Fair Dealing Guidelines

Updated: August 26, 2025

The following Fair Dealing Guidelines have been prepared to provide guidance as to how the Copyright Act’s fair dealing exception applies to certain copying at the University of Guelph, and to provide reasonable safeguards for the rights of the copyright-holders of protected works. The guidelines were adapted for the University of Guelph community from the Model Fair Dealing Guidelines for University Faculty and Staff provided by Universities Canada, and should be read in conjunction with the copyright information provided on the Copyright at the University of Guelph website, and related university policies. All members of the university community are expected to comply with copyright laws.

Introduction

The Copyright Act provides certain exceptions to copyright infringement, which are regarded as users’ rights. Such users’ rights are essential to furthering the public interest objectives of the Copyright Act, including encouraging the wider public dissemination of works. One of the most important user rights is known as “fair dealing”. The Copyright Act provides that fair dealing does not infringe copyright if it is for one or more of the following Allowable Purposes: research, private study, education, parody or satire, criticism or review, or news reporting. For a fuller explanation of fair dealing, see Fair dealing and other exceptions in the Copyright Act.

Guidelines

These Fair Dealing Guidelines should not be considered a definitive formula for determining whether something qualifies as “fair dealing”. The fair dealing exception is case-specific and depends on context. It may permit certain copying that is not specifically described under these Guidelines. If you have a request for copying that requires further support, please contact the University’s Copyright Officer at copyright@uoguelph.ca. The Copyright Officer can assist you in determining whether the proposed copying falls within the fair dealing exception, considering all relevant factors.

Subject to the following criteria being met, Teaching Staff and Other Staff may copy or communicate, in paper or electronic form, Short Excerpts (defined below) from a Work for any one or more of the Allowable Purposes.

1. The copy must be a “Short Excerpt” containing no more of a Work than is required in order to achieve the Allowable Purpose. A “Short Excerpt” may be:
   1. up to 10% of a Work; or

   2. no more than:

      1. one chapter from a book;
      2. ii. a single article from a periodical;
      3. iii. an entire artistic work (including a painting, print, photograph, diagram, drawing, map, chart, and plan) from a Work containing other artistic works;
      4. iv. an entire newspaper article or page;
      5. v. an entire 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 Fair Dealing Guidelines, please contact the University’s Copyright Officer at copyright@uoguelph.ca 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 (“LMS”) that is password protected, or otherwise restricted to, and accessible only by, students enrolled in a class or course at the University; or
   3. as part of a course pack compiled and produced by the University Bookstore or another entity or department controlled by the University,

   and it is recommended (if practical) that each copy made subject to these guidelines include a notice indicating that the copy was made in compliance with the Fair Dealing Guidelines of the University of Guelph, and advising students that while they may use materials for their personal Allowable Purposes under fair dealing, communicating or sharing the materials with others may be an infringement of copyright.

4. Where these guidelines permit the copying of only a portion of a Work, no member of the Teaching Staff or Other Staff may make copies of multiple Short Excerpts with the effect of exceeding the copying limits set out in Section 1 of these Fair Dealing Guidelines.
5. Teaching Staff and Other Staff may not obtain a Work for copying under these Fair Dealing Guidelines by circumventing a technological protection measure (commonly referred to as digital locks), such as a paywall.
6. Any fee charged by the University for copying a short excerpt must not exceed the actual costs incurred by the University, including overhead costs, in making the copy.
7. Copies of short excerpts made for the purpose of criticism, review, or news reporting must mention the source and, if given in the source, the name of the author(s) or creator(s) of the Work.
8. The University has existing licence agreements with various publishers that may allow Teaching Staff and Other Staff to copy and use licensed content in accordance with those licence terms. If the Work that you wish to use is licensed, then you can proceed to copy the Work as specifically permitted by the licence. See Acceptable Use of Online Resources for more information about permitted uses of licensed Works.

The Copyright Act’s fair dealing exception may also allow some types of copying that are not described in these Fair Dealing Guidelines. See Evaluating whether your use of a work is fair dealing for more information, or check with the University’s Copyright Officer at copyright@uoguelph.ca.

When copying falls outside of what is permitted by the fair dealing exception, other sources of permission (including permission from a copyright holder) may be required.

Definitions

• Teaching Staff: any person who teaches at or under the auspices of the University, including without limitation, faculty members, adjunct and clinical faculty, lecturers, instructors, and teaching assistants.
• Other staff: any full time and part time staff members of the University, and any other person who works at or under the auspices of the University who is not Teaching Staff.
• Allowable purposes: the purposes listed in the Copyright Act for which fair dealing may be permitted, namely research, private study, education, parody or satire, criticism or review, or news reporting.
• Work: any copyright-protected work, including without limitation a literary work, musical work, artistic work, dramatic work, sound recording, or audiovisual work.
• LMS: a learning management system (or course management system) such as CourseLink at the University of Guelph.