Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The Copyright Act includes an exception that facilitates the creation of non-commercial user-generated content, such as assignments and presentations that are prepared by students and submitted to their professors and instructors, by permitting the use of existing copyright-protected works to create new works. Students may operate within the scope of this exception if the following conditions are met: 

• the new work must be solely for non-commercial purposes (this would not include uploading assignments or presentations to sites like Course Hero or submitting assignments for publication); 
• the existing copyright-protected works must be legitimate (consult verified and trusted websites, consider the validity of the usernames of those who posted or uploaded the content online, and avoid content that is accompanied by disclaimers indicating 'no copyright infringement intended'); 
• the new work must not have a substantial adverse effect on the existing copyright-protected work (the new work must not compete with or act as a substitute for the existing copyright-protected work); and 
• the authors and sources of the existing copyright-protected works must be acknowledged in attribution statements, credit lines, or citations and references (always cite your sources!). 

When incorporating images and content from online sources into assignments and presentation slides, it would be best for students to consider the following: 

• the content must be publicly accessible (you must be able to access the content without creating an account or logging in to a website, subscribing to a website, platform, or service, or paying any fees); 
• the content must be legitimate (not infringing copies) and must have been made available to the public online by the copyright owner (consult verified and trusted websites, consider the validity of the usernames of those who posted or uploaded the content, and avoid content that is accompanied by disclaimers indicating 'no copyright infringement intended'); 
• the content must not be accompanied by a clearly visible notice that prohibits educational or non-commercial use; 
• access to and use of the content must not be restricted by technological protection measures or digital locks of any kind (avoid images that are watermarked, text that cannot be downloaded or copied and pasted, and videos or music that cannot be played in your geographic location); and 
• the authors and sources of the content must be acknowledged when publicly accessible online content is incorporated into assignments and presentation slides. 

If the images and content are from print sources, it would be best for students to operate within the scope of the Fair Dealing Requirements in the Copyright Compliance and Administration Policy. 

Please note that should students decide to upload their assignments or presentations to sites like Course Hero (which is discouraged) or in any way publish their assignments and presentations, they will need to obtain permission from the copyright owners for all of the content that they have incorporated into those assignments and presentations. 

Students are welcome to consult with the Copyright Advisory Office if they have any copyright-related questions: qcopy@queensu.ca.