In general, copyright in an original work (such as a book, journal article, photograph or film) gives the owner certain exclusive rights in relation to that work, including the right to copy the work, issue copies to the public and make adaptations of the work. Other people are generally not allowed to use copyright works. However, there are a number of exceptions to this general prohibition, which are referred to as “permitted acts” in New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom and “fair use” exceptions in the United States.
“Permitted acts” in New Zealand include copying less than a “substantial part” of a work and "fair dealing" for the purposes of criticism, review, news reporting, research or private study.
Using less than a “substantial part”: You will not infringe an owner’s copyright if you use less than a “substantial part” of the copyright work. However, what is “substantial” depends on the context copying a relatively small part of a work in quantitative terms may still infringe the owner’s copyright if the copied portion is important or distinctive to that work.
Criticism, review and news reporting: The Copyright Act 1994 provides that “fair dealing” with a work for the purpose of criticism or review does not infringe copyright in the work, provided that it is accompanied by “sufficient acknowledgement”. This generally means that the title of the work and the author need to be identified. What is fair depends on the facts of each case, although copying a substantial amount of the work may prevent the “dealing” from being “fair”.
Research or private study: Under the Copyright Act, fair dealing for research or private study does not infringe copyright. While research does not need to be for private purposes, the “fair dealing” exception will not apply where material is simply appropriated and passed on to others for commercial profit. Also, the making of more than one copy of the same work at one time is not permitted.