Publications and Depository Services, a department of the Treasury Board, is no longer handling Crown Copyright.  Here is a statement from their website (http://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/ccl/index.html):

“As of November 18, 2013, Publishing and Depository Services no longer administers Crown Copyright and Licensing on behalf of Government of Canada departments and agencies. Should you be seeking copyright clearance for Government of Canada information, please contact the department or agency that created the information.”

This change is a step back from their previous approach to Crown Copyright.  In 2010, Publishing and Depository Services decided to allow individuals to reproduce Government of Canada works for personal or public non-commercial purposes without permission.  It was a welcome change since Canadians were able to easily use the works they already paid for.  This recent change may adversely impact people’s ability to copy and use federal publications.  Instructors and staff at non-profit educational institutions will still be able to copy and use publically available materials on the Internet including government publications for educational or training purposes under the amended Copyright Act.  However, not everything is on the Web and other uses may be hampered by this Crown Copyright change.

Michael Geist commented on this issue on his blog - http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/7005/125/.  As he pointed out, it is uncertain if this change applies to all federal government departments and may lead to inconsistencies.




Sam Cheng
Copyright Officer
Nova Scotia Community College
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