The Queen's Fair Dealing Policy

Copying and communicating works pursuant to the Fair Dealing Policy fall within the fair dealing exception in theCopyright Act and therefore do not infringe copyright. There is no need to obtain the consent of the holder of copyright for those acts. The Fair Dealing Policy permits copying and communicating short excerpts of copyright-protected works by the university (including its faculty members) subject to certain safeguards to protect the interests of holders of copyright.

Download the Queen's Fair Dealing Policy (PDF)

Appendices addressing specific types of copying are available here: 

Teaching

Under the Fair Dealing Policy a copy of a short excerpt of a copyright-protected work may be made by or on behalf of a faculty member for the purpose of teaching students. A faculty member or his or her proxy may:

  • provide a copy of the short excerpt to students enrolled in a course of study as a handout;
  • email a copy of the short excerpt to students enrolled in a course of study;
  • post a copy of the short excerpt on an LMS stored on a secure server or other device (e.g. password protected) that is only accessible by students enrolled in a course, unit or program of instruction;
  • include a copy of the short excerpt in a lecture or classroom presentation such as a PowerPoint presentation presented to students enrolled in a course of study; and
  • display a copy of the short excerpt in a classroom to students enrolled in a course of study.

In each case, a copy of the short excerpt may also be provided or made available as required to another faculty member and to university staff.

As a safeguard to protect the interests of holders of copyright, the work from which the copy of the short excerpt is made must be in the lawful possession of the university or a faculty member. This would include a work in the collection of the university library or a faculty member, a work borrowed by the university library or faculty member through an inter-library loan, or a short excerpt that is copied and communicated to the university or a faculty member under fair dealing.  

The Fair Dealing Policy does not permit copying or communicating a copyright-protected work for a lecture or presentation that is open to the general public, i.e. a lecture or presentation that is not restricted to students specifically enrolled in a course of study. Depending on the circumstances the fair dealing exemption may however apply where the lecture or presentation is open to the public. For information about whether the exemption applies in particular circumstances contact please use our email form to contact a specialist in this area.

More information about the relationship between copyright and teaching can be found on the following pages: 

Research

Under the Fair Dealing Policy a copy of a short excerpt of a copyright-protected work may be made for use by a faculty member in conducting research on a specific topic of enquiry or for inclusion in a personal collection of research resources. The faculty member may share a copy of the short excerpt with faculty and students both within the university and within another university with whom the faculty member is engaged in collaborative research. In sharing a copy of the short excerpt, the faculty member may email the copy to the students and other faculty member, or post the copy to a website on a secure server or other device (e.g. password protected), provided that the website is secured and is only accessible by those faculty members and students with whom the faculty member is conducting collaborative research.

As a safeguard to protect the interests of holders of copyright, the copying or communicating of multiple short excerpts from the same copyright-protected work for the purpose of teaching or research with the intention of copying or communicating substantially the entire work is prohibited.

More information about the relationship between copyright and research can be found on the following pages: 

Safeguards and Application Documents

In order to guide the application of this policy at Queen's, a number of copyright safeguards have been put in place at the University. Many of these safeguards have been guided by a series of application documents released by the Association of Universities and Colleges in Canada. 

Select content from these documents is included in the Copyright at Queen's website.

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