The use of works in the classroom is governed by the Copyright Act. To promote a balance between the needs of educational institutions and respect for the rights of authors, Copibec grants blanket licenses enabling teachers to use works legally. These licenses allow the reproduction of excerpts from works, including:

• Books
• Textbooks
• Newspapers
• Periodicals
• Magazines
• Song lyrics
• And more

• Preschool, elementary and high school licence, including adult education centres and vocational training centres
• College licence
• University licence

The Copyright  Act sets out certain exceptions for educational institutions. However, the scope of the exceptions has been given contradictory interpretations by copyright experts and has been contested in court.

Conditions

To take advantage of the exceptions as a teacher or professor, you need to meet some requirements. For instance, before displaying content on screen in class, you have to check whether the work can be purchased in an appropriate format. For content taken from the Internet, you have to make sure it was made legally accessible on the site and there is no clearly visible notice that prohibits use and no technological measures that limit access.

Fair dealing

The “fair dealing” exception concerns the use of works in the context of:

• Research and private study
• Review
• Criticism
• News reporting
• Parody
• Satire
• Education

The exception does not apply systematically in schools. The Supreme Court requires a liberal interpretation and proof of fair dealing, which varies from case to case.

Copibec’s license allows the reproduction of large-print books for preschool, primary and secondary schools. Other establishments must contact us for authorization.

In accordance with the Copyright Act, Copibec allows the acquisition of works from certain publishers in PDF format, without technical protection measures (TPMs), for use with reading and writing aids.