Primary copyright policies

These are the two primary University of Manitoba policies respecting copyright:

• Intellectual Property Policy 
• Use of Copyright Protected Materials Policy 

Responsible Conduct of Research

These policies and procedures help ensure that UM  has the highest standards of integrity in all research.

• Responsible Conduct of Research

The Copyright Act

In Canada, copyright-protected material is governed by the Copyright Act.

• Copyright Act

Fair Dealing Week (February 26 - March 1, 2024)

During the week of February 26 to March 1, 2024 the University of Manitoba, along with other Canadian and American educational institutions, will recognize Fair Dealing/Fair Use Week. Fair Dealing/Fair Use Week is an annual initiative of the Association of Research Libraries and Canadian Association of Research Libraries and their partners.

Why Fair Dealing matters

Fair Dealing is a provision in Canada’s Copyright Act that grants an exception to copyright protection for specified purposes—like research and education—as long as the use is fair. Faculty, instructors, students, librarians and support staff use Fair Dealing on a regular basis for educational, private study, and research purposes. For instance, faculty or students copying a chapter or an article for research purposes may be exercising their Fair Dealing rights.

The Copyright Office welcomes your experiences with and questions about Fair Dealing, and especially encourages the University community to consider how they engage with this copyright exemption during Fair Dealing Week.

Copyright Term Changes

To comply with the United States of America-Mexico-Canada trade Agreement (USMCA) the Government of Canada implemented a copyright term extension to the Copyright Act in late 2022. As a result of these changes, the duration of copyright has been extended from 50 to 70 years after the year of death of the author. This change does not have retroactive effect, meaning that works that already entered the Public Domain before the legislative change remain in the Public Domain.

Although copyright durations in some types of works (for example film and sound recordings) follow different rules, in effect this change means that the Public Domain will remain static over the next two decades. Beginning in 2023, the Public Domain will consist of works created by authors who died in 1971 or earlier until additional works enter the Public Domain 70 years after the year of the death of the author, commencing in 2043.

Copyright notices

There has been a recent increase in fraudulent copyright notice emails (particularly DMCA complaints) claiming infringement of materials on websites. These emails may appear like genuine complaints but link to malicious websites or include a link to a zip file containing malicious files. Exercise caution if you receive a complaint, and report any suspicious emails to infosec@umanitoba.ca.