How do I rely on the "fair dealing" exception for the purposes of research and study?

Answered By: Siu Chen Lim

Last Updated: Aug 22, 2019 Views: 270

Understanding the meaning of fair dealing will help you decide whether your use of NUS Libraries materials is in conformity with the copyright laws of Singapore.

Literary, Dramatic, Musical and Artistic Works and Audio-Visual Materials

If you are copying for the purpose of criticism or review, this is fair dealing provided you provide sufficient acknowledgement of the work (i.e. title and author)
If you are copying for other purposes, including research and study, there are 5 factors you should consider together when deciding whether a dealing with a work is fair:-

	Favour Fair Dealing	Weighs against Fair Dealing
Purpose of Copying?	Non-profit educational	Commercial
Nature of the Work?	Factual, public interest in dissemination	Fiction
Quantity Copied?	Small portions of the work e.g. abstracts or video clips	Entire work
Possibility of Obtaining Alternative Copy Within Reasonable Time at Ordinary Commercial Price	Reasonable attempts have been made to seek permission from copyright owner without success	License for use is available for purchase
Effect of Use Upon the Market	Work is out-of-print Copying does not compete with sale of work	Creator has lost potential revenue through re-use of work

Special Deeming Provision When Copying for the Purposes of Research and Study

Where copying is done for the specific purpose of research and study, when deciding what is a “reasonable portion” for purposes of coming within the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright Act,

the Copyright Act deems 1 chapter or 10% of the number of pages a “reasonable portion”
where the work is stored on an electronic medium and not divided into pages, 10% of the total number of bytes or 10% of the total number of words is deemed a “reasonable portion”

For works that are not literary, dramatic, musical or artistic (e.g. sound recordings, films) the Copyright Act contains no deeming provision as to what constitutes "reasonable portion". We recommend you do not make a copy.

The content in these FAQs is meant for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for legal counsel and does not constitute legal advice.