Memorial University Libraries

As a result of recent changes to Canadian Copyright Law, Memorial University has adopted AUCC's (now Universities Canada) “Fair Dealing Policy for Universities” as a Fair Dealing Requirements document to support Memorial’s Use of Copyright Materials policy. These requirements were approved by the Board of Regents on Dec. 6, 2012.

The fair dealing provision in the Copyright Act permits use of a copyright-protected work without permission from the copyright owner or the payment of copyright royalties. To qualify for fair dealing, two tests must be passed.

First, the “dealing” must be for a purpose stated in the Copyright Act: research, private study, criticism, review, news reporting, education, satire or parody. Educational use of a copyright-protected work passes the first test.

The second test is that the dealing must be “fair”. In landmark decisions in 2004 and 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada provided guidance as to what this test means in educational institutions.

These Fair Dealing Requirements apply fair dealing in non-profit universities and provides reasonable safeguards for the owners of copyright-protected works in accordance with the Copyright Act and the Supreme Court decisions.

Guidelines

1. Teachers, instructors, professors and staff members in non-profit universities may communicate and reproduce, in paper or electronic form, short excerpts from a copyright-protected work for the purposes of research, private study, criticism, review, news reporting, education, satire or parody.

2. Copying or communicating short excerpts from a copyright-protected work under these Fair Dealing Requirements for the purpose of news reporting, criticism or review must mention the source and, if given in the source, the name of the author of the work.

3. A 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
• as a posting to the library's Course Reserves system or a course management system that is password protected or otherwise restricted to students of the university (Please note: the licencing for some online resources may prohibit this)

4. A short excerpt means:

• a) up to 10% of a copyright-protected work (including a literary work, musical score, sound recording, and an audiovisual work)
• b) one chapter from a book
• c) a single article from a periodical
• d) an entire artistic work (including a painting, print, photograph, diagram, drawing, map, chart, and plan) from a copyright-protected work containing other artistic works.
• e) an entire newspaper article or page
• f) an entire single poem or musical score from a copyright protected work containing other poems or musical scores
• g) an entire entry from an encyclopedia, annotated bibliography, dictionary or similar reference work provided that in each case, no more of the work is copied than is required in order to achieve the allowable purpose.

5. 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.

6. Copying or communicating that exceeds the limits in these Fair Dealing Requirements may be referred to Memorial University Libraries for evaluation. An evaluation of whether the proposed copying or communication is permitted under fair dealing will be made based on all relevant circumstances.

7. Any fee charged by the university for communicating or copying a short excerpt from a copyright-protected work must be intended to cover on the costs of the university, including overhead costs.

For more information, see our Frequently Asked Questions.

Questions can be forwarded to Memorial University Libraries or the Office of the General Counsel, generalcounsel@mun.ca or 864-6481.