Is fair dealing the same thing as fair use?

The copyright law in some countries – most notably the United States – include a broad copyright exception called fair use. In short such provisions permit uses of copyright material so long as the use if fair. This approach does not seek to define a list of uses that are fair.

In Australia we do not have fair use – we have fair dealing. A major difference with the fair dealing approach is that it does prescribe a list of noninfringing uses. In Australia that list covers:

• research or study
• criticism or review
• parody or satire
• reporting the news
• provision of legal advice
• access for people with disability