Copyright at Lambton

Before you start deciding if your use falls under the fair dealing exception you must establish that all copies, including the original source, were legally obtained. Duplicating illegal copies is prohibited by law.  

Also, part of the fair dealing exception is attribution of the use of the work. When copying or communicating short excerpts from a copyright-protected work under fair dealing for any reason, you must mention the source and, if given in the source, the name of the author or creator of the work. 

With these two things in mind, you can apply the two tests that are used to make fair dealing decisions.

If copyright gives legal rights to copyright holders, then fair dealing is an exception in the Copyright Act which gives rights to users of the copyright.

It permits the use of “short excerpts” of copyright material without permission or payment of royalties under certain conditions. There are two tests, purpose and factors, which are used to decide if the dealing is fair.

Fair Dealing Purpose

The first test is the purpose. 

In Canada, fair dealing applies in situations where the purpose of the copy is one of: research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, review, or news reporting under certain guidelines. If the use does not fall under one of these purposes, then it can not be considered under the fair dealing exception.

Lambton College uses tend to fall under research, private study, or education.

Fair Dealing Factors 

The second test uses six factor to evaluate how fair making a copy of the work would be. You must consider the following Fair Dealing Factors before you copy or distribute a work: 

• The Purpose of the Copying 
  • This takes a deeper look at the purpose than the first test. 
  • For example, is the copy trying to achieve a specific educational purpose or is the purpose to avoid purchasing a textbook​? The first is much more likely to be fair than the second.
• The Amount of the Copying 
  • Think about the size of the portion that is reproduced in relation to the size of the original work as a whole​.

  • Copying the entire work typically requires clearance from the copyright holder.

• The Character of the Copying 
  • Consider how the reproductions are distributed, to whom, and in what way.
  • How broadly will the work be distributed? Will it be accessible only to eligible students? 
• Alternatives to copying the work 
  • Examine possibilities for making the specific content available in ways other than reproducing it​. For example, linking.
  • Is the same or equivalent work available in the library databases? Is there a non-copyrighted alternative? 
• The Nature of the Work 
  • Consider the nature of the original work.
  • Is it published or unpublished? Was the copy obtained legally? Do you only use the work one time like for a handout or a case study?
• The Effect of the Copying on the Work 
  • Will the copying undermine the market for the work? 

Determining whether the use or distribution of a work falls under fair dealing can be challenging for users unfamiliar with court decisions on similar cases. The assessment tool linked below, and created by Seneca Polytechnic Libraries, can help a less experienced user assess the risk of proceeding with a use they want to consider fair dealings. This is not legal advice from Lambton College nor Seneca Libraries.

The exceptions allow only use of a "short excerpt," but what does that mean? Below are listed some generally excepted guidelines for what can be considered a short excerpt. The list is only a guideline and there could be cases where less of the work should be used to be considered a short excerpt.

• Up to 10% of a copyright-protected work (including a literary work, musical score, sound recording, and an audiovisual work).
• Up to 10% or one chapter of a book, e-book, textbook, or e-textbook. Whichever is fewer pages.
• A single article from a scholarly journal, magazine, newspaper, or other periodical.
• An entire artistic work (including a painting, print, photograph, diagram, drawing, map, chart, and plan) from a copyright-protected work containing other artistic works.
• An entire single poem or musical score from a copyright-protected work containing other poems or musical scores. 
• An entire entry from an encyclopedia, annotated bibliography, dictionary or similar reference work.

Copying or communicating multiple short excerpts from the same copyright-protected work, with the intention of copying or communicating substantially the entire work, is prohibited. 

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 as: 

• A class handout 
• A posting to a learning or course management system that is password protected or otherwise restricted to students of a school or post-secondary educational institution 
• Part of a course pack 

In an online environment, all materials may only be shared in a Learning Management System (LMS). At Lambton, post to D2L.