Copyright considerations are relevant to many university activities in Canada, both for creators and users of copyright-protected material. This series provides university employees with a general overview of copyright through seven short, self-directed, bilingual instructional modules.
Each module contains a short video, usually between 4 and 6 minutes in length, and a quiz. The webpage text that follows the video is a transcript of the narration from the corresponding video for the module. The quizzes at the end of each module are learning tools; results are not monitored or retained.
These modules are meant to supplement rather than replace the resources provided by your employer. For information about specific scenarios, consult your own institution’s copyright guidelines and policies, and, if necessary, seek legal advice. Separately, the Opening Up Copyright instructional modules, based at the University of Alberta, provide more in-depth copyright information on a range of topics, for a broader audience.
If you are considering using this course on your campus, ideas for implementation are available in the implementation guide. You can also consult the recording and slides from the 2021 webinar: Implementing the Copyright Open Educational Resource for University Instructors and Staff. You can download all of the source files for the course, including images, transcripts, audio and video files, and captions in University of Calgary’s digital collections.
All videos can also be watched on CARL’s YouTube channel.
Contents
- Module 1: An Introduction to the CARL Copyright Training Modules
- Module 2: How Does Copyright Law Apply at My University?
- Module 3: When Do I Need to Think About Copyright?
- Module 4: The Balancing Act: What Rights Do Copyright Owners Have?
- Module 5: The Balancing Act: User Rights
- Module 6: What Do I Need to Know About Licensing?
- Module 7: Openly Licensed Materials
Credits
- Narrated by Margo Trueblood
- Artwork by Giulia Forsythe
- Video Production by University of Waterloo
Written/Adapted/Produced by the CARL Copyright Open Educational Resource Working Group
- Amanda Wakaruk – University of Alberta
- Ann Ludbrook – Ryerson University
- Anne Pottier – McMaster University
- Christina Winter – University of Regina
- Dan Sich – Western University
- Heather Martin – University of Guelph
- Kathryn Blair – University of Waterloo
- Mark Swartz – CARL/Queen’s University
- Rowena Johnson – University of Calgary
- Stephanie Boulogne – University of Victoria
- Stephanie Orfano – University of Toronto
- Stephen Park – Université du Québec à Montréal
- Thomas Rouleau – University of Ottawa
- Tom Adam – Western University
With special thanks to our sponsors
- Clark Wilson LLP
- Dalhousie University
- McMaster University
- Queen’s University
- Ryerson University
- Simon Fraser University
- Université de Montréal
- Université du Québec à Montréal
- University of Alberta
- University of Calgary
- University of Guelph
- University of Ottawa
- University of Regina Library
- University of Toronto
- University of Waterloo
- University of Windsor
- University of Victoria
- Vancouver Island University
- Western University
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Material may be shared and adapted for noncommercial purposes with the following considerations:
All artwork © Giulia Forsythe, made available under a CC0 1.0 License.
Material for the Openly Licensed Materials video has been adapted from: Year of Open Licenses, What are Open Licenses (CC-BY); Guelph Creative Commons Video: What are Creative Commons Licenses (CC-BY-NC-SA)
Scripted material and quizzes have been adapted from Copyright Literacy for Ontario College Employees, ©2014 Ontario Colleges, which is licensed under a CC-BY-SA 4.0 International License. Adapted material is shared here under a different license with permission. Scripts and quizzes have been modified to address an audience of instructors and staff at Canadian universities.
An Introduction to the CARL Copyright Training Modules
This module simplifies a very complex subject. This module is offered for information only, and is not a substitute for legal advice.
Transcript
For some people who work in a university environment, these modules will be an introduction to copyright; for some, a refresher. Wherever you are on the continuum of copyright literacy, these modules will be useful.
Copyright affects everyone who works in a university environment. Whether you are an instructor, a learner, a researcher, or an administrator, your work will require you to think about copyright at some point. You may be the creator of works that are subject to copyright or you may use copyright-protected materials in your everyday activities, such as
scanning a book chapter for an online course,- incorporating images into your presentation slides,
- showing a YouTube video in class,
- sharing research articles with colleagues.
In fact, most of the content used in teaching and research is protected by copyright. So there are several good reasons why it’s important to know more about it:
- to respect the rights and interests of creators and other copyright owners,
- to understand your user rights, such as how you can use copyright-protected works in teaching, research, and other university activities,
- to ensure that professional activities at the university are compliant with Canadian copyright law, and
- to model academic integrity and respect for copyright for students and other members of the university community.
These copyright modules consist of short videos that explain the key elements of Canadian copyright law as it applies in a university environment. You will be introduced to some basic copyright principles, then find out how to apply them to teaching, research, and related activities.
Before exploring copyright in greater detail, think back to a time when you were considering copying a particular work (like a few pages from a scholarly article) to distribute to students.
1. Was the work protected by copyright?
Copyright applies to all original works — including books, films, images, artistic works, communication signals, sound recordings, and much more. However, copyright protection expires, [popup_anything id=”31258″]after the death of the creator, after which works become part of the public domain.
Also, insubstantial portions of works are not subject to copyright – in the copyright world, by insubstantial, we mean really short. For example, a few sentences from a book or journal article, or a few seconds from a song, may not be long enough to be protected by copyright, particularly if used for teaching or research purposes.
Importantly, the facts and ideas contained in a work are not themselves protected by copyright. Copyright only protects the particular way that facts and ideas are expressed.
Think back to that work you were thinking of distributing – was it even protected by copyright? If it wasn’t, then permission is not required to copy and distribute it.
If it is copyright protected, then let’s move on to the next questions: licences (a fancy word for permissions) and user rights.
2. Is the work you wish to copy already licensed for your use?
Many of the works you use in teaching and research at your campus may already be licensed for your use, meaning that your institution, usually through its library, has already purchased the materials on terms that allow your intended uses. Where your use is licensed, or in other words, permitted, no further permissions or payments are required. Licensed materials include library-licensed resources such as electronic journals and e-books.
Also, some universities have blanket licences with a collective society (such as Access Copyright, or Copibec in Quebec) that facilitate the copying and sharing of copyright-protected works within a post-secondary educational institution. Check your institution’s copyright information website to find out if your university has a blanket licence.
For all licensed works, it is necessary to check the terms of the licence to determine whether your use is permitted.
In addition, an increasing number of works are being made publicly available on terms and conditions that may permit your intended use. For example:
- many resources are openly licensed, using Creative Commons licences and similar programs, and
- many resources are available on websites such as YouTube – if you check the terms of service, you may find that your intended use is permitted.
3. Are there user rights in the Copyright Act for making copies in some circumstances?
Canada’s Copyright Act contains several user rights, which are also known as “exceptions” that empower individuals and educators to make copies of copyright-protected works. Fair dealing is the best-known user right, or “exception”, but there are also specific exceptions for educational institutions. You’ll learn more about these in other modules.
4. When is it necessary to secure permission from the copyright owner?
If the work is protected by copyright and your use is not permitted by a licence or a user right as set out in the Copyright Act, then it is necessary to seek permission from the copyright owner. To find out more about the process for obtaining copyright permission at your institution, consult with your university copyright specialist or check your institution’s copyright guides.
Before seeking permission, it might be useful to determine if there is an alternate way to make the work available without reproducing it. For example, you may be able to link directly to your library’s licensed resources or to a website.
It’s important to remember that these modules provide a general overview; for specific information, consult your own institution’s copyright guidelines and policies, and if necessary, seek legal advice.
How Does Copyright Law Apply at My University?
This module simplifies a very complex subject. This module is offered for information only, and is not a substitute for legal advice.
Transcript
All universities in Canada are required to comply with Canadian copyright law. In practical terms, this means that the reproduction of copyright-protected works by faculty, staff, and other members of the university community is subject to certain limits and restrictions.
Fortunately, many universities have adopted copyright policies and guidelines to assist you in determining what you can copy, disseminate, display, perform, etc.
Your institution’s copyright policies have their foundation in Canada’s Copyright Act, a federal statute, as well as in relevant case law. In addition to this, your institution may have entered into licensing agreements with content providers and/or collective societies that provide authorization for some types of copying.
The Copyright Act prescribes the rights that copyright owners have with respect to works that they create. These rights are balanced with a number of user rights, or exceptions, which allow those who use copyright-protected works, including educators, to copy those works for certain purposes, subject to certain limitations.
Copyright’s purpose is to encourage the creation and dissemination of new works by giving copyright owners the right to control certain uses of their work. It ensures they receive payment for their work, and provides incentive for new works to be created and for knowledge to be disseminated. In this way, copyright benefits society as well as individual creators.
The Copyright Act protects artistic, dramatic, literary and musical works, as well as sound recordings, performances, and communication signals.
That means that much of the content you use every day is protected by copyright, including articles, plays, songs, art, photographs, computer code, and audiovisual material – and content that you find on the Internet.
A work does not have to have copyright registered, nor display a copyright symbol in order to be protected. But it does need to be an original work demonstrating some measure of creativity, and it also needs to be fixed in a format, such as words fixed in printed or digital text, or speech captured in a sound recording.
By themselves, ideas and facts are not protected by copyright. An idea for a film isn’t protected, but the film script is protected, as is the finished film. In the same way, numbers are not protected, but an original arrangement of numbers, such as a figure or an infographic, is protected.
In Canada, copyright generally lasts for the life of the work’s creator, [popup_anything id=”31260″]after the year of their death. When that period of time lapses, the work is no longer protected by copyright and it enters into the public domain where its use is free and unrestricted.
There are exceptions to the term of copyright protection. For example, works protected by crown copyright, and sound recordings may have different terms of copyright protection. Contact your university’s copyright specialist for more information.
Your institution’s copyright guidelines may provide specific examples and instructions to ensure that your copying is compliant with Canadian copyright law.
If you’re not sure how copyright law applies to your copying or how to interpret licences, consult with your university’s copyright specialist or check your institution’s copyright guides.
When Do I Need to Think About Copyright?
This module simplifies a very complex subject. This module is offered for information only, and is not a substitute for legal advice.
Transcript
It’s important to start thinking about copyright when you are selecting course material for your students.
Do you need to scan portions of a book or journal to upload to your learning management system? Do you need to photocopy for handouts or for coursepacks?
Photocopying and scanning are copying and may require permission from the copyright owner. But did you know that playing music in the classroom, sharing a born-digital file, or uploading a file from the Internet into your learning management system may also require permission?
It’s not always obvious how copyright is involved, so let’s look at some common educational activities that are regulated by the Copyright Act:
- scanning a chapter to upload to your learning management system,
- photocopying an article for class handouts or coursepacks,
downloading a document or video from the web to upload to your online course, or printing it for your class,- teaching through the use of live TV or radio shows, or from recordings you have made of these shows,
- showing a film in class or online,
- playing music in class or online,
- performing a play or piece of music in the classroom or for an audience,
- displaying charts, graphs, or images scanned from a book or copied from the Internet in your lecture slides,
- recording a lecture that includes copyright-protected material, such as slides from a publisher, for students to view at a later time,
- translating a work into another language, and
- adapting a work, such as changing a novel into a screenplay, or adding or deleting a few sentences or paragraphs from an article.
So do you require permission from the copyright owner to use all of these things for educational purposes?
Not necessarily. You may be able to rely on user rights, also known as exceptions in the Copyright Act, in order to use copyright-protected works without permission from the copyright owner. User rights will be covered in another module.
You may be able to use content available under a licence pre-arranged by your institution, or an open licence such as Creative Commons. Such licences allow you to provide a copy of the work at no additional cost. You can learn more about licences in another module.
You may be able to link to an online resource. Linking is not actually copying. Make sure the material was uploaded by the copyright owner or with the copyright owner’s permission. You don’t want to be linking to infringing material.
Talk to your librarian about the latest techniques and best practices to link directly to library-licensed content which may include articles, videos, and books.
If you’re not sure if something you are doing constitutes copyright infringement, or you want to know how you can use copyright-protected material, ask the person or office designated by your institution to answer copyright questions. Your institution’s library is a good place to start.
The Balancing Act: What Rights Do Copyright Owners Have?
This module simplifies a very complex subject. This module is offered for information only, and is not a substitute for legal advice.
Transcript
Canada’s Copyright Act balances the needs of two groups: copyright owners and users of copyright-protected works. Let’s take a general look at what you should know about what rights copyright owners have. User rights will be explored in another module.
It’s useful to think about a copyright owner having two types of rights: economic and moral. These rights are automatically held by the copyright owner upon creation of a work; only the copyright owner can waive them or transfer them to someone else.
Economic rights give copyright owners the right to be compensated when their creations are used by others. This category of rights includes rights related to:
reproduction,- public performance,
- publication,
- distribution,
- conversion and transfer (to a different medium), and
- translation and adaptation.
Let’s examine four of these economic rights more closely.
The right of reproduction gives copyright owners the exclusive right to produce a work and make subsequent reproductions of the work or substantial parts of it. The copyright owner is also the only person who can authorize others to make reproductions of their work. Examples of reproduction include, but are not limited to, photocopying a magazine article or downloading files from the Internet.
The right of public performance gives copyright owners the exclusive right to perform their work in public. Examples of public performance include, but are not limited to, showing a TV broadcast or film, playing music, or having your students perform a play in class.
The right of publication gives copyright owners the exclusive right to make a work available to the public, with some exceptions. Examples of publication include publishing a journal article or a book.
The right of distribution gives copyright owners the exclusive rights to share a work. Examples of distribution include uploading a file to a learning management system or emailing a work to a colleague or student.
Can economic rights be transferred to another person or company? Absolutely. Yes! And in various ways. Generally, however, there are two forms of transfer: a transfer of ownership, which is usually called an “assignment”, and a transfer of only certain rights (like the right to make copies of a book for a particular class at your institution), which is usually called a licence.
Where you see a creator’s work published by someone else (a journal publisher, an edited collection, an anthology, etc.), the creator has likely transferred the copyright in the work, or has granted a licence for some of their rights, to the publisher.
For example, if the author of a journal article transfers some or all of these economic rights to the journal publisher (like the exclusive first right to publish in Canada), they may no longer be able to authorize certain uses of the article (e.g., copying the article and distributing it to students).
So, if you wish to use a published work, even if the creator may not be able to grant permission, they may be a good place to start on your quest to find the person who does have that authority.
Now let’s look at moral rights.
Moral rights protect the reputation of creators and the integrity of their work. That means creators can choose to have their name associated with their work, use a pseudonym, or remain anonymous.
Authors can also protect the integrity of their work from actions that
- distort, mutilate or otherwise modify their work in a way that is prejudicial to the author’s honour and reputation, or
- associate their work with a product, institution, or cause.
A creator cannot assign or transfer their moral rights in the same way they can economic rights. A creator can, however, decide not to make use of their moral rights, and waive them.
In addition to these rights, there is another protection afforded to copyright owners by the Copyright Act. Copyright owners can use technological protection measures, sometimes referred to as TPMs or digital locks.
TPMs use encryption technology to control access to copyright-protected works and to prevent unauthorized copying of content including movies, games, and software. This technology can also be used to control access to password-protected content. An example would be an e-book that has limits on the number of pages that can be downloaded or printed.
Only the copyright owner can authorize removing or circumventing TPMs (i.e. a user must ask permission from the copyright owner). Additionally, there are limited exceptions that allow for TPM circumvention, such as for persons with perceptual disabilities.
Our copyright law encourages creation and innovation by giving copyright owners control over copying of their works. To learn more about copyright, ask the person or office designated by your institution to answer copyright questions or check your institution’s copyright guides. Your institutional library is a good place to start.
The Balancing Act: User Rights
This module simplifies a very complex subject. This module is offered for information only, and is not a substitute for legal advice.
Transcript
Copyright benefits society in two ways. By providing creator rights, copyright encourages the production of new works to expand knowledge. By providing user rights, also known as exceptions to infringement, copyright facilitates the use and distribution of works, subject to certain conditions and for certain purposes.
Let’s look at some of the exceptions that are relevant in instruction.
The Copyright Act provides general exceptions for all Canadians and specific exceptions for particular groups, including non-profit educational institutions, libraries, and persons with perceptual disabilities.
The fair dealing exception allows all Canadians to use copyright-protected works for certain purposes without permission from the copyright owner and without payment.
Let’s look a little closer at the fair dealing exception.
To qualify for fair dealing, two tests must be passed.
First, the “dealing” must be for one of the allowable purposes stated in the Copyright Act. These are research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, review or news reporting. Use of a copyright-protected work for teaching will typically fall under the education or research and private study purposes and pass the first test.
Second, the “dealing” must be “fair.” The Copyright Act does not define what is or what is not fair but the Supreme Court of Canada has identified six factors that may be used to determine whether or not the dealing is fair. It has also made it clear that not all fair dealing factors will apply in all cases and not all have to be determined to be “fair” in order for the overall dealing to be “fair”.
The six factors are
- The purpose or goal of your use. This asks what the real purpose or motive of the user is when reproducing or distributing a work. A non-commercial purpose is more likely to be fair.
- The character of your use. This asks what you intend to do with the work. A single, one-off copy is more likely to be fair than multiple, widely distributed copies.
The amount you are using. A small portion tends to be more fair than a large portion of a work. No more of the work should be used than is reasonably necessary to achieve the purpose of the dealing.- Whether there are alternatives to the use. Your use is more likely to be fair if there were no reasonable alternatives to making the copy. However, the availability of a licence is not a factor in determining whether other alternatives should have been used instead.
- The nature of the work being used. Copying works that are not confidential or were intended to be widely shared is more likely to be fair.
- The effect on the market for the original work. Copying will tend to be fair if it has no detrimental impact on sales of the original.
You can evaluate your intended use of copyright-protected materials with these tests. To make evaluation easier and consistent, many universities have adopted fair dealing policies or guidelines. Follow your institution’s policies or guidelines.
If you find you need to exceed the guidelines or need assistance understanding them, contact the person designated by your university to answer copyright questions or check your institution’s copyright guides.
The Copyright Act also contains specific exceptions for non-profit educational institutions.
These exceptions are available to you as an educator under the authority of your institution.
They are useful because they sometimes offer you more clarity and certainty than the general fair dealing exception, but each of these is subject to important additional conditions and limitations. Examples include:
- Reproducing a Work for Instruction, which allows you to reproduce a work, or do any other necessary act in order to display it for the purpose of education or training on an institution’s premises;
- Reproducing, Performing or Communicating a Work for Tests and Exams, which allows you to reproduce, translate, perform in public or communicate to the public by telecommunication, a work as required for a test or exam;
Performances by or for Students, which allows for the live performance in public of sound recordings, audiovisual works, and lawfully received TV, radio, or Internet content; and- Works Available Freely Through the Internet, which is a broad exception that allows you to reproduce, transmit, or perform works available freely through the Internet for educational or training purposes.
In limited circumstances, such as those involving student-created works, the non-commercial user-generated content exception may be useful, because it allows individuals to use existing works to create a new original work for non-commercial purposes.
You may find these exceptions, as well as the terms and conditions for their use, interpreted in your institution’s copyright policies or guidelines. These resources should address such issues as the amount that can be copied and the requirement for citation and in some cases include retention and destruction requirements. Refer to those resources for further guidance.
As always, refer to your institution’s copyright policies and guidelines, if available. If you’re not sure how to apply them or have questions on the educational exceptions, ask the person or office designated by your university to answer copyright questions or check your institution’s copyright guides. Your university library is a good place to start.
What Do I Need to Know About Licensing?
This module simplifies a very complex subject. This module is offered for information only, and is not a substitute for legal advice.
Transcript
A licence is, at heart, about permission. In the context of copyright, a licence is about the permission granted by the copyright owner to another person to use a copyright-protected work, subject to negotiated terms and conditions, such as payment.
Often, licences are negotiated between a copyright owner and a user, outlining the specific ways in which someone can use a work for a limited period of time. In this way, licences frequently look like commercial agreements or contracts. However, because a licence is, at heart, about permission, a licence can be granted informally, including over email and in some cases, it may even be spoken and be no less valid and enforceable.
Each institution will have a different approach to licensing content so it’s important to check what licences are in place at your university. Ask the person or office designated to answer copyright questions or check your institution’s copyright guides. Your university library is a good place to start.
There are many types of licensed content that you will encounter at your institution. Let’s discuss library-licensed content first.
Your institution licenses a broad range of digital content, which may include journal articles, e-books, data sets, and streaming media for authorized users. Authorized users may use this media in various ways; permitted uses for any given asset may be indicated in your institution’s library catalogue.
Permitted uses may include:
- linking to content and sharing it with your students,
- downloading a copy of the material and posting it to your institution’s learning management system or another password-protected space, and
- the ability to include content in course packs.
If it’s not clear to you what you can do with library-licensed content, ask at your institution’s library.
Collective societies represent creators and copyright owners who produce content of a similar type, such as written material or music. Members authorize the collective society to issue licences and collect royalties on their behalf.
The collective society licences that cover the copying of copyright-protected works within a post-secondary educational institution are with Access Copyright or, if you are in Quebec, Copibec. Universities may have licences with other collectives such as SOCAN that cover uses on campus such as the playing of music at public events. A list of copyright collective societies is available on the Copyright Board of Canada’s website.
Universities with Access Copyright or Copibec licences can reproduce a certain amount of a published work that is included in the collective society’s repertoire, which may include books, journals, and magazines.
How do you know if your institution has a licence with Access Copyright or Copibec? Check with the person or office designated by your university to answer copyright questions. They can also tell you how to follow the terms of any collective licence your university may have.
When you want to use copyright-protected works in ways that are not outlined in your university’s copyright practices or guidelines, library licences, or open licences, you may need to obtain permission from the copyright owner for your use. This may involve obtaining a pay per use licence otherwise known as a transactional licence.
Transactional licences grant permission to use copyright-protected works, usually for a specific time period, and may require payment to the copyright owner. A transactional licence is usually an agreement between the institution and the copyright owner.
For example, you may require a transactional licence to scan four chapters from a 10-chapter book and post them in your online course.
Your institution may have resources available to help you determine if a transactional licence is required and how to obtain it.
The process for obtaining permission will vary depending on the copyright owner. Some scholarly publishers and platforms provide a copyright permission request link on their website. In other cases, you may have to send a request, in the form of a letter or email, to the copyright owner. It’s important to be specific about how you are going to be using the material you are requesting. Obtaining permission can take anywhere from a few days to many weeks; give yourself plenty of time. All licences, even informal ones between you and a colleague, should be in writing and kept so that there is a record of permission.
In addition, you may encounter many other types of licences in a university environment. Here are a few examples:
software licences;- publisher licences that spell out the terms and conditions for using supplementary material, such as slides or quizzes that accompany textbooks;
- subscription licences to e-resources specific to your department; and
- open licences, such as Creative Commons licences (which we will talk about in a separate module).
Always refer to the licence when you want to know how the material may be used.
What about licences you enter into yourself, such as Netflix or iTunes? Can you use these resources to help teach your students? Generally, the answer is no; these types of licences are usually for personal use only.
For more information on how to make use of licensed content, consult the person or office your institution has designated to help with copyright questions. Your institution’s library is a good place to start.
Openly Licensed Materials
This module simplifies a very complex subject. This module is offered for information only, and is not a substitute for legal advice.
Transcript
You may be considering using openly licensed content in your teaching. Open licences are a set of conditions applied to an original work that grant permission to anyone to make use of the work as long as they follow the conditions of the licence.
A work can mean any original creation — like a textbook, video, song, document, or piece of software — that can be copyright-protected.
The creator retains copyright in the work, but can choose to openly license it if they want others to be able to use it freely, build on it, customize it, or alter it. Applying an open licence makes permissions transparent, explicit, and straightforward.
Some open licences give permission to anyone to use the work at no cost and may allow anyone to modify the work with little or no restriction. Typically, all open licences require the acknowledgement of the original author’s work and a link back to the licence applied.
There are several open licences that follow these principles; the most common are Creative Commons licences. There are other licences for specific kinds of works, such as software.
Creative Commons licences use icons and simple language so that creators can make their intentions clear and users can be certain that their use of the work is legal.
There are six Creative Commons licences available that let you know how the work can be used. Here is a breakdown of some of the terms and conditions expressed in a Creative Commons licence. You may see a combination of some of these terms in the spectrum of licences.
‘BY’ represents attribution. You will see this icon on all Creative Commons licences. This icon means that you must provide attribution by giving credit to the creator of this work in any way they have requested.
‘ND’ means no derivatives. This icon means that modified versions of the original work cannot be shared with others.
’SA’ means share alike. This icon means that the original work can be modified but the new work must be shared under the same licence.
’NC’ means non-commercial. This icon means that you can use the original work for non-commercial purposes, as-is or modified.
All six Creative Commons licences require the creator to be credited, and a link to the licence.
A Creative Commons licence may be indicated with:
- an abbreviation,
- descriptive text, or
- an icon.
Creative Commons posts both a human readable summary of each licence and the legal code. The summary is not a substitute for the code.
You can learn more about the spectrum of Creative Commons licences by visiting www.creativecommons.org. If a licence does not permit the desired use, contact the copyright owner to ask permission.
Not all material you find online is openly licensed, even though it is freely accessible. Some material, for example, might be free to read, download and share, but it cannot be modified in any way. An example of this might be some government documents, or material found in an institutional repository.
For support for open licences and suggestions about where you can locate open material, consult the person or office your institution has designated to help with copyright questions or whomever has been designated to help with open scholarship. Your institution’s library is a good place to start.