Copying for your research or study
The fair dealing provisions of the Copyright Act allow you to copy material for the following reasons:
- your research or study (s40) & (s103C)
- criticism or review (s41) & (s103A)
- parody or satire (s41A & (s103AA)
- reporting the news (s42) & (s103B)
- the purpose of judicial proceedings or professional advice by a legal practitioner or patent attorney (s43) & (s104)
Note: If you wish to make multiple copies of copyright material for teaching purposes or if you wish to make course readings available online please contact the Library.
How much can I copy?
There are different rules for different formats of material.
You can copy a reasonable portion which is defined as:
| Hard copy or print materials | |
|---|---|
| Separately published literary, dramatic, or musical work (other than a computer program) of at least 10 pages | 10% of the total number of pages in the edition OR if the work is divided into chapters, a single chapter |
| Articles in periodicals | One article from an issue of a periodical - more if they are required for the same research or course of study |
| Electronic materials | |
| Separately published literary or dramatic work (other than a computer program or electronic compilations such as a database) | 10% of the number of words in the work OR if the work is divided into chapters, a single chapter |
| Articles in electronic journals | One article from an issue - more if they are required for the same research or course of study |
| Web sites | 10% of the number of words in the electronic document |
| Audio-visual items | |
| Films, sound recordings, sound broadcasts and television broadcasts | Sections 103 and 104 of the Copyright Act permit the copying of a reasonable portion of an AV item for the reasons set out above.
However, a reasonable portion is not defined and you must consider a number of factors before deciding if the amount you wish to copy is fair dealing. |
Can I copy from the Internet?
Yes you can, but remember that material on the internet is protected by copyright.
Under the fair dealing principles you can copy up to 10% of the words in an electronic document for your research or study and the other fair dealing reasons set out above. In some cases it will not be easy to determine the number of words in an electronic document, for example, is it 10% of one web page or 10% of the entire web site?
However, it is possible that the author may have included a statement authorising the user to copy more than 10% of the site. So, before you copy material from the internet always check to see if there is a statement relating to copyright and reproduction of material. When in doubt, obtain the copyright owner's permission.
In many cases material accessible from the Library's web site such as databases and full text journals, will be covered by licence arrangements with the vendor or producer of the database. These licences usually clarify the situation in relation to printing and downloading.