Fair dealing

Learn how the Fair Dealing Guidelines (the “Guidelines”) apply to copying copyright-protected materials. These Guidelines should be read along with UVic’s Copyright Compliance and Administration Policy (IM 7310) and other copyright-related guidelines.

In Canada, original literary, musical, artistic and dramatic works are protected by copyright. The Copyright Act (the Act) balances the rights of creators with the rights of users.

Users’ rights & fair dealing

The Act provides certain exceptions to copyright infringement, known as users’ rights. One key exception is “fair dealing,” which allows for certain uses without infringing copyright (section 29):

• research
• private study
• education
• parody or satire
• criticism or review
• news reporting

The Supreme Court of Canada has a two-part test for fair dealing:

1. Is the use for an allowable purpose (research, private study, education, parody or satire, criticism or review, or news reporting)? This should be interpreted broadly to support user rights, especially in education.
2. Is the use fair? Consider factors like:
   1. Purpose of use (for example, commercial use may be less fair)
   2. Character of use (for example, single vs. multiple copies from the same source)
   3. Amount used (proportion of the work)
   4. Alternatives to copying
   5. Nature of the work (published or unpublished)
   6. Effect of the work on the market.

Fair Dealing Guidelines

These guidelines are not a definitive formula for determining fair dealing. Fair dealing is case-specific and context-dependent. Exceptional situations may need more guidance.

You may copy or communicate “Short Excerpts” from a Work for any Allowable Purpose in paper or electronic form.

1. The copy must be a “Short Excerpt” containing no more of a Work than is required in order to achieve the Allowable Purpose, which is either:
   1. up to 10% of a Work, or
   2. no more than:
      1. one chapter from a book;
      2. a single article from a periodical;
      3. an entire artistic work (including a painting, print, photograph, diagram, drawing, map, chart and plan) from a Work containing other artistic works;
      4. an entire newspaper article or page;
      5. an entry from an encyclopedia, annotated bibliography, dictionary, or similar reference work.
      whichever is greater.
2. If you wish to make a copy that does not meet the requirements set out in Section 1 of these Guidelines, please contact the Copyright Office for further guidance.
3. A single copy of a Short Excerpt from a Work may only be provided to students registered, enrolled, or engaged in a course, unit, or program of academic, continuing, professional, or vocational study administered or hosted by the University, which may include a person who is granted deferred standing in a course, as follows:
   1. as a class handout;
   2. as a posting to a learning or course management system that is password protected, or otherwise restricted to, and accessible only by, students in the specific university course, unit, or program (in each case, an LMS); or
   3. as part of a course pack compiled by the University’s Bookstore,

and it is recommended (if practical) that each copy, or the LMS, includes a notice indicating that Short Excerpts are being copied in reliance on the Fair Dealing Guidelines, and advising students to only use materials for their personal Allowable Purposes, and not to communicate or share materials with others.

Further details are available in UVic’s Copyright Compliance and Administration Policy (IM3710).

Fair dealing statement

Include a fair dealing statement with any material shared under fair dealing. Use the statement below in course materials, slides, outlines and other places you share these materials.

You can either:

• add a page to your existing PDF file, OR
• create a custom PDF stamp using Adobe Acrobat

Fair dealing myths & facts

If you’d like to learn more about fair dealing in Canada, read Fair Dealing in Canada, Myths and Facts. This document was recently released by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL).

This version is adapted from an original ARL document, and from a subsequent Canadian adaptation by Lauren Byl at the University of Waterloo. The CARL version was produced by Lise Brin (CARL) and Mark Swartz (Queen’s University), with valuable input from the CARL Policy Committee and several copyright specialists, notably several rounds of edits by Adrian Sheppard and Amanda Wakaruk at the University of Alberta.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact the Copyright Office at copyright@uvic.ca.