Skip to Main Content

Copyright at Okanagan College

 The following are general exceptions available to anyone via the Copyright Act.

Non-commercial user-generated content (“Mash-Up” Exception)

An individual can use a published or otherwise publicly available existing work to create a new work, as long as:

  1. The new work is being created for only non-commercial purposes.
  2. The existing work being used is a legally-obtained copy.
  3. The existing work being used is cited and the citation includes the source of the original work and the name of the author or creator if their name is available.
  4. The use of the existing work does not substantially adversely affect the copyright owner of the existing work, financially or otherwise.

Back-up Copies

A person may reproduce the source copy of a work they own or have licensed, provided: 

  • The source copy was legally acquired
  • The person does so solely for back-up purposes in case the source copy is lost, damaged or otherwise rendered unusable
  • The person does not share the reproduction
  • The person, while making the production, does not break a technological protection measure, such as a digital lock

Reproduction for private purposes

A person may reproduce a work, for a private purpose, provided:

  • The copy of the work from which the reproduction is made is not an infringing copy
  • The person legally acquired the copy of the work (other than by borrowing it or renting it) and owns or is authorized to use the medium or device on which it is reproduced
  • The person did not break a digital lock in order to make the reproduction
  • The person does not give the reproduction away

Information obtained from or through this site does not constitute legal advice, but is provided as guidelines for using works for educational purposes.

The Copyright at Okanagan College website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

This site is maintained by the librarians of Okanagan College Library.
If you wish to comment on an individual page, please contact that page's author.
If you have a question or comment about Okanagan College Library's LibGuides site as a whole, please contact the site administrator.