Fair Dealing Week provides an annual opportunity to consider and discuss the importance of copyright
in general, and of the doctrine of fair dealing in particular. The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) has this to say about fair dealing:
You probably make use of fair dealing every day without even realizing it, whether emailing a news article to a friend, using a clip from a song, using a copyrighted image on social media, or quoting passages from a book when writing an essay. Activities such as these are not considered to be copyright infringement – in fact, the ability for users to make copies for specific purposes is an integral part of the Canadian Copyright Act. ...
Fair dealing recognizes that certain uses of copyright protected works are beneficial for society. By placing limits on instances where copyright owners can require payment, fair dealing leads innovation, to the creation of new works and new scholarship. The Supreme Court of Canada increasingly refers to copyright as providing a balance between the rights of users and of copyright owners.
Fair dealing has a large, positive impact, including for:
- Educators and students at all levels,
- Creative professionals (journalists, authors, filmmakers, musicians, etc.),
- Individuals who want to use, copy or share portions of copyright protected works in their daily lives.
Throughout the week, we'll be using the Library's Twitter and Facebook accounts to share more information about fair dealing and copyright; at the end of the week, we'll launch the latest instalment of the Library's Copyright Watch web newsletter, a handy quick guide to all the latest (and forthcoming) developments in Canadian copyright.