The Supreme Court has recently re-affirmed the broad and liberal interpretation of fair dealing. In the fair dealing and other cases that have been concluded the Court also extended the interpretation of fair dealing to the reproduction classroom copies, whether required or not. Another decision affirmed that fair dealing is technologically neutral. This is important for online learning as there is no question that many different devices and applications can access content without fear of breaking copyright. These ruling are based on the old copyright law.

Bill C-11 opens fair dealing even further by including "education" as a legitimate purpose. And, the new statutory damages clauses limit institutional liability, so that there is little if any risk in making full use of fair dealing rights.

In this session by Dr. McGreal, UNESCO/COL Chair in OER from the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute (TEKRI) at Athabasca University, these issues will be introduced and opened up for discussion.