Copyright & Fair Dealing

Trent University respects the rights of creators and owners of copyright-protected materials and the rights of users to make certain uses of copyright-protected materials. 

Use of copyright-protected materials by Trent University students, staff and faculty must comply with the Canadian Copyright Act and Trent University's Use of Copyrighted Material Guidelines. 

Trent University's guidelines are based on the Fair Dealing Policy for Universities developed by Universities Canada. 

We also have a Copyright at Trent Guide you can visit.

If you have any questions about copyright and fair dealing, please email the Library's copyright team at copyright@trentu.ca. Disclaimer: The Library's copyright team provide information and do not provide legal advice.

Fair Dealing Guidelines

Fair Dealing is the end user's right, in certain situations, to copy a short excerpt from a copyright-protected work without permission from or payment to the copyright owner. This is an exception in Canada's Copyright Act to read more about Canada's fair dealing see s.29, of Canada Copyright Act.

However the Copyright Act does not define fairness. Fair dealing is context-specific and depends on the facts of each case. 

To qualify, the dealing must be for an allowable purpose set out in s.29 of Canada Copyright Act:

  • Research
  • Private Study
  • Education
  • Parody & Satire
  • Criticism & Review
  • News Reporting

Additionally, six fair dealing criteria are considered in assessing fairness are purpose, character, amount, alternatives available, nature, and effect. 

Fairness: The 6 Factor Test

The Copyright Act does not define fairness. Fair dealing is context-specific and depends on the facts of each case. Six factors to be considered in assessing fairness are:

  1. Purpose of the Dealing: Is the copying done for an allowable purpose as defined in s.29, including research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism & review, news reporting?
  2. Character of the Dealing: Does the copying involve single or multiple copies? How are copies distributed and to whom? How is access to the copied material controlled?
  3. Amount of the Dealing: What proportion of the work is copied, and how important is the excerpt in relation to the entire work? Is the copying substantial or can it be considered a short excerpt?
  4. Alternatives to the Dealing: Is there a non-copyrighted equivalent available? Is the dealing reasonably necessary to achieve the purpose?
  5. Nature of the Work: Is the work published or unpublished? Is the work in question confidential?
  6. Effect of the Dealing on the Work: Is the dealing likely to compete with the market for the original work? Is the dealing likely to have a negative impact on the market for the original work? 

Fair Dealing in a Classroom Setting

A single copy of a short excerpt from a copyrighted work may be provided or communicated to each student registered in a course:

  • as a class handout; or
  • as a posting in Blackboard.

Short Excerpts

A short excerpt means:

  • 10% or less of a work, or
  • No more than:
    • One chapter of a book;
    • A single article from a periodical;
    • An entire artistic work, including a painting, print, photograph, diagram, drawing, map, chart or plan from a work containing other artistic works;
    • An entire newspaper article or page from a newspaper;
    • An entire single poem or musical score from a work containing other poems or musical scores;
    • an entire entry from an encyclopedia, annotated bibliography, dictionary or similar reference work.

You may not make copies of multiple short excerpts from the same work when the combined amount exceeds what can be considered a Short Excerpt as defined above. 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.

Any fee charged by Trent for copying a short excerpt must not exceed the costs of making the copy. Fair dealing does not substitute for purchasing of course materials. 

Copyright Information for Teaching

Canada Copyright Act has educational use exceptions that you should be aware about in Canada Copyright Act s.29.4 pertaining to reproduction for instruction and reproduction for examinations. 

Copying materials for your classes are allowed when:

  • licensed materials for Trent University are licensed for classroom purposes
  • permitted by a Creative Commons (CC) license
  • material is in the Public Domain   
  • permitted through Open Access (OA) or an Open Educational Resource (OER)

When you see a Trent University licensed material through Omni, email copyright@trentu.ca to confirm that the material can be copied for students in your classroom.

You can always provide a link to a resource that Trent University Library & Archives (TULA) owns to your class. You can also have TULA create a Course Reading List.  

Copyright Information for Researching

Research is one of the allowable purposes under fair dealing as set out in s.29 of Canada Copyright Act. 

To learn about the other research supports that Trent University Library & Archives provides please visit the Research Support webpage.

Trent University's Office of Research & Innovation can assist you with your Intellectual Property, please see the Intellectual Property webpage or email research@trentu.ca for information.

Copyright Information for Students

Trent University respects the rights of creators and owners of copyright-protected materials and the rights of users to make certain uses of copyright-protected materials. As a student you need to understand your rights and responsibilities under Canada's Copyright Act as copyright infringement is a serious matter and can lead to legal ramifications. 

As a student at Trent University, you must:

  • follow Trent University's Academic Integrity policies, see academic integrity for students
    • including citing all your sources in your course work
    • not passing another person's work as your own
  • not post or share materials that are licensed materials through Trent University Library & Archives' as they are for personal use.
  • not post or share materials that you receive from your professor/instructor including a course syllabus.

If you are a Trent student wanting to provide another Trent student with a resource that is available from Trent University Library & Archives' provide that person with a link to the resource. If you or others have difficulties with accessing any of Trent University Library & Archives' resources, email library@trentu.ca. 

Trent University Library & Archives' Copyright Services

Trent University Library & Archives' copyright team is here to help. 

We can:

  • provide a customized workshop upon request
  • create a Course Reading List that goes through a copyright assessment
  • answer your copyright questions

Just email the copyright team at copyright@trentu.ca. 
Disclaimer: The copyright team provides information and does not provide legal advice.

Section 29.4 of the Copyright Act covers exceptions for Educational Institutions, including:

  • 29.4(1): It is not an infringement of copyright for an educational institution or a person acting under its authority for the purposes of education or training on its premises to reproduce a work, or do any other necessary act, in order to display it.
    • This includes reproduction on whiteboards, chalkboards, overheads, projected slides

  • 29.4(2): It is not an infringement of copyright for an educational institution or a person acting under its authority to

    (a) reproduce, translate or perform in public on the premises of the educational institution, or

    (b) communicate by telecommunication to the public situated on the premises of the educational institution 

    a work or other subject-matter as required for a test or examination.

The exemption from copyright infringement provided by subsections (1) and (2) does not apply if the work or other subject-matter is commercially available (available on the Canadian market within a reasonable time and for a reasonable price and may be located with reasonable effort) in a medium that is appropriate for the purposes referred to in those subsections.

Section 29.5 of the Copyright Act includes exceptions for performances in educational settings.

It is not an infringement of copyright for an educational institution or a person acting under its authority to do the following acts if they are done on the premises of an educational institution for educational or training purposes and not for profit, before an audience consisting primarily of students of the educational institution, instructors acting under the authority of the educational institution or any person who is directly responsible for setting a curriculum for the educational institution:

(a) the live performance in public, primarily by students of the educational institution, of a work;

(b) the performance in public of a sound recording, or of a work or performer’s performance that is embodied in a sound recording, as long as the sound recording is not an infringing copy or the person responsible for the performance has no reasonable grounds to believe that it is an infringing copy;

(c) the performance in public of a work or other subject-matter at the time of its communication to the public by telecommunication; and

(d) the performance in public of a cinematographic work, as long as the work is not an infringing copy or the person responsible for the performance has no reasonable grounds to believe that it is an infringing copy.

Section 30.04 of the Copyright Act permits the reuse of material publicly available on the internet, provided certain conditions are met:

  • The work is a non-infringing copy, legally obtained, without digital locks or visible notices preventing or prohibiting sharing and reuse
  • The purpose of the use is education or training
  • The audience consists primarily of students on the premises of an educational institution
  • The copy includes attribution including source, author, performer, creator, broadcaster if applicable.