Copyright Law In Canada

According to Canadian Copyright law it protects all creator’s creative endeavours by ensuring that only the creator has right to authorize his publication, performance or reproduction (section 3(1)). Copyright applies to all original:

* literary or textual works: books, pamphlets, poems, computer programs
* dramatic works: films, videos, plays, screenplays and scripts
* musical works: compositions consisting of both words and music, or music only (lyrics without music are considered literary works)
* artistic works: paintings, drawings, maps, photographs, and sculptures
* architectural works

Copyright also applies to this subject matter:-

Performer’s performances (section 15); Audio & video recordings such as records, cassettes and CDs (section 18). Broadcast communication signals (section 21).In Canada under copyright laws, protection is automatic: as soon as an original work has been written down, recorded or entered as a computer file, it is immediately copyright-protected. As an evidence that the copyright is registered to the owner (section 53 (2)), a certificate of registration of copyright is also recommended. International agreements also protect Canadian copyrights in most foreign countries.

Copyright protects intellectual property rather than physical property: the text of a book or a song, rather than the actually book or paper it’s printed on. Copyright entitlement legally ends at a certain point .Generally, it acknowledge for the lifetime of the creator, the remainder of the calendar year in which the creator dies, and for 50 years after the end of that calendar year.
Though it is "fair dealing" stipulation, but the Copyright Act does allow individuals or organizations to use original works without such use being considered an infringement: criticism and review, news reporting, and private study or research (section 29). The Act also exempts certain categories of users, such as non-profit educational institutions (section 29.4).
 Copyright Act also affirms the Copyright Board of Canada, an economic regulatory body that initiates the royalties to be paid for the use of copyrighted works (section 66). The Board has the right to supervise agreements between users and licensing bodies, and issue licenses when the copyright owner cannot be located.

The administration of such copyrights is encumbered to a collective administrative society (section 67). A collective society is an organization that administers the rights of several copyright owners, grants permission to use their works, and sets conditions. Collective administration is widespread in Canada, particularly for the rights to mechanical reproduction, reprography rights and musical performances.  

Other government organizations are also involved in the administration of copyright. The Copyright Policy Branch, in the department of Canadian Heritage, works with the Intellectual Property Policy Directorate of Industry Canada. It interfaces with stakeholders and interest group to keep copyright policies up to date addressing, for instance, new developments in technology, such as the Internet.
The law of copyright is not only limited to music or books but also applies to the Internet too, and so most individual works found there are protected: using Internet text or graphics without the permission of the copyright holder, for instance, is an infringement of copyright law.

However, the issue of "streaming" broadcast programming over the Internet is the ambiguous of the legislation. To concentrate on these concerns about Internet retransmission, the Canadian government proposed Bill C-48 in December 2001.

Classroom Provisions of the Canadian Copyright Act

The Canadian Copyright Act is federal legislation that establishes the economic and moral rights of creators to control the publication of their works, receive reward for it, and protect its probity. Since the 1980s, there has been a concerted effort to establish a balance between the rights of copyright holders and the needs of users. In April 1997, Bill C-32 amended the Copyright Act to include exceptions for educators, libraries and museums.
Under section 29, for example, it is not an infringement of copyright for an educational institution (or a person acting under its authority) to:
• copy a work, either mechanically or by manual reproduction, for use as a handout or a projected image
• translate, reproduce or perform material as part of a test or examination
• deliver test material by telecommunications
• play sound recordings such as disc, CD or tapes ( the exemption does not cover films and videos)
• perform a dramatic, literary and musical work in an educational setting before an audience composed primarily of students
Some exemptions carry time limits: educators may
• make a single copy of a news program (excluding documentaries) to play for a student audience within one year — after that time, royalties must be paid.
• recreate a broadcast for educational or training purposes, for up to thirty days after the original broadcast. Again, after a year, the copy must be destroyed, or else royalties must be paid.
The educational institution must keep full records of such recordings, subsequent rights clearance, or erasure of the material.
Research and private study is the another area which has exception in the Copyright Act: although some restrictions apply, it is not an infringement to copy an article published in a magazine ,newspaper, review or other periodical for the purpose of research or private study. (Section 30.2)

Amenities for Musical Works under the Canadian Copyright Act

The Copyright Act of Canada assure the rights of the original artists in all areas of creative attempt Protection for musical works falls under several categories, including:
•    lyrics without music, which fall into the category of literary works
•    compositions consisting of both words and music, or music only
•    sound recordings
•    performances by musicians
•    broadcasters’ communication signals
Copyright laws are not always straightforward. For example, a song may be copyright-protected; but a separate copyright must apply to the medium that contains the song, such as a cassette or a CD, because the two are considered to be different works (section 9).
In Canada, radio stations have copyright-cleared permission to broadcast whatever music they choose — provided that they compensate the composer, music publisher, performer and record producer. For simultaneously retransmit the signal broadcaster can authorize another broadcaster. In the case of television, retransmission includes broadcasting a communication signal in an open public place.
For Music material it’s different. Copying a musical tape for private use is not considered infringement, because a royalty payment to the owners of the song was paid when the blank audio-tape was purchased (section 82).Music copyright is considered to be infringed when material is rented, sold, distributed, traded or even just possessed without the consent of the copyright holder (section 27).
However, some activities are not considered infringement if done for purely private use. The regulatory body, empowered by the Copyright Act to establish royalties to be paid for the use of works, is the Copyright Board of Canada (section 66). Royalty fees are paid to copyright collectives, which represent owners of works who have banded together. One of the largest copyright collectives in Canada is the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN).
SOCAN licenses the public performance and telecommunication of the world’s repository of copyright-protected musical works in Canada, and then distributes royalties to its members and affiliated international societies. Other copyright collectives in Canada range from radio and television programming, to makers of sound recordings.