What do my students need to know about copyright?

Students at SFU are subject to Canada's Copyright Act and SFU's Copyright Policies when doing coursework and creating assignments including papers, projects, artworks and presentations. Students can use the fair dealing and educational exceptions when using copyright protected works in assignments for classes (see the Copyright Infographic for details).

Students own copyright in the works that they create at SFU, and such assignments, presentations and projects cannot be copied without the student's permission, except in certain situations outlined in the Copyright Act (see the Fair Dealing Policy for details).

Please note that theses and dissertations require different copyright considerations because they will be published; see the Copyright and your thesis page for further information.

Instructors own copyright in their teaching materials such as presentation slides, exams, lecture notes and the delivery of the lecture itself, and students cannot copy these works without the instructor's permission, except under fair dealing or another exception in the Copyright Act.

The Copyright Office provides information and assistance to students on our Students pages and via email (copy@sfu.ca). We also provide a sample copyright statement for instructors to use in course syllabi.