Skip to Main Content

Copyright

This guide provides information to Capilano University employees and students regarding copyright, licence agreements, and related topics. This guide does not provide legal advice.

On this page:

For information on the Library's Media Services, please see the Media Services guide.

Showing Multimedia in Class

Faculty who want to share a video with their students in a course have several options, both asynchronous and synchronous.

Library Streaming Platforms

The Library subscribes to several video streaming platforms that students can access off-campus for asynchronous viewing or in-class for synchronous viewing. View available databases by selecting Database Type > Video (two options available) in the Library's Databases A-Z list.

If you are live-streaming a video for your students, please ensure that: 

  • The audience consists of only students registered for the class.
  • Any copies made of the lecture are destroyed within 30 days of the course ending.
  • The title of the video is listed and, if available, the date and any additional source information.

Showing a DVD

Unless otherwise stated, Public Performance Rights are no longer necessary to show films/DVDs (including feature films, streaming video, and purchased TV programming on DVD) for educational purposes in a classroom setting.

  • Only legally acquired media can be used
    •  titles from Capilano Library's streaming collection or physical collection (Please note that some films/DVDs in CapU Library Collection do carry restrictions. These restrictions will be noted on the item's catalogue record.)
    •  your home purchased collection
    • videos borrowed from another library, unless otherwise stated on the video

For DVDs that are required viewing in a course, the Library may be able to create a temporary streaming file. View more information on the Library's DVD to streaming service below. Please note that the library's DVD to streaming service follows Canadian copyright requirements. Simply 'ripping' or screen recording a DVD to convert it to a digital file may have legal ramifications.

The Library does not recommend streaming a DVD over any of our remote-teaching platforms (Zoom, Teams). Many DVDs and conferencing platforms are set up to prohibit this activity. When it can be done, the quality is poor. 

Commercial Streaming Options

Services like Netflix, Crave, Disney Plus or Spotify and Apple Music generally require each viewer to have their own account, in which case you cannot live-stream from the platforms. Please remember that not all students will have a subscription to these services and it may be an additional financial burden to ask them to subscribe. 

Netflix releases a select number of documentaries that can be shown in class for educational purposes, and can be live-streamed in a distance course. To see if a title is permitted, go to the Netflix Media Center and search for a title. Titles labelled with "Grant of Permission for Educational Screenings" are eligible to show in class. Please see details for Netflix Educational Screenings of Documentaries.

Live Broadcasts

Television and radio programming can be screened in classrooms at the time of broadcast.

Recording live radio and television broadcasts to playback in face to face classrooms, can be done within certain restrictions. Please contact the Copyright Librarian for more information.

Other Online Videos

Other online video feeds must be:

  • legally posted online by the copyright holder. For example, you cannot show a scene from the film The Matrix, posted online by someone called johnsmith12345.
  • free of notices that ban the use of the material in educational settings.

DVD to Streaming Service

Please see our Physical media to streaming service page for how to request this service.

The Library may convert a DVD to a streaming file for courses, as long as the conditions below are met.

  • The film must not be available in a viable commercial alternative.
  • The DVD must be a required resource for the course.
  • The CapU Library will make the streaming file available to faculty through a link in their eLearn course to ensure the video is only available to students taking the course.
  • The Library or the instructor must own a copy of the DVD. 
  • The Library will delete the streaming file within 30 days of final grades.

The DVD to streaming program is copyright compliant under Section 30.01 of the Copyright Act, which allows copyrighted works to be used in the same way whether the course is in-person or online.

It also follows Section 41.1, Technological Protection Measures, and does not break digital locks in the conversion process. Simply 'ripping' or screen recording a DVD to convert it to a digital file is not the same thing and violates copyright.

Once your request is approved, the CapU Library will:

  • digitize the requested DVD
  • upload the file to the Library’s streaming video service provider (McIntyre)
  • send the instructor a proxied link to the file which contains a required copyright statement.

The link is placed in eLearn by the instructor thus allowing their students, and only their students, to access the streaming video.