Format Specific Guidelines

The Educational Use of the Internet amendment to the Copyright Act permits you to download, save, and share publicly available materials on the Internet for non-profit, educational purposes.  Materials include Internet text, images, music recordings, audiovisual works, theatrical performances, instructional demonstrations, etc., that were intended to be freely downloaded and distributed.  You must provide bibliographic information (cite your source).

Notwithstanding the Educational Use of the Internet amendment, you must respect the rights of those creators and other copyright holders who post materials online for commercial purposes.  Materials on the Internet that are not publicly available include those with technological protection measures such as a password or encryption, a clearly visible notice prohibiting educational use, or a licensed commercial database.  

Images you find "on the internet" are usually copyright-protected, which means you need to be careful about how you reuse them.  Luckily, there is an ever-growing number of images that have been made available with Creative Commons licenses or other licenses allowing an image's reuse.  If you are going to use these images, familiarize yourself with the license types; CC-By, for example, requires attribution of the creator, while CC-SA requires anything reusing the image is licensed with the same Creative Commons CC-SA license.  

Where to Find Images and Audio

The following resources are excellent for finding media that allow some reuse. Always remember to check the image's license to confirm its permitted use(s)

• Flickr A photo site with a wide variety of archival and contemporary photos, many available under Creative Commons licenses. 
• Google Advanced Image Search  Filter search results to show only images that are free to use by selecting Creative Commons licenses from the 'usage rights' drop down menu
• The Noun Project Over 5,000,000 icons, free to use under Creative Commons licenses. Registration required. Carefully read the license terms as most icons have restrictions on adaptation.
• Openverse A search engine for Creative Commons licensed images across multiple platforms
• Pixabay Free images, photographs, illustrations, and videos allowing for reuse, including commercial reuse in cooperation with their simplified license terms
• Unsplash Freely usable photographs
• Wikimedia Commons Public domain and creative commons licensed images that accompany wikipedia articles.  Includes diagrams, graphs, photographs, and more

Locating images which represent a more diverse and inclusive cultural landscape can be particularly challenging. The guides below provide a range of options for stock photos, graphics, illustrations as well as online design tools.

• Toronto Metropolitan University Libraries - Finding inclusive images
• University of British Columbbia - Inclusive and Diverse Image Repositories

Citing Images

Following are some examples of ways to credit different types of copyright-protected images.  

• Image from Creative Commons (CC)

Works under Creative Commons licensing are generally available for free subject to certain conditions, such as attribution to or acknowledgement of the author/creator.  Below is an example of attribution for a CC image that requires acknowledgement of the author/creator.

Author/Creator name.  Title.  Source.

©P. Smith.  Cute Puppy.  CC BY.  

Beware that other CC image licenses may be more restrictive.

• Image from YouTube

Individuals or organizations legally loading content to YouTube have the option to grant users the ability to download the material.  Using YouTube's "Share" function, you may be able to take an image from a video.  If not permitted, use a link to the YouTube video instead.  Below is an example of a citation for an image from YouTube.

©P. Smith.  Cute Puppy. YouTube.

• Image from the Internet with permission to use already granted

Some Internet sources permit you to use works on their site via a simple contract that may state something like "This work can be used for non-commercial use."  Below is an example of a citation for this type of image.

©P. Smith.  Cute Puppy.  Unsplash.

• Image copyrighted by the University of Winnipeg, found via CMS website

For public websites using the University's content management system (CMS) administered through the Marketing and Communications unit, each web page already has a clickable "Copyright" at the bottom, indicating University of Winnipeg intellectual property.  Several new phrases have been added to the University of Winnipeg copyright page related to the use of other copyrighted material.  

"Every effort has been made to acknowledge original sources and to comply with copyright law.  if cases are identified where this has not been done, please notify the University of Winnipeg Copyright Office at copyrightoffice@uwinnipeg.ca.  Errors or omissions will be corrected.  A timely reply subsequent email will be provided to the complainant."

• Image copyrighted by the University of Winnipeg located on non-CMS websites

There are some 179 non-content management system public websites that are not presently administered through the Marketing and Communications unit.  When using and citing University of Winnipeg owned photos on these websites, please use the following format.

©University of Winnipeg.  Cute Puppy.  Staff Photo.  

• Image not copyrighted by the University of Winnipeg located on CMS and non-CMS websites

For images that are copyright-protected by someone other than the University of Winnipeg representing one of the examples explained in this section, please follow the appropriate format.

• Image from a personal collection

An image that is the intellectual property of instructors or faculty should have attribution information.  However there is little need to credit personal photos of the individual or other owned images for which copyright is not being exerted.  Below is an example for instructors or faculty using their own image in which intellectual property right is being claimed. 

©P. Smith.  Cute Puppy.  Personal Collection.

• Image in the public domain

In Canada, images enter the public domain 50 years after creation (for works prior to 1949), after their creator's death (post-1949), or when the author/creator has put the image in the public domain.  Public domain images can be used without seeking explicit permission or payment of royalties/licensing.  Below is an example of a citation for an image from the public domain.

©P. Smith.  Cute Puppy.  Wikipedia public domain.

• Image/sample media from Microsoft

As a result of the University of Winnipeg's contract with Microsoft, faculty and staff have permission to use Microsoft's Clip Art and Sample Media.  Microsoft requires the use of the following citation:

©Used with permission from Microsoft.  

If you have any questions regarding image citations, please contact the Copyright Office.

Reproduction for instruction now permits the digital display of copyright-protected materials.  It also includes less used technologies such as flip charts and dry-erase boards.

With respect to the Reproduction for Instruction exception, if the work is commercially available, you must purchase a copy.

To the existing right to perform musical works in the classroom for educational purposes without the requirement of public performance rights (PPR), this amendment has been extended to include audiovisual works.  No PPR are now required to perform films in the classroom for non-profit education in educational institutions.  One must always have a legally-obtained copy of the work.  

Concerning the performance of audiovisual materials in the classroom, the new right applies only if the copy being performed is a non-infringing copy or the person responsible for the performance has no reasonable grounds to believe it is an infringing copy.  

Showing Videos in Online Lectures

The Copyright Act allows for the use of personal copies of legally-acquired films to be shown in classrooms without requiring additional rights or licenses.  This means instructors and faculty can show their own DVDs, videos, etc., in class.  Similarly, the Copyright Act allows for the sharing of works available through the internet with students.  

The Copyright Act allows for lessons that are 'telecommunicated' (including online) to have the rights to the same exceptions as an in-person classroom, subject to certain conditions.  This means you may record and share lectures containing films, internet clips, etc., under the conditions that you limit the materials to sharing only with the class, destroy the copies 30 days after students receive their final grades, and take reasonable measures to prevent the materials from being used outside the purpose of the lesson.

Regardless of these exceptions, the use of films in remote lessons must adhere to the Terms of Service of the video teleconferencing platform you are using.

With regard to distance education, educational institutions are permitted to record a lesson containing copyright-protected material and make it available online or transmit it to students in real-time over the Internet.  The student is permitted to make a copy of the lesson on a portable device.  The student and the educational institution must destroy material for which authorization/permission is required for use in the lesson within 30 days of the student receiving their final grades.  Material in the lesson through the use of fair dealing or other user rights may remain indefinitely.

A digital lock is a technological protection measure designed to restrict access to digital content.  The Copyright Act does not allow the breaking of digital locks for educational purposes or for the exercise of one's fair dealing rights.

News and news commentary programming may be recorded off air or the Internet for later viewing by students.  No permission is required, no royalties need be paid, and no forms need be completed.  The single copy of the program may be viewed for the physical life of the material.

Libraries can use digital technology to deliver an inter-library loan (ILL) copy of copyright-protected material.

Libraries, archives, and museums, under section 30.1(c) of the Copyright Act, have the right to convert a VHS tape to DVD since the VHS format and technology are obsolete.  If the DVD is available commercially, section 30.1(c) does not apply.

When converting VHS tapes to DVD where no DVD is commercially available, section 29.5(d) allows an educational institute to use or perform the preservation copy DVD in the classroom.

Students with perceptual disabilities or those acting on their behalf are permitted to circumvent technological protection measures.

List of VHS equipment on campus

The purpose of this policy is to identify the procedures and conditions that apply to the showing of DVDs from regions outside of Region 1 (North America) at UWinnipeg either through the Library or by University instructors or faculty members.  Many DVDs produced and sold only in Region 2 (Europe and the Middle East) and Regions 3 to 6 are unavailable in Region 1.

This policy applies to all faculty, staff, students, alumni, and members of the public who view non-Region 1 DVDs at UWinnipeg.   

Under the control of the University Library, the subject librarian will verify the non-availability of the product in North America and will instruct the acquisitions staff to acquire the product through a distributor outside of North America.  Media Services loans a player capable of displaying Regions 2-6 DVDs.  

The following conditions apply:

1. The Library or University faculty member must have legally-acquired the DVD from a Regions 2-6 distributor.
2. Faculty, staff, and students can only use the Regions 2-6 DVD for fair dealing purposes.
3. The Library's Entertainment license does not apply to the showing of Regions 2-6 DVDs and therefore these DVDs may not be shown as part of film events for students as a whole or for the general public.
4. If a Regions 2-6 version of the DVD becomes available in North America, the Library or University faculty member or instructor, through the respective departments' acquisitions budget, is obligated to purchase the Region 1 version of the DVD.
5. Bibliographic records for Library-held Region 2-6 DVDs will indicate appropriate regions of the DVDs, that they must be used for fair dealing purposes.

Canada's federal government does not require permissions for personal uses or public non-commercial uses (ie. where any charges made are solely based upon cost-recovery) for reproduction of materials produced or published in the federal government -- unless otherwise specified in the material itself.

However, permission of the relevant federal government department or entity is always required where material is to be revised, adapted, translated, or otherwise used -- whether or not the purpose is for personal or public non-commercial use.