Students have the right to use copyright-protected materials, for certain purposes, under the Canadian Copyright Act. What you can copy without obtaining permission from the copyright owner is determined in part by the fair dealing exception in the Copyright Act (section 29, 29.1 and 29.2).

Copying based on the fair dealing exception can be done for the purposes of:

1. Private Study
2. Research
3. Review
4. Criticism
5. News Reporting
6. Education
7. Parody
8. Satire

There are limits to the amount and proportion of a work that can be copied under fair dealing. For information on these limits, please review this Fair Dealing Guidance for Students document.

Please note that, similar to the requirements for faculty and other teaching staff, students are required to seek permission from the copyright owner(s) prior to using a work for purposes other than those permitted through the university’s existing licences (e.g., for electronic library materials) or for any use outside fair dealing (e.g., copying more than a short excerpt, use in a thesis, etc.).

If students do not seek permission and have a charge of copyright infringement brought against them by a copyright owner, the student will be liable for any damages.

To request permission for uses of copyright-protected materials that do not fall under fair dealing or existing university licences, the process is to contact the copyright owner (which is usually either the creator or the publisher) and request permission to use the work.

For more information about how to identify and request permission from a copyright owner, please visit our Getting Permission from a Copyright Owner page.

For more information on your rights as an author or creator, please visit our Author and Creator Rights page.