LCO POLICY ON COPYRIGHT AND ATTRIBUTION

This policy applies to contract researchers, the OHLS LCO Scholar in Residence, other academics who have been given release in any form to carry out research for the LCO and the counsel seconded from the Ministry of the Attorney General.

The Law Commission of Ontario will retain contract researchers to carry out research and, in some cases, write discussion papers or reports.  In developing a policy about ownership of these materials and giving credit for them, it is important to consider the interests of both the LCO and the contract researchers, including the LCO’s interest in retaining the discretion to disseminate materials produced for it and the contract researchers’ interest in receiving credit for the work they produce for the LCO.

Contract researchers will assign copyright to the LCO.  Contract researchers retain the moral rights to their work.  Materials resulting from the work of contract researchers will be the property of the LCO to use as the LCO considers appropriate.  The LCO retains the discretion to use the material or not to use the material.  In the normal course, the LCO will use the materials produced by contract researchers in some form.

Without limiting the use of the materials, the LCO may publish the material as written, it may select portions of the material or include the materials among other materials.  In doing so, the LCO will not infringe the integrity of the work.  Materials may appear in hard copy or on the internet or in any other format.

Contract researchers will be given credit for the work they produce when the LCO publishes materials resulting from their research in any format.  For example, if a contract researcher produces a discussion paper, should the LCO publish the paper, it will identify the contract researcher as the author.  If the LCO combines the work of several researchers to produce synthesized material, the researchers will be given credit for their contributions to the synthesized material; contributions will be used in a way that maintains their integrity.  The LCO may publish collections of research and discussion papers on particular project topics and will, in these cases, identify the author(s) of each separate contribution to the collections. The LCO’s objective will be to ensure that contract researchers receive public credit for authorship of materials they produce. Should the LCO publish materials resulting from the work of contract researchers in significantly revised form, such as one part of a larger work, the Executive Director will discuss with the contract researcher whether or how the contract researcher prefers acknowledgement as the author.  

Contract researchers may include reference to the materials they have produced in their curriculum vitae or other lists of their scholarship, but may not publish the material in any format without the LCO’s permission, as granted by the Executive Director.  

Contract researchers may write separate materials, such as articles, arising out of the research they carried out for the LCO, but must acknowledge that they initially carried out the research as a contract researcher for the LCO. 

Approved by the LCO Board of Governors on February 7, 2008