The law permits the copying of copyright material for private study and research within certain limits. This permission is often referred to as 'fair dealing'. There is no exact definition of what constitutes fair dealing but copying can only be made for non-commercial research or private study.

Making multiple copies of the same material for educational purposes does not fall within fair dealing. The accepted guidelines for the amount of a work that may be copied under fair dealing is:

• one article from an issue of a journal

• up to one whole article from a single issue of a serial publication or in a set of conference proceedings

• one case report in law reports

• up to one chapter or 5%, whichever is greater, of a book

• one poem or short story of up to ten pages from an anthology

Copying is also permitted for purposes of criticism or review but the amount copied is limited to a single extract of up to 400 words, or a number of extracts, each no more than 300 words and totalling to no more than 800 words.

All material must be published and the copy must be accompanied by an acknowledgement of its source. Copying for examination questions is permitted except for musical scores.

Some categories of published works, as well as some specific works by individual authors, artists and publishers, are not covered by CLA's licences:

• Printed music (including the words)

• Maps, charts

• Newspapers

• Any work on which the copyright owner has expressly and prominently stipulated that it may not be copied under a CLA Licence

• Workbooks, workcards or assignment sheets

Fair dealing applies equally to materials in paper or electronic format. Copying under fair dealing may be undertaken using any form of copier, for example, photocopying machine, scanner or other means of electro-copying. Only a single copy may be made for an individual’s personal use. The copy must not be re-published, posted on a web page, edited, or multi-copied.