What is copyright?

According to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), copyright refers to “the sole right to produce, reproduce, publish or perform a work (or a substantial part of it)“. The act of creating an original work immediately establishes a copyright for the creator. Although it is not necessary to do so, if you register a copyright with CIPO, you will be issued a certificate that can be used in court as evidence that you own the work.

Categories of copyright

A copyrighted work must fall under one of the following categories:

1. Artistic works encompass a diverse range of creative expressions, including visual art, craftsmanship, and architectural designs. Examples include photographs, architectural blueprints, paintings, sculptures, and more.
2. Literary works consist of written or printed material, spanning from books and pamphlets to computer programs and website content.
3. Musical works encompass compositions of music, whether with or without lyrics, including musical notations and songs.
4. Dramatic works include various forms of performance art, such as films, plays, screenplays, and choreographic pieces.
5. Compilations are curated collections or arrangements of artistic, literary, musical, and dramatic works, as well as datasets and databases.

What can be the subject of a copyright?

In Canada, copyright is automatically attached to any original work including:

• • writing
  • music
  • lyrics
  • choreography
  • sculpture
  • engravings
  • photographs
  • drawings
  • maps
  • charts
  • sound recordings
  • art
  • films
  • computer programs
  • architectural works
  • books
  • compilations of works
  • encyclopedias
  • dictionaries
  • paintings and illustrations
  • plays
  • television and radio programs

What are the conditions for copyright?

A work must meet 3 conditions to be protected by copyright:

Originality

• You must use your own skill and judgement to create the work
• The work must be the result of your own creativity

Expression

• Your copyright only protects the way in which you have set down or “expressed” your idea – not the idea itself. Example: Tarzan and The Jungle Book are both based on the same idea – “a boy lives in the jungle” – but are expressed differently so they can both be copyrighted as original works

Fixation

• Works must be “fixed” in a “material format”, such as:
  • paper
  • video or audio recordings
  • hard drives/memory cards

What can’t be the subject of a copyright?

There is no copyright, however, in mere ideas, facts or pure information in any work. The law states that copyright only protects the way in which an idea or information is expressed (that is, its format), not the idea or information itself. For example, information in a copyrighted news story can still be re-published or written differently as film screenplays or books by others so long as these subsequent works don’t copy the wording or manner of the original work.

Effect of a copyright

As mentioned, copyright gives the owner of a work the sole right to produce, reproduce, perform, or publish the work or a substantial part of the work. Copyright law makes it illegal to copy certain types of original works without the permission of the copyright owner. If you infringe upon someone’s copyright, you can be sued in civil court for damages and, under the copyright legislation, you may be subject to a large fine and/or jail term. In most cases, the copyright holder will ask a civil court for an injunction in order to prevent publication of the copies and also will sue for damages suffered (such as lost profits).

For more information, refer to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.

								
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