Fair Dealing

Fair dealing for private study or research for a non-commercial purpose is a possible defence against an accusation of copyright infringement. For this purpose, you may normally make a single copy of part of a copyright work. The amount you may copy is not clearly defined by law but the following advisory limits have been established over time and these should be observed.

• A single extract or several extracts from a book as long as the total copied is not more than 5% of the whole work, OR
• one chapter from a book, OR 
• one article from a journal or newspaper issue, OR
• one paper from a set of conference proceedings, OR
• one single case from a volume of law reports, OR
• Poems, short stories and other short literary works may be copied so long as they are not more than ten pages long.        

Please note: sound recordings, films and broadcasts are expressly excluded from the provisions of fair dealing for private study or research and so may not be copied.

Fair dealing applies equally to materials in a paper and an electronic format: JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) and The Publishers Association provide some useful Guidelines for Fair Dealing in an Electronic Environment.

Visit:   Guidelines for Fair Dealing in an Electronic Environment (external website)

Your copying may be undertaken using any form of copier, e.g. photocopying machine, scanner or other means of electrocopying. Note, however, that only a single copy may be made for an individual’s personal use. The copy must not be re-published, posted on a web page, edited, multicopied or dealt with in any other way.

The purpose of your copying must not be directly or indirectly commercial. The law does not clearly define "a commercial purpose", though in general, any activity which generates income may be regarded as commercial. The British Library Copyright FAQ website provides some useful illustrations of commercial/non-commercial scenarios. It is up to the person making the copy to decide whether the purpose is commercial or not – please do not ask Information Services staff to make this decision for you.

Visit: British Library Copyright FAQ website (external website)

If you wish to make multiple copies of extracts of copyright material, this is not possible under fair dealing but may be so under one of the licences held by the University. See the guidance on the CLA and NLA Licences.

Visit:  Copyright Licensing Agency