Copyright for Visual Communication

Fair dealing is a user right contained in the Copyright Act.

Fair dealing allows you to copy from a copyrighted work, without the copyright owner's permission, if the copy is for one these purposes:

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

However, that's not all. Even if your use falls under one of the exemptions, the use must still be deemed "fair".

Neither the Copyright Act, nor the decisions of the courts interpreting fair dealing set out exactly what is fair in any particular instance. One must consider all of the relevant factors, including:

• the purpose of the proposed copying, including whether it is for research, private study, education, parody or satire, criticism, review or news reporting
• the character of the proposed copying, including whether it involves single or multiple copies, and whether the copy is destroyed after it is used for its specific intended purpose
• the amount of the dealing from the individual user's perspective, including the proportion of the work which is proposed to be copied and the importance of that excerpt in relation to the whole work
• alternatives to copying the work, including whether there is a non-copyrighted equivalent available
• the nature of the work, including whether it is published or unpublished
• the effect of the copying on the work, including whether the copy will compete with the commercial market of the original work

This text was adapted from Copyright at UBC: Basics FAQ, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International Licence.