5 Copyright and Open Licences
Before you begin writing, make sure you have a firm grasp of what copyright means and how applying an open-copyright licence — typically a Creative Commons licence [New Tab] — or designating your copyright to the public domain will affect your textbook.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, copyright is
the exclusive, legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something (such as a literary, musical, or artistic work)[1]
The laws that govern copyright vary from country to country. The term “copyright” (copy + right) was first recorded between 1725 and 1735.[2]
The copyright owner of a work, such as a textbook, is permitted to sell or distribute their work as they deem fit. This includes by assigning a licence or offering permissions to another party. For example, if an author decides to sell a book to a publisher, the contract might state that while the author retains copyright, the publisher has the right to print and sell the first copies of the book globally. In other words, the publisher has “First-time, non-exclusive, worldwide rights,” and for this right, the publisher pays the author. After the publisher has exercised this right, the author may resell their work.
Exceptions to copyright ownership: employment
Section 13(3) of Canada’s Copyright Act[3] explains that one’s employer owns copyright. Jean-Sébastien Dupont and Guillaume Lavoie Ste-Marie, from the law firm Smart & Biggar, Fetherstonhaugh, describe it this way: “if the work is created in the course of employment under a contract of service, and absent any agreement to the contrary, the employer will be the owner of the copyright (emphasis added) in the work created by the employee without the need for a formal assignment.”[4]
What can and can’t be copyrighted
There are several things that can’t be copyrighted. In the U.S., they include the following:
- Titles, names, slogans, and short phrases. (However, some of these might be protected with a trademark.)
- Facts, ideas, concepts, systems, and methods of operation. (Yet, copyright might protect how these items are expressed such as in a writing or illustration.)[5]
For more information on this topic, see the Creative Commons blog by Timothy Vollmer, “The public domain and 5 things not covered by copyright” [New Tab].
In Canada, copyright provides protection for “literary, artistic, dramatic or musical works (including computer programs) and other subject-matter known as performer’s performances, sound recordings and communication signals.”[6]
Note: The terms copyright and intellectual property are not synonymous. As stated above, copyright are permissions that apply to specific creative works whereas intellectual property is a broad term that refers to
(a) form of creative effort that can be protected through a trademark, patent, copyright, industrial design or integrated circuit topography.[7]
Intellectual property rights are the permissions that cover these cr