Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42)

Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Copyright Act.

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

2 In this Act,

architectural work

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

architectural work of art

architectural work of art[Repealed, 1993, c. 44, s. 53]

artistic work

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

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

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

book

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

• (a) a pamphlet,

• (b) a newspaper, review, magazine or other periodical,

• (c) a map, chart, plan or sheet music where the map, chart, plan or sheet music is separately published, and

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

broadcaster

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

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

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

cinematograph

cinematograph[Repealed, 1997, c. 24, s. 1]

cinematographic work

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

collective society

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

• (a) 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

• (b) 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

collective work means

• (a) an encyclopaedia, dictionary, year book or similar work,

• (b) a newspaper, review, magazine or similar periodical, and

• (c) 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

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

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

• (b) 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

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

compilation

compilation means

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

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

computer program

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

copyright means the rights described in

• (a) section 3, in the case of a work,

• (b) sections 15 and 26, in the case of a performer’s performance,

• (c) section 18, in the case of a sound recording, or

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

country

country includes any territory; (pays)

defendant

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

delivery

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

dramatic work

dramatic work includes

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

• (b) any cinematographic work, and

• (c) any compilation of dramatic works; (oeuvre dramatique)

educational institution

educational institution means

• (a) 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,

• (b) 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,

• (c) 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

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

engravings

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

every original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work

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

exclusive distributor means, in relation to a book, a person who

• (a) 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

  • (i) the only distributor of the book in Canada or any part of Canada, or

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

• (b) meets the criteria established by regulations made under section 2.6,

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)

Her Majesty’s Realms and Territories

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

infringing

infringing means

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

• (b) 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,

• (c) 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

• (d) 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.

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)

lecture

lecture includes address, speech and sermon; (conférence)

legal representatives

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

library, archive or museum means

• (a) 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

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

literary work

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

maker

maker means

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

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

Minister

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

moral rights

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

musical work

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

perceptual disability

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

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

• (b) the inability to hold or manipulate a book, or

• (c) an impairment relating to comprehension; (déficience perceptuelle)

performance

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

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

• (a) 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,

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

• (c) 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

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

plaintiff

plaintiff includes an applicant; (Version anglaise seulement)

plate

plate includes

• (a) 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

• (b) 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

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

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

Rome Convention country

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

sculpture includes a cast or model; (sculpture)

sound recording

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

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

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

UCC country

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

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

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

work of joint authorship

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

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

WPPT country

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

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)