Feb. 21, 2024

Fair Dealing Week highlights critical component of affordable, rigorous university education

Campaign draws attention to important copyright exception that balances user and creator rights to accommodate freedom of speech and expression

Have you used a photo from a book in an assignment? Emailed a friend a news article or quoted passages of someone else’s work in an essay? You’ve applied Fair Dealing!

Fair Dealing is a key part of Canada's balanced copyright system that protects users’ and creators’ rights. A critical component of a university education, it permits the use of copyright-protected material without permission from the copyright holder, in certain circumstances. 

This year, Canada highlights the vital importance of Fair Dealing during ‘Fair Dealing Week’ 
(Feb 26 – Mar 1).

Fair Dealing “ensures that reasonable amounts of educational material can be shared without undue interference that would make it harder for students to learn.” It promotes progress in arts and sciences, and accommodates freedom of speech and expression. This extends to research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, review and news reporting. 

If you're curious about how fair dealing applies to software preservation, open educational resources and crown copyright, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) is hosting a panel discussion during Fair Dealing Week. 

Leveraging Best Practices: Using the CARL Copyright Codes of Best Practice in your library 
Feb 28 | 11:00am MT 
Event Details


Did you know that UCalgary has a Copyright Office that can help you when using copyrighted materials? Learn more about their services.


Tags