Copyright Policy [February 15, 2018]

Preamble

This Copyright Policy has the following basic objectives:

• To determine the ownership of copyright works created by members of the University community.
• To foster the creation and development of copyright works in support of the University’s academic mission.
• To provide for the equitable sharing of the revenues arising from copyright works between authors and the University.

1. Definitions

The following capitalized terms, whether used in the singular or plural, have the following meanings in this Policy:

1.1 “Administrative Staff” has the meaning prescribed by the University of Toronto Act¹.

1.2 “Author” means any member of the University’s Teaching Staff, librarians or Administrative Staff, any postdoctoral fellow or student of the University, and any visitor to the University, who has written or created a Work.

1.3 “Commercialize” and “Commercialization” mean to make a Work available outside of the University on a for-profit basis, but does not include publication or distribution of conventional texts by a recognized university or other academic press.

1.4 “Connaught Fund” means the fund administered by the University’s Connaught Committee, or any similar fund established by the University to support research.

1.5 “Computer Software” means any set of instructions or statements, expressed, fixed, embodied or stored in any manner, that is to be used directly or indirectly in a computer to bring about a specific result.

1.6 “Copyright” has the meaning prescribed by the Copyright Act.

1.7 “Copyright Act” means the Canadian Copyright Act (R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42), as amended, or any successor legislation thereto.

1.8 “Instructional Software” means Computer Software designed for instructional purposes that provides for interaction with the user, or makes use of multimedia products, or both, and includes technology-enabled learning products in electronic format.

1.9 “Management Fee” means a fee for services provided by the University in connection with the Commercialization of a Work by the University.

1.10 “Moral Rights” means all of the Author’s rights to claim authorship and to protect the integrity of a Work under the Copyright Act and applicable law.

1.11 “Net Revenue” means the royalty, licensing and other income or equivalent financial return, including the proceeds of disposition of share capital or other financial instruments, received from the Commercialization of a Work created with Substantial Use of University Resources, less legal and other fees incurred directly in the process of establishing and maintaining the legal protection of those rights.

​​​​​​​1.12 “Substantial Use of University Resources” means the extraordinary provision of resources by the University, which includes, without limitation: release time from regularly assigned duties where the primary purpose of this is the creation of a Work; direct discretionary investment by the University of funds or staff, or the purchase of special equipment for the creation of a Work; extraordinary use of multimedia production personnel and facilities; and, extraordinary use of computing resources. It would not normally include basic salary or the provision of overhead costs associated with the University’s administration of external funds.

​​​​​​​1.13 “Teaching Staff” has the meaning prescribed by the University of Toronto Act.

​​​​​​​1.14 “University” means the Governing Council of the University of Toronto, as represented by its duly appointed officers and officials and their designates.

​​​​​​​1.15 “University of Toronto Act” means the University of Toronto Act, S.O. 1971, as amended by S.O. 1978, c. 88.

​​​​​​​1.16 “Work” means any architectural, artistic, choreographic, cinematographic, dramatic, literary, musical, scientific, technical or other work in which copyright may subsist under the Copyright Act and applicable law, but excludes any Computer Software that is not Instructional Software.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

________

​​​​​​​ ¹ As of February 15, 2018, the Administrative Staff are the employees of the University, University College, the constituent colleges and the federated universities who are not members of the Teaching Staff.

² As of February 15, 2018, the Teaching Staff are the employees of the University, University College, the constituent colleges and the arts and science faculties of the federated universities who hold any of the following academic ranks: professor; associate professor; assistant professor; professor, teaching stream; associate professor, teaching stream; assistant professor, teaching stream; lecturer and senior lecturer; tutor and senior tutor; assistant professor (conditional); assistant professor, teaching stream (conditional); sessional lecturer I, sessional lecturer II, sessional lecturer III, athletics instructor and senior athletics instructor; but does not include any part-time lecturer who is registered as a student.

2. Rights in the Work

​​​​​​​2.1 The University will own Copyright in all Works which are:

​​​​​​​a) ​​​​​​​created by an Author in the course of the Author’s employment by the University; or,

​​​​​​​b) specifically commissioned by the University under a written agreement in which the Author assigns Copyright in the Work to the University. For the purposes of this Policy, Works, including Instructional Software, created by members of the University’s Teaching Staff, librarians or postdoctoral fellows in the  course of their research, scholarship or teaching shall not be deemed to be made or undertaken in the course of their employment by the University.

​​​​​​​2.2 In all other cases, the Author will own Copyright in the Work, except to extent that any rights in the Work have been granted to a third party under a prior written agreement signed by the University and acknowledged in writing by the Author.

​​​​​​​2.3Where the University owns Copyright in a Work created other than in the course of employment, the Author will:

​​​​​​​a) retain all Moral Rights in the Work;

​​​​​​​b) have the right to revise the Work at reasonable intervals; and,

​​​​​​​c) have a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use, revise and modify the Work for non-commercial purposes.

​​​​​​​2.4 Where the University does not own Copyright in Work created with Substantial Use of University Resources, the University will:

​​​​​​​a) have the right to receive a share of Net Revenue, in accordance with Section 3 of this Policy; and,

​​​​​​​b) have a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use, revise and modify the Work for research and teaching purposes within the University, provided that:

i. the license will not confer any commercial rights to the University; and,
ii. ​​​​​​​the University will not publish any revised version of the Work without the Author’s prior written consent.

​​​​​​​2.5 To encourage awareness of rights and obligations under this Policy and reduce the possibility of misunderstanding, circumstances involving Substantial Use of University Resources should be identified in advance of the creation of a Work whenever possible. Since practices and procedures on such matters may vary in different divisions of the University, divisions are encouraged to develop their own guidelines in furtherance of this Policy, subject to the approval of the Vice-President and Provost and the Vice- President, Research and Innovation. The object of such guidelines will be to create an atmosphere that encourages the creation of Works, without interfering with freedom of inquiry or causing unnecessary administrative burdens.

​​​​​​​2.6 Computer Software that is not Instructional Software will be deemed to be an “Invention” under the Inventions Policy, and the rights and obligations with respect to such Computer Software and the disposition of revenues therefrom shall be in accordance with the Inventions Policy.

​​​​​​​2.7 Notwithstanding any statement elsewhere in this Policy:

​​​​​​​a) if an Author also holds an appointment with an affiliated teaching hospital or other external institution, the determination of rights in a Work and the allocation of Net Revenues arising out of its Commercialization shall be subject to the terms and conditions of agreements between the University and the hospital or other institution in force at the time of the disclosure of the Work, or, in the absence of such an agreement, to negotiation between the institutions involved;

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​b) all agreements existing at the time of the adoption of this Policy between the University and Authors, or the University and governments, corporations and other third parties relating to Works and/or Authors shall remain in full force; and,

​​​​​​​c) the rights and obligations set out in this Policy may be modified by written agreement between an Author and the University.

3. Commercialization

​​​​​​​3.1 If an Author wishes to Commercialize a Work created with Substantial Use of University Resources, the Author will disclose the Work to the University by completing a disclosure form and submitting it to the Vice-President, Research and Innovation or his/her designate(s) without unreasonable delay. Works which comprise an instructional course shall not be considered Commercialized simply because the tuition income from the course exceeds the cost of mounting the course.

​​​​​​​3.2 The Author may consult with the University’s appropriate officials with respect to the various options available to the Author regarding Commercialization and of sources of information about those options. If the Author wishes to retain the responsibility to Commercialize a Work created with Substantial Use of University Resources, the Author will enter into a revenue sharing agreement with the University.

​​​​​​​3.3 If the Author does not wish to retain the responsibility to Commercialize a Work created with Substantial Use of University Resources, the Author may offer to assign Copyright in the Work to the University. If the University accepts the assignment, the Author will enter into an assignment and revenue sharing agreement with the University.

​​​​​​​3.4 Net Revenue shall be shared and distributed in accordance with Appendix A, on an annual basis. In cases where the respective contributions of the Author and the University vary substantially from the norm, the respective shares of Net Revenue may be varied accordingly by agreement to reflect the relative contributions of the Author and of the University.

4. Arbitration

​​​​​​​4.1 If a dispute arises between an Author and the University with respect to the application of this Policy, the Author and the University shall attempt to resolve the dispute through mediation, failing which the dispute shall be referred for decision to a panel composed of one member nominated by the Author, one member nominated by the University and one member selected by the first two or, in the absence of an agreement between them, by the Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University.

​​​​​​​4.2 Until a decision is given by the panel, no action shall be brought by the Author against the University, or by the University against the Author, in any court of law on any matter arising out of this Policy.