What is Fair Dealing?

With its earliest roots in the UK, the concept of Fair Dealing is one that is shared in multiple countries. In other parts of the world, there may be other terms applied to the same or similar concepts.

In the UK, for example, Fair Dealing is a legal term used to establish whether a use of copyright material is lawful or whether it infringes copyright. While an imprecise exception, it allows certain works to be used or reproduced without permission from the copyright owner. Which certain works? There is no strict definition, but the courts consider “economic impact” to be a measure that defines this exception as unique in copyright law.

Who (and what) is generally covered under Fair Dealing?

At its core, Fair Dealing is intended to provide students and non-commercial researchers more access to copyrighted works by permitting copies of short extracts from a copyrighted work for non-commercial research or private study, criticism or review, or report of current events. In each use, sufficient attribution must be cited. Photocopying, scanning, and file-sharing is prohibited.

What is not covered under Fair Dealing?

In two words: the church. There has been some misinterpretation on this issue. While sermons are a form of teaching, the law recognises a difference between the scholastic activities of a student or an academic researcher and the activities of the church. Specifically, that means the church is not covered under the exception of Fair Dealing.