Front Matter / Acknowledgements

The Code of Best Practices in Fair Dealing for Open Educational Resources explores the legal and practical application of fair dealing in the context of Open Educational Resource (OER) creation in Canada. The Canadian Code was adapted from its U.S. counterpart, the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational Resources and benefited from both the robust consultation process undertaken by the U.S. Code authors, their framework and practical examples. The Canadian Code draws extensively on Appendix Three of the U.S. Code, written by Canadian legal scholar, Dr. Carys Craig.

While the Code is not legal advice it provides a legally defensible and judicious model for the application of the fair dealing exception when incorporating third-party copyrighted content into OER. The Code details the relevant Canadian legislative and legal context and supplies relevant practical examples.

The Code is intended to empower Canadian creators and adopters of OER to make use of fair dealing, while also fostering institutional and legal support for doing so. Understanding the scope and flexibility that the fair dealing exception offers will assist with the risk-benefit analysis and ensure that OERs achieve their pedagogical, pragmatic, and social functions. Furthermore, robust OERs fulfill institutional ethical and sometimes legal obligations to make resources universally accessible to their communities.

Adoption of the Code by educational institutions and the OER and copyright communities at large will benefit students and educators in Canada by not only ensuring that educational resources are high quality and accessible but by educating them on Canadian copyright and fortifying the balance of user and creator rights.

The Canadian Code adaptation was undertaken by a Canadian Association of Research Libraries Working Group and benefited from legal review and feedback from the Canadian copyright and OER communities.

The Code reflects best practices as of the date of publication (2024) and may be revised and updated as necessary.

Supplemental and Additional Resources

University of Alberta, Canadian Copyright Term and Public Domain Flowchart, November 2023, https://www.ualberta.ca/faculty-and-staff/copyright/intro-to-copyright-law/licensed-royalty-free-content/pd-flowchart—types.html

Canadian Copyright Act, https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-42/

License Statement

Unless otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. © 2024 CARL and written by Rowena Johnson, Heather Martin, Stephanie Savage, Joshua Dickison, Ann Ludbrook and Kayla Lar-Son. The content was adapted from the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational Resource available at auw.cl/oer, facilitated by Meredith Jacobs, Peter Jaszi, Prudence S. Adler, and William Cross, with an appendix contributed by Carys J. Craig. Please refer to the Acknowledgements section for more information.

Suggested Citation: The Code of Best Practices in Fair Dealing for Open Educational Resources: A Guide for Authors, Adapters & Adopters of Openly Licensed Teaching and Learning Materials in Canada © 2024 Canadian Association of Research Libraries is licensed under CC BY 4.0. This work is adapted from the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational Resource available at auw.cl/oer and licensed under a CC BY 4.0 licence, which was facilitated by Meredith Jacobs, Peter Jaszi, Prudence S. Adler, William Cross.

Legal Disclaimer

The material provided in this Code is for general information purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice. The content reflects best practices as of the date of publication and may be revised and updated as necessary.

Acknowledgements:

General:

The Code of Best Practices in Fair Dealing for Open Educational Resources: A Guide for Authors, Adapters & Adopters of Openly Licensed Teaching and Learning Materials in Canada was adapted from its U.S. counterpart, the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational Resources. The authors of the Canadian Code are indebted to the work of our U.S. colleagues and those who contributed to their process. While the Canadian Code has adopted the formatting and style of the U.S. version and is similar in scope and purpose, significant changes were necessary in order to address the Canadian legislative and legal context. As a result the Canadian version is more than an adaptation, it is a new work that owes its underlying context and inspiration to the U.S. version.

 

The Canadian Code benefited from the U.S. consultation process and has adopted the same general principles, considerations and use cases. However, new sections were written and some content from the U.S. version has been removed altogether. This is particularly notable in the Behind the Code: Copyright Flexibilities and Fair Dealing in OER, and in the Appendices. For example, Appendix Three of the U.S. Code, authored by Canadian legal scholar Dr. Carys Craig, now appears as Appendix One in the Canadian code.  It has been updated to reflect recent developments in Canadian law, and provides the underlying legal analysis for the Canadian version. Appendix Three of the Canadian code, which was written with assistance from Kayla Lar-Son, is a new work that addresses Indigenous knowledge and considerations for OER.

CARL Working Group

The Working Group would like to acknowledge the Canadian Association of Research Libraries sponsorship and support of this project.

Authors/Contributors:

Rowena Johnson, Copyright Officer, University of Calgary; Visiting Program Officer Digital Canadian Association of Research Libraries

Stephanie Savage, Scholarly Communications and Copyright Services Librarian, University of British Columbia

Heather Martin, Copyright Officer, University of Guelph

Ann Ludbrook, Copyright and Scholarly Engagement Librarian, Toronto Metropolitan University

Joshua Dickison, Copyright Officer, University of New Brunswick

Kayla Lar-Son, Indigenous Programs & Services Librarian, University of British Columbia

Legal Reviewers

We would like to acknowledge our legal reviewers. Their contributions to this work have been critical in articulating key legal concepts.

Dr. Carys J. Craig

Associate Dean (Research & Institutional Relations) and Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School; Director of Osgoode’s Law & Technology Program, IP Osgoode; Academic Director Professional LLM Program in IP Law, York University

Dr. Lucie Guibault

Professor of Law; Associate Dean (Academic); Director, Law & Technology Institute, Dalhousie University

Michal Jaworski

Partner, Clark Wilson LLP; Co-Chair Clark Wilson Higher Learning Practice Group, Vancouver, B.C.

Practitioner Engagement/Appreciation

We would like to acknowledge and thank those from the copyright, open education, and related communities who provided feedback on this document. Their comments and contributions made this document more useful to a broader audience.

License

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Code of Best Practices in Fair Dealing for Open Educational Resources Copyright © 2024 by Canadian Association of Research Libraries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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