Copyright and Fair Dealing

Copyright is not a monopoly like a patent or registered design – the defence of fair dealing applies to some uses of copyright works which are permitted by law for the public benefit. The reason for the defence is partly because the copyright term is much longer than other IP rights. The problem is that only the courts can decide what is fair - so it can be risky to rely upon fair dealing. Examples where the defence is likely to apply include making one copy of a copyright work for a person’s own private study or research, provided it is fair to do so and quoting extensively from a copyright work for criticism or review.