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=﻿ Welcome to Copy-it-Right!=

Welcome to our Wiki. The purpose of this Wiki is to provide information about copyright. Since the digital age copyright has been a hot topic for educators. The focus of this wiki is to highlight the basics of copyright protection and direct you to specific sites which have detailed information about copyright as it relates to your specific need.


 * Please visit the links on the left to learn more about current copyright issues in Canada. **

=﻿Historical Copyright=

The image below on the left is an original "Clay Bulla Seal" could be considered the original form of copyright designation. The lump of clay would be molded around a string or cord attached to a vase or money bag to prevent tampering and stamped with a seal or even sometimes a finger print. This was to evolve into a Papal Bull which was later made out of wax or lead was considered one of the first letters patent or charters issued by a Pope. Papal Bull which is shown by the below left image was named after the Bulla used to seal to authenticate the writings and usually used as a seal surrounding a folded envelope often made of paparus or vellum surrounded by a cord of hemp or silk. The Papal bulls were termed so after the 13th century but were in use as early as the 6th century. The image on the lower right is a "Papal Bull". It is named after the bulla appended to the end in order to authenticate it. In Roman times and some of the Monarchs of the middle ages were even known to make the bulla out of gold. The bulla is named for the appearance for the anchients of a bubble floating on water and comes from the Latin bullire, "to boil".



Since the late 18th century the Popes bulla has generally been replaced by a red ink stamp of Saints Peter and Paul with the reigning Pope's name encircling the picture. It is interesting that now in modern times the term is now used as a slang used negatively to identify bigoted utterances issued by a Pontiff.

Letters Patent derived from the Latin litterae patenes were used as a legal instrument authorized by government or a reigning monarch to grant a right, title, or status to a corporation. This document often granted the creation of corporations, government offices, city status or coats of arms. In modern day the term has patent which grants specific rights to an invention.

The History of Copyright Law started with granting the law of copyright privileges to the printers of books. In 1709 the British "Statute of Anne" (figure to right) read "An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or purchasers of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned", was the first copyright statute. Over time the copyright designation was expanded to derivative works including maps, dramatic works Paintings, photography music or other sound recordings, movies and computer programs. The interesting thing about original copyright rules is that they were intended to allow a balance between the artist profiting from their works and allowing creative minds building on previous developments.(Gaylor, 2008) The present day copyright rules are so strict that sometimes it is even to difficult to develop your own works to publish due to the fact that somewhere sometime someone may have copyrighted works that relate or are similar to yours which puts the second developer in jeopardy of being sued by the original artist. The Copyright Office in Canada is part of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) which is responsible for other forms of copyright protection such as Patents, Industrial Designs, Trade Marks and Integrated Circuit Topographies.

=Current Copyright Rules= The cartoon below depicts some of the current challenges in the digital age of copyright. For more information see digital copyright and new proposed legislation under our our Bill C32 - legislation page.

=Copyright Comedy=

Dilbert on Copyright infringement

The creators of this Wiki hope that it will provide educators and the regular public sufficient information to understand copyright rules to better guide your work. The tabs on the right will give you an idea of the topics that we have documented.

This Wiki is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0.