Tony is not a lawyer. These learning sessions do not constitute legal advice and they do not create an attorney-client relationship. Besides, Heather and Clarissa wrote most of this.
Relevant Cheatsheets
What is Copyright?
- The sole right to produce or reproduce a work or a substantial part of it in any form.
- The right to perform the work or any substantial part of it.
- If the work is unpublished, copyright includes the right to publish the work or any substantial part of it.
See:
- A guide to copyright (Gov. of Canada)
- Canadian Intellectual Property Office
Copyright Protects:
- literary works
- e.g. books, pamphlets, computer programs and other works consisting of text
- dramatic works
- e.g. films, plays, screenplays and scripts
- musical works
- artistic works
- e.g. paintings, drawings, maps, photographs, sculptures and plans
- performers’ performances
- sound recordings
- communication signals (radio waves)
Registration
Registration is not required for protection in Canada. Copyright exists automatically when an original work or other subject-matter is created, provided the conditions set out in the Copyright Act have been met.
Length of Copyright
- Lasts for the life of the author, plus
- the remainder of the calendar year in which the author dies, plus
- 50 years following the end of that calendar year.
In other words, protection will expire on December 31st of the 50th year after the author dies. If a corporation is the author, copyright lasts for 50 years after publication.
Copyright Mark
- Marking a work with the copyright symbol is not mandatory under Canadian copyright law but some other countries do require it.
- The marking consists of the symbol ©, the name of the copyright owner and the year of first publication.
- Marking a work with this symbol serves as a general reminder to everyone that the work is protected by copyright. You can use this symbol even if the work is not registered.
Fair Dealing
In Canada, it does not infringe on copyright to use copyright material for these purposes:
- research
- private study
- education
- parody
- satire
- criticism
- review
- news reporting
In the US, they have Fair Use; it’s similar but more flexible.
Considerations for Fair Dealing
- The purpose of the dealing;
- Is it for research, private study, criticism, review or news reporting, education, parody, satire? (research for profit ok)
- The character of the dealing;
- How many copies were made?
- Were these copies distributed widely or to a limited group of people?
- Was the copy destroyed after being used?
- The amount of the dealing;
- How much of the work was used?
- What was the importance of the infringed work?
- Alternatives to the dealing;
- Was a “non-copyrighted equivalent of the work” available to the user?
- Was the dealing “reasonably necessary to achieve the ultimate purpose”?
- The nature of the work; and
- Copying from a work that has never been published could be more fair than from a published work (unless confidential).
- The effect of the dealing on the work.
- Is it likely to a!ect the market of the original work?
Public Domain
When a work is declared in the public domain, it is free for use by anyone for any purpose without restriction under copyright law. Public domain is the purest form of open/free, since no one owns or controls the material in any way.
A work is declared into the public domain:
- 50 years after publication if it was subject to Crown Copyright;
- 50 years after the death of its creator (on Dec 31st);
- 50 years after publication where the creator is unknown, or (if not published) 75 years after its creation;
- at the discretion of the creator.
Source: Wikipedia via Creative Commons
In the U.S.: everything published before January 1, 1923 or 70 years after author’s death.