Canadian Copyright Overview
Canada copyright act protects any original work and protects the creator or artist from having other people recreate their work.
What is a Copyright
A copyright is an intellectual property and gives the exclusive right to produce or reproduce a work or any significant part of it. Rights and protections of copyrights include the right to publish, perform, produce a translation and rent or distribute. Those rights make it possible for the copyright owner or the representative of the owner to determine how their content will be used and the possibility of earning income in the form of royalties. There are also moral rights, which is the author’s right to be associated with the intellectual property.
What can by Copyrighted
There are several categories of works that are protected with copyright:
Literary: includes books, pamphlets, essays, dictionaries, lectures, speeches, computer programs, and other works of text.
Dramatic: includes movies, plays, screenplays, scripts, characters, scenes, dialogue, and any other dramatic work.
Musical: any composition with or without words.
Artistic: includes paintings, drawings, maps, photographs, sculptures, engravings, and other forms of visual art.
Performance: includes performances, recitations, readings, and improvisations.
Sound Recordings Communication Signals:radio waves.
Others: Any other original piece of work created with knowledge or skill.
General conditions of a Copyright
It must be an original work or creation.
At the time of creation, the author must have been a permanent resident or citizen of Canada or another treaty country (a Berne Convention Country, a Universal Copyright Convention Country, or a World Trade Organization member.
In general, works are protected during the author’s lifetime and for another 50 years after the end of the calendar year of the author’s death. After that period ends, the work comes into the public domain and can be used by anyone without permission.
What are exempted from copyright infringement
While a permission from the copyright owner is required to reproduce, there are some exemptions, known as fair use, to use a copyrighted material for private study, research, criticism, review, or education.
What are Unprotected Works
The Copyright Laws of Canada do not apply to:
Soundtracks of films that already accompany the film.
Unexpressed ideas.
Facts.
Non-permanent things like brief live broadcasts, short spoken sentences, or spontaneous speeches.
How to register a Copyright
Copyright automatically comes into existence as soon as the work is created but owners are encouraged to register their copyright with Canadian Intellectual Property Office. This process provide them a certificate which proves the copyright and the identity of the owner.
Copyright in International level
Copyright rules varies by countries. Copyright rules are determined in the country where the work is being used and not according to the rules of the owner's country of origin. Canadian copyright act applies to any foreign author's work in complaince with the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in which Canada is a member along with Belgium, France, Germany, Haiti, Italy, Liberia, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, and the United Kingdom.
