Copyright Act

This Act may be cited as the Copyright Act.

In this Act,

architectural work means any building or structure or any model of a building or structure; (oeuvre architecturale)

architectural work of art[Repealed, 1993, c. 44, s. 53]

artistic work includes paintings, drawings, maps, charts, plans, photographs, engravings, sculptures, works of artistic craftsmanship, architectural works, and compilations of artistic works; (oeuvre artistique)

Berne Convention country means a country that is a party to the Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works concluded at Berne on September 9, 1886, or any one of its revisions, including the Paris Act of 1971; (pays partie à la Convention de Berne)

Board means the Copyright Board established by subsection 66(1); (Commission)

book means a volume or a part or division of a volume, in printed form, but does not include

a pamphlet,

a newspaper, review, magazine or other periodical,

a map, chart, plan or sheet music where the map, chart, plan or sheet music is separately published, and

an instruction or repair manual that accompanies a product or that is supplied as an accessory to a service; (livre)

broadcaster means a body that, in the course of operating a broadcasting undertaking, broadcasts a communication signal in accordance with the law of the country in which the broadcasting undertaking is carried on, but excludes a body whose primary activity in relation to communication signals is their retransmission; (radiodiffuseur)

Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement has the meaning assigned by the definition Agreement in section 2 of the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement Implementation Act; (Accord Canada–États-Unis–Mexique)

choreographic work includes any work of choreography, whether or not it has any story line; (oeuvre chorégraphique)

cinematograph[Repealed, 1997, c. 24, s. 1]

cinematographic work includes any work expressed by any process analogous to cinematography, whether or not accompanied by a soundtrack; (oeuvre cinématographique)

collective society means a society, association or corporation that carries on the business of collective administration of copyright or of the remuneration right conferred by section 19 or 81 for the benefit of those who, by assignment, grant of licence, appointment of it as their agent or otherwise, authorize it to act on their behalf in relation to that collective administration, and

operates a licensing scheme, applicable in relation to a repertoire of works, performer’s performances, sound recordings or communication signals of more than one author, performer, sound recording maker or broadcaster, pursuant to which the society, association or corporation sets out classes of uses that it agrees to authorize under this Act, and the royalties and terms and conditions on which it agrees to authorize those classes of uses, or

carries on the business of collecting and distributing royalties or levies payable under this Act in relation to a repertoire of works, performer’s performances, sound recordings or communication signals of more than one author, performer, sound recording maker or broadcaster; (société de gestion)

collective work means

an encyclopaedia, dictionary, year book or similar work,

a newspaper, review, magazine or similar periodical, and

any work written in distinct parts by different authors, or in which works or parts of works of different authors are incorporated; (recueil)

commercially available means, in relation to a work or other subject-matter,

available on the Canadian market within a reasonable time and for a reasonable price and may be located with reasonable effort, or

for which a licence to reproduce, perform in public or communicate to the public by telecommunication is available from a collective society within a reasonable time and for a reasonable price and may be located with reasonable effort; (accessible sur le marché)

communication signal means radio waves transmitted through space without any artificial guide, for reception by the public; (signal de communication)

compilation means

a work resulting from the selection or arrangement of literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works or of parts thereof, or

a work resulting from the selection or arrangement of data; (compilation)

computer program means a set of instructions or statements, expressed, fixed, embodied or stored in any manner, that is to be used directly or indirectly in a computer in order to bring about a specific result; (programme d’ordinateur)

copyright means the rights described in

section 3, in the case of a work,

sections 15 and 26, in the case of a performer’s performance,

section 18, in the case of a sound recording, or

section 21, in the case of a communication signal; (droit d’auteur)

country includes any territory; (pays)

defendant includes a respondent to an application; (Version anglaise seulement)

delivery[Repealed, 1997, c. 24, s. 1]

dramatic work includes

any piece for recitation, choreographic work or mime, the scenic arrangement or acting form of which is fixed in writing or otherwise,

any cinematographic work, and

any compilation of dramatic works; (oeuvre dramatique)

educational institution means

a non-profit institution licensed or recognized by or under an Act of Parliament or the legislature of a province to provide pre-school, elementary, secondary or post-secondary education,

a non-profit institution that is directed or controlled by a board of education regulated by or under an Act of the legislature of a province and that provides continuing, professional or vocational education or training,

a department or agency of any order of government, or any non-profit body, that controls or supervises education or training referred to in paragraph (a) or (b), or

any other non-profit institution prescribed by regulation; (établissement d’enseignement)

engravings includes etchings, lithographs, woodcuts, prints and other similar works, not being photographs; (gravure)

every original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work includes every original production in the literary, scientific or artistic domain, whatever may be the mode or form of its expression, such as compilations, books, pamphlets and other writings, lectures, dramatic or dramatico-musical works, musical works, translations, illustrations, sketches and plastic works relative to geography, topography, architecture or science; (toute oeuvre littéraire, dramatique, musicale ou artistique originale)

exclusive distributor means, in relation to a book, a person who and, for greater certainty, if there are no regulations made under section 2.6, then no person qualifies under this definition as an “exclusive distributor”; (distributeur exclusif)

has, before or after the coming into force of this definition, been appointed in writing, by the owner or exclusive licensee of the copyright in the book in Canada, as

the only distributor of the book in Canada or any part of Canada, or

the only distributor of the book in Canada or any part of Canada in respect of a particular sector of the market, and

meets the criteria established by regulations made under section 2.6,

Her Majesty’s Realms and Territories[Repealed, 1997, c. 24, s. 1]

infringing means The definition includes a copy that is imported in the circumstances set out in paragraph 27(2)(e) and section 27.1 but does not otherwise include a copy made with the consent of the owner of the copyright in the country where the copy was made; (contrefaçon)

in relation to a work in which copyright subsists, any copy, including any colourable imitation, made or dealt with in contravention of this Act,

in relation to a performer’s performance in respect of which copyright subsists, any fixation or copy of a fixation of it made or dealt with in contravention of this Act,

in relation to a sound recording in respect of which copyright subsists, any copy of it made or dealt with in contravention of this Act, or

in relation to a communication signal in respect of which copyright subsists, any fixation or copy of a fixation of it made or dealt with in contravention of this Act.

lecture includes address, speech and sermon; (conférence)

legal representatives includes heirs, executors, administrators, successors and assigns, or agents or attorneys who are thereunto duly authorized in writing; (représentants légaux)

library, archive or museum means

an institution, whether or not incorporated, that is not established or conducted for profit or that does not form a part of, or is not administered or directly or indirectly controlled by, a body that is established or conducted for profit, in which is held and maintained a collection of documents and other materials that is open to the public or to researchers, or

any other non-profit institution prescribed by regulation; (bibliothèque, musée ou service d’archives)

literary work includes tables, computer programs, and compilations of literary works; (oeuvre littéraire)

maker means

in relation to a cinematographic work, the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the making of the work are undertaken, or

in relation to a sound recording, the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the first fixation of the sounds are undertaken; (producteur)

Minister, except in sections 44 to 44.12, means the Minister of Industry; (ministre)

moral rights means the rights described in subsections 14.1(1) and 17.1(1); (droits moraux)

musical work means any work of music or musical composition, with or without words, and includes any compilation thereof; (oeuvre musicale)

perceptual disability means a disability that prevents or inhibits a person from reading or hearing a literary, musical, dramatic or artistic work in its original format, and includes such a disability resulting from

severe or total impairment of sight or hearing or the inability to focus or move one’s eyes,

the inability to hold or manipulate a book, or

an impairment relating to comprehension; (déficience perceptuelle)

performance means any acoustic or visual representation of a work, performer’s performance, sound recording or communication signal, including a representation made by means of any mechanical instrument, radio receiving set or television receiving set; (représentation ou exécution)

performer’s performance means any of the following when done by a performer:

a performance of an artistic work, dramatic work or musical work, whether or not the work was previously fixed in any material form, and whether or not the work’s term of copyright protection under this Act has expired,

a recitation or reading of a literary work, whether or not the work’s term of copyright protection under this Act has expired, or

an improvisation of a dramatic work, musical work or literary work, whether or not the improvised work is based on a pre-existing work; (prestation)

photograph includes photo-lithograph and any work expressed by any process analogous to photography; (photographie)

plaintiff includes an applicant; (Version anglaise seulement)

plate includes

any stereotype or other plate, stone, block, mould, matrix, transfer or negative used or intended to be used for printing or reproducing copies of any work, and

any matrix or other appliance used or intended to be used for making or reproducing sound recordings, performer’s performances or communication signals; (planche)

premises means, in relation to an educational institution, a place where education or training referred to in the definition “educational institution” is provided, controlled or supervised by the educational institution; (locaux)

receiving device[Repealed, 1993, c. 44, s. 79]

Rome Convention country means a country that is a party to the International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations, done at Rome on October 26, 1961; (pays partie à la Convention de Rome)

sculpture includes a cast or model; (sculpture)

sound recording means a recording, fixed in any material form, consisting of sounds, whether or not of a performance of a work, but excludes any soundtrack of a cinematographic work where it accompanies the cinematographic work; (enregistrement sonore)

telecommunication means any transmission of signs, signals, writing, images or sounds or intelligence of any nature by wire, radio, visual, optical or other electromagnetic system; (télécommunication)

treaty country means a Berne Convention country, UCC country, WCT country or WTO Member; (pays signataire)

UCC country means a country that is a party to the Universal Copyright Convention, adopted on September 6, 1952 in Geneva, Switzerland, or to that Convention as revised in Paris, France on July 24, 1971; (pays partie à la Convention universelle)

WCT country means a country that is a party to the WIPO Copyright Treaty, adopted in Geneva on December 20, 1996; (pays partie au traité de l’ODA)

work includes the title thereof when such title is original and distinctive; (oeuvre)

work of joint authorship means a work produced by the collaboration of two or more authors in which the contribution of one author is not distinct from the contribution of the other author or authors; (oeuvre créée en collaboration)

work of sculpture[Repealed, 1997, c. 24, s. 1]

WPPT country means a country that is a party to the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, adopted in Geneva on December 20, 1996; (pays partie au traité de l’OIEP)

WTO Member means a Member of the World Trade Organization as defined in subsection 2(1) of the World Trade Organization Agreement Implementation Act. (membre de l’OMC)

A compilation containing two or more of the categories of literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works shall be deemed to be a compilation of the category making up the most substantial part of the compilation.

The mere fact that a work is included in a compilation does not increase, decrease or otherwise affect the protection conferred by this Act in respect of the copyright in the work or the moral rights in respect of the work.

For greater certainty, the arrangements referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition maker in section 2, as that term is used in section 19 and in the definition eligible maker in section 79, include arrangements for entering into contracts with performers, financial arrangements and technical arrangements required for the first fixation of the sounds for a sound recording.

For the purposes of this Act, publication means but does not include

in relation to works,

making copies of a work available to the public,

the construction of an architectural work, and

the incorporation of an artistic work into an architectural work, and

in relation to sound recordings, making copies of a sound recording available to the public,

the performance in public, or the communication to the public by telecommunication, of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or a sound recording, or

the exhibition in public of an artistic work.

For the purpose of subsection (1), the issue of photographs and engravings of sculptures and architectural works is not deemed to be publication of those works.

For the purposes of this Act, other than in respect of infringement of copyright, a work or other subject-matter is not deemed to be published or performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication if that act is done without the consent of the owner of the copyright.

Where, in the case of an unpublished work, the making of the work is extended over a considerable period, the conditions of this Act conferring copyright are deemed to have been complied with if the author was, during any substantial part of that period, a subject or citizen of, or a person ordinarily resident in, a country to which this Act extends.

A person who communicates a work or other subject-matter to the public by telecommunication does not by that act alone perform it in public, nor by that act alone is deemed to authorize its performance in public.

For the purposes of communication to the public by telecommunication,

persons who occupy apartments, hotel rooms or dwelling units situated in the same building are part of the public, and a communication intended to be received exclusively by such persons is a communication to the public;

a person whose only act in respect of the communication of a work or other subject-matter to the public consists of providing the means of telecommunication necessary for another person to so communicate the work or other subject-matter does not communicate that work or other subject-matter to the public; and

where a person, as part of transmits by telecommunication a work or other subject-matter that is communicated to the public by another person who is not a retransmitter of a signal within the meaning of subsection 31(1), the transmission and communication of that work or other subject-matter by those persons constitute a single communication to the public for which those persons are jointly and severally liable.

a network, within the meaning of the Broadcasting Act, whose operations result in the communication of works or other subject-matter to the public, or

any programming undertaking whose operations result in the communication of works or other subject-matter to the public,

For the purposes of this Act, communication of a work or other subject-matter to the public by telecommunication includes making it available to the public by telecommunication in a way that allows a member of the public to have access to it from a place and at a time individually chosen by that member of the public.

The Governor in Council may make regulations defining “programming undertaking” for the purpose of paragraph (1)(c).

A work is not communicated in the manner described in paragraph (1)(c) or 3(1)(f) where a signal carrying the work is retransmitted to a person who is a retransmitter within the meaning of subsection 31(1).

For the purposes of paragraphs 3(1)(h) and (i), 15(1)(c) and 18(1)(c), an arrangement, whatever its form, constitutes a rental of a computer program or sound recording if, and only if,

it is in substance a rental, having regard to all the circumstances; and

it is entered into with motive of gain in relation to the overall operations of the person who rents out the computer program or sound recording, as the case may be.

For the purpose of paragraph (1)(b), a person who rents out a computer program or sound recording with the intention of recovering no more than the costs, including overhead, associated with the rental operations does not by that act alone have a motive of gain in relation to the rental operations.

The Governor in Council may make regulations establishing distribution criteria for the purpose of paragraph (b) of the definition exclusive distributor in section 2.

For the purposes of this Act, an exclusive licence is an authorization to do any act that is subject to copyright to the exclusion of all others including the copyright owner, whether the authorization is granted by the owner or an exclusive licensee claiming under the owner.

For the purposes of this Act, copyright, in relation to a work, means the sole right to produce or reproduce the work or any substantial part thereof in any material form whatever, to perform the work or any substantial part thereof in public or, if the work is unpublished, to publish the work or any substantial part thereof, and includes the sole right and to authorize any such acts.

to produce, reproduce, perform or publish any translation of the work,

in the case of a dramatic work, to convert it into a novel or other non-dramatic work,

in the case of a novel or other non-dramatic work, or of an artistic work, to convert it into a dramatic work, by way of performance in public or otherwise,

in the case of a literary, dramatic or musical work, to make any sound recording, cinematograph film or other contrivance by means of which the work may be mechanically reproduced or performed,

in the case of any literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, to reproduce, adapt and publicly present the work as a cinematographic work,

in the case of any literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, to communicate the work to the public by telecommunication,

to present at a public exhibition, for a purpose other than sale or hire, an artistic work created after June 7, 1988, other than a map, chart or plan,

in the case of a computer program that can be reproduced in the ordinary course of its use, other than by a reproduction during its execution in conjunction with a machine, device or computer, to rent out the computer program,

in the case of a musical work, to rent out a sound recording in which the work is embodied, and

in the case of a work that is in the form of a tangible object, to sell or otherwise transfer ownership of the tangible object, as long as that ownership has never previously been transferred in or outside Canada with the authorization of the copyright owner,

A work that is communicated in the manner described in paragraph (1)(f) is fixed even if it is fixed simultaneously with its communication.

[Repealed, 1997, c. 24, s. 3]

[Repealed, 1997, c. 24, s. 4]

Subject to this Act, copyright shall subsist in Canada, for the term hereinafter mentioned, in every original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work if any one of the following conditions is met:

in the case of any work, whether published or unpublished, including a cinematographic work, the author was, at the date of the making of the work, a citizen or subject of, or a person ordinarily resident in, a treaty country;

in the case of a cinematographic work, whether published or unpublished, the maker, at the date of the making of the cinematographic work,

if a corporation, had its headquarters in a treaty country, or

if a natural person, was a citizen or subject of, or a person ordinarily resident in, a treaty country; or

in the case of a published work, including a cinematographic work,

in relation to subparagraph 2.2(1)(a)(i), the first publication in such a quantity as to satisfy the reasonable demands of the public, having regard to the nature of the work, occurred in a treaty country, or

in relation to subparagraph 2.2(1)(a)(ii) or (iii), the first publication occurred in a treaty country.

For the purposes of subsection (1), a country that becomes a Berne Convention country, a WCT country or a WTO Member after the date of the making or publication of a work is deemed to have been a Berne Convention country, a WCT country or a WTO Member, as the case may be, at that date, subject to subsection (1.02) and sections 33 to 33.2.

Subsection (1.01) does not confer copyright protection in Canada on a work whose term of copyright protection in the country referred to in that subsection had expired before that country became a Berne Convention country, a WCT country or a WTO Member, as the case may be.

Subsections (1.01) and (1.02) apply, and are deemed to have applied, regardless of whether the country in question became a Berne Convention country, a WCT country or a WTO Member before or after the coming into force of those subsections.

The first publication described in subparagraph (1)(c)(i) or (ii) is deemed to have occurred in a treaty country notwithstanding that it in fact occurred previously elsewhere, if the interval between those two publications did not exceed thirty days.

Copyright shall not subsist in Canada otherwise than as provided by subsection (1), except in so far as the protection conferred by this Act is extended as hereinafter provided to foreign countries to which this Act does not extend.

Where the Minister certifies by notice, published in the Canada Gazette, that any country that is not a treaty country grants or has undertaken to grant, either by treaty, convention, agreement or law, to citizens of Canada, the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as to its own citizens or copyright protection substantially equal to that conferred by this Act, the country shall, for the purpose of the rights conferred by this Act, be treated as if it were a country to which this Act extends, and the Minister may give a certificate, notwithstanding that the remedies for enforcing the rights, or the restrictions on the importation of copies of works, under the law of such country, differ from those in this Act.

[Repealed, 1994, c. 47, s. 57]

[Repealed, 1997, c. 24, s. 5]

For greater certainty, the protection to which a work is entitled by virtue of a notice published under subsection (2), or under that subsection as it read at any time before the coming into force of this subsection, is not affected by reason only of the country in question becoming a treaty country.

Except as otherwise expressly provided by this Act, the term for which copyright subsists is the life of the author, the remainder of the calendar year in which the author dies, and a period of 70 years following the end of that calendar year.

Except as provided in section 6.2 and in subsection (2), where the identity of the author of a work is unknown, copyright in the work shall subsist until the end of 75 years following the end of the calendar year in which the work is made. However, if the work is published before the copyright expires, the copyright continues until the earlier of the end of 75 years following the end of the calendar year in which the first publication occurs and 100 years following the end of the calendar year in which the work was made.

Where, during any term referred to in subsection (1), the author’s identity becomes commonly known, the term provided in section 6 applies.

Except as provided in subsection (2), where the identity of all the authors of a work of joint authorship is unknown, copyright in the work shall subsist until the end of 75 years following the end of the calendar year in which the work is made. However, if the work is published before the copyright expires, the copyright continues until the earlier of the end of 75 years following the end of the calendar year in which the first publication occurs and 100 years following the end of the calendar year in which the work was made.

If, during any term referred to in subsection (1), the identity of one or more of the authors becomes commonly known, copyright subsists for the life of whichever of those authors dies last, the remainder of the calendar year in which that author dies and a period of 70 years following the end of that calendar year.

Subject to subsection (2), in the case of a literary, dramatic or musical work, or an engraving, in which copyright subsists at the date of the death of the author — or, in the case of a work of joint authorship, at or immediately before the date of the death of the author who dies last — but which has not been published or, in the case of a lecture or a dramatic or musical work, been performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication, before that date, copyright subsists for the longer of

the period until publication, or performance in public or communication to the public by telecommunication, whichever may first happen, as well as the remainder of the calendar year of the publication or of the performance in public or communication to the public by telecommunication, as the case may be, and for a period of 50 years following the end of that calendar year, and

the life of the author — or, in the case of a work of joint authorship, the life of the author who dies last — as well as the remainder of the calendar year in which that author dies and a period of 70 years following the end of the calendar year in which that author dies.

Subsection (1) applies only if the work in question was published or performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication, as the case may be, before December 31, 1998.

If a work was not published or performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication before December 31, 1998, if subsection (1) would apply to that work had it been published or performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication before that day, and if the relevant death referred to in subsection (1) occurred during the period of 50 years immediately before that day, copyright subsists in the work, whether or not the work is published or performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication on or after that day,

until December 31, 2048; or

for the life of the author — or, in the case of a work of joint authorship, the life of the author who dies last — as well as the remainder of the calendar year in which that author dies and a period of 70 years following the end of that calendar year, if that period ends after December 31, 2048.

[Repealed, 1993, c. 44, s. 59]

In the case of a work of joint authorship, except as provided in section 6.2 or subsection 7(1) or (3), copyright subsists during the life of the author who dies last, for the remainder of the calendar year in which that author dies, and for a period of 70 years following the end of that calendar year, and references in this Act to the period after the expiration of any specified number of years from the end of the calendar year of the death of the author shall be construed as references to the period after the expiration of the like number of years from the end of the calendar year of the death of the author who dies last.

[Repealed, 2012, c. 20, s. 6]

[Repealed, 1997, c. 24, s. 8]

Except for cinematographic works in which the arrangement or acting form or the combination of incidents represented give the work a dramatic character, copyright in a cinematographic work or a compilation of cinematographic works shall subsist until the end of 70 years following the end of the calendar year in which the cinematographic work or the compilation is made. However, if the cinematographic work or the compilation is published before the copyright expires, the copyright continues until the earlier of the end of 75 years following the end of the calendar year in which the first publication occurs and 100 years following the end of the calendar year in which the cinematographic work or the compilation was made.

Without prejudice to any rights or privileges of the Crown, where any work is, or has been, prepared or published by or under the direction or control of Her Majesty or any government department, the copyright in the work shall, subject to any agreement with the author, belong to Her Majesty and in that case shall continue for the remainder of the calendar year of the first publication of the work and for a period of fifty years following the end of that calendar year.

Subject to this Act, the author of a work shall be the first owner of the copyright therein.

[Repealed, 2012, c. 20, s. 7]