Use this tool as a guideline to help determine whether the fair dealing exception in the Copyright Act may apply to your copying.

What is fair dealing?

For assistance in using this tool, evaluating the outcome of your assessment, or obtaining permission if necessary, contact fairdealing@uoguelph.ca.

• This tool was designed for use only by faculty, students and staff of the University of Guelph.
• Use the tool to help you evaluate the fairness of the copy you wish to make based on the fair dealing exception in the Canadian Copyright Act, and to assess whether permission from the copyright owner might be required in order to make the copy.
• The assessment is intended to be used for copies made from copyright-protected works such as books, journals, newspapers, magazines and other publications,  in print or electronic formats.  In the case of university-licensed works such as e-journals and e-books, there may be contractual terms which prohibit the making of the copy regardless of the outcome of this assessment.
• IMPORTANT:  this tool is only a guide, not a legal opinion.  The Copyright Act does not contain a simple formula for determining exactly what may or may not be copied without permission or payment.

Go To Fair Dealing Tool