded to a secure site or stored on digital media such as a flash drive).

Additionally, excerpts uploaded individually to a secure site such as LÉA (Omnivox), Teams or Moodle must be reported to Copibec.

Buying a book doesn’t mean that copyright has been acquired. Teaching personnel still have to get clearance before sharing multiple copies of the material. Permission is granted under the Copibec licence as long as the content use is reported.

However, in some cases when the book has been purchased by all the students, a written agreement with the publisher is possible so the content can be used without reporting it to Copibec.

SAMUEL (Simplified Access for MUltidisciplinary Education and Learning) is an online platform that enables you to use published works or excerpts from works within the limits of your Copibec licence. It consists of a catalogue containing thousands of works such as magazine articles, books, sheet music, illustrations, song lyrics as well as an image bank of artistic works and press photos.

You can browse through each book or magazine before choosing the excerpt you want to use (within your licence limits). Individual magazine articles, images and song lyrics can be copied in their entirety. New works are being added to the catalogue every week!

To access SAMUEL, you need a Savia account associated with an educational institution. Your Savia credentials give you access to SAMUEL.

Even without logging into an account, you can always browse through the SAMUEL catalogue: https://www.copibecnumerique.ca/resources?l=en

DONA (DOcuments Numériques Accessibles) is an online platform for any student who needs accessible documents that can be used with reading assistive technology tools.

The platform offers nearly 3,000 readable PDF versions of exercise books, textbooks and novels from about 50 Quebec publishers. Designed like a shopping site, DONA is intended for use by representatives from educational institutions or the student themselves. Most of the documents are eligible for a 100% or 50% discount if the student already has the paper format version.

For more information: https://www.copibec.ca/en/dona