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Fair Dealing

The “Fair Dealing Exception” in the Copyright Act allows a person to copy, without permission, a short excerpt from a copyrighted work for the purposes of research, private study, education, satire, parody, criticism, review, or news reporting. In addition, the work must be treated fairly. Please see Fair Dealing at Conestoga to learn more about Fair Dealing.

Fair Dealing Analysis

The fair dealing provision in the Copyright Act allows the use of copyright-protected works without permission of the copyright owner if two tests are passed:

  1. The dealing must be for a purpose outlined in the Copyright Act: research, private study, criticism, review, news reporting, education, satire, and parody.
  2. The work must be treated fairly.  The Copyright Fair Dealing Analysis at Conestoga tool can help you decide if a work is treated fairly.

Please email copyright@conestogac.on.ca if you have a Fair Dealing question.

You may also complete the Fair Dealing Request Form when you have questions about allowable/acceptable copying practices. The Library copyright staff will review your request and let you know if the intended copy complies with Fair Dealing. To make this determination, it may be necessary to see the original resource.

Fair Dealing Request Form

What Can I Do With The Copies?

A single copy of a short excerpt from a copyright-protected work may be provided or communicated to each student enrolled in a class or course via one of the following means:

  • as a class handout
  • as a posting to a learning management system that is password protected or otherwise restricted to students
  • as part of a learning package
  • course readings (reserves)

Learning Packages

Learning Packages are compiled through the Conestoga Bookstore. Faculty are responsible for ensuring that the Fair Dealing Policy is being followed and obtaining any copyright permissions that are required. All copyright permissions must be documented. Visit the Bookstore for more detailed information.

Note: No further copying of the Learning Package is allowed.

Fair Dealing and Online Learning

Copyright-protected material contained in a lesson must meet certain criteria. The Fair Dealing Policy (opens in a new window) allows short excerpts of copyright-protected works to be copied, printed and scanned for educational purposes. For example, you may be able to copy one chapter from a book or a single article from a magazine or journal. The source should be cited and, if given in the source, the name of the author or creator of the work should be provided.

Copying multiple short excerpts from the same copyright-protected work is prohibited.

A single copy of a short excerpt from a copyright-protected work may be posted to a learning management system (LMS) that is password protected or otherwise restricted to students. Alternatively, the copy can be included in a course pack.

Section 30.01 of the Copyright Act allows a lesson containing copyright-protected material to be streamed live to students or recorded and made available online for students enrolled in the course. Any recorded or ‘fixed’ copies must be destroyed 30 days after the students have received their final course evaluations.