Montreal earns praise for respecting copyright


Montreal earns praise for respecting copyright

Copibec and the city of Montreal recently agreed on a five-year renewal (2018 to 2023) for the licence that allows municipal employees and elected officials to reproduce material protected under the Copyright Act.

After being the first city to reach an agreement with Copibec so that employees and elected officials could legally reproduce material, Montreal has now become the first municipality in Quebec to renew its licence. The city’s copyright leadership deserves to be recognized!

We’re pleased with this new agreement and impressed by Montreal’s openness, ethical approach and willingness to listen to authors’ and publishers’ views on respecting their rights and paying royalties for the use of their material.

Why municipalities need a licence

If your Quebec municipality or regional county municipality (MRC) doesn’t have a licence yet, we encourage you to take a closer look at how your employees and elected officials use copyrighted material.

Did you know that you need permission to use copyright-protected content? Here are a few examples of that kind of use: compiling press reviews, emailing articles between project team members and inserting diagrams from a book into a PowerPoint presentation. 

Advantages of a licence

• Coverage for most of the ways content is used
• Easier for you to manage copyright thanks to Copibec’s one-stop service
• Lower administrative costs for clearing the rights to use each article or excerpt
• Faster process to obtain permission for one-time use, which can add up to many requests during the year

Start by checking our site to see which types of use are not authorized for your municipality under the Copyright Act. Then request a Copibec licence so you can legally share and distribute copyrighted content. It's easy to get a licence and there's no charge!

Montreal has set an example for Quebec municipalities to follow! Recognize the right of authors and publishers in your cities to be paid for the use of their research and creative work!