26. (1) Where a performer’s performance takes place on or after January 1, 1996 in a country that is a WTO Member, the performer has, as of the date of the performer’s performance, a copyright in the performer’s performance, consisting of the sole right to do the following in relation to the performer’s performance or any substantial part thereof:

• (a) if it is not fixed, to communicate it to the public by telecommunication and to fix it in a sound recording, and

• (b) if it has been fixed in a sound recording without the performer’s authorization, to reproduce the fixation or any substantial part thereof,

and to authorize any such acts.

(2) Where a performer’s performance takes place on or after January 1, 1996 in a country that becomes a WTO Member after the date of the performer’s performance, the performer has the copyright described in subsection (1) as of the date the country becomes a WTO Member.

(3) Where a performer’s performance takes place before January 1, 1996 in a country that is a WTO Member, the performer has, as of January 1, 1996, the sole right to do and to authorize the act described in paragraph (1)(b).

(4) Where a performer’s performance takes place before January 1, 1996 in a country that becomes a WTO Member on or after January 1, 1996, the performer has the right described in subsection (3) as of the date the country becomes a WTO Member.

(5) The rights conferred by this section subsist for the remainder of the calendar year in which the performer’s performance takes place and a period of fifty years following the end of that calendar year.

(6) Subsections 13(4) to (7) apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, in respect of a performer’s rights conferred by this section.

(7) Notwithstanding an assignment of a performer’s right conferred by this section, the performer, as well as the assignee, may

• (a) prevent the reproduction of

  • (i) any fixation of the performer’s performance, or

  • (ii) any substantial part of such a fixation,

  where the fixation was made without the performer’s consent or the assignee’s consent; and

• (b) prevent the importation of any fixation of the performer’s performance, or any reproduction of such a fixation, that the importer knows or ought to have known was made without the performer’s consent or the assignee’s consent.

27. (1) It is an infringement of copyright for any person to do, without the consent of the owner of the copyright, anything that by this Act only the owner of the copyright has the right to do.

(2) It is an infringement of copyright for any person to

• (a) sell or rent out,

• (b) distribute to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright,

• (c) by way of trade distribute, expose or offer for sale or rental, or exhibit in public,

• (d) possess for the purpose of doing anything referred to in paragraphs (a) to (c), or

• (e) import into Canada for the purpose of doing anything referred to in paragraphs (a) to (c),

a copy of a work, sound recording or fixation of a performer’s performance or of a communication signal that the person knows or should have known infringes copyright or would infringe copyright if it had been made in Canada by the person who made it.

(3) In determining whether there is an infringement under subsection (2) in the case of an activity referred to in any of paragraphs (2)(a) to (d) in relation to a copy that was imported in the circumstances referred to in paragraph (2)(e), it is irrelevant whether the importer knew or should have known that the importation of the copy infringed copyright.

(4) It is an infringement of copyright for any person to make or possess a plate that has been specifically designed or adapted for the purpose of making infringing copies of a work or other subject-matter.

(5) It is an infringement of copyright for any person, for profit, to permit a theatre or other place of entertainment to be used for the performance in public of a work or other subject-matter without the consent of the owner of the copyright unless that person was not aware, and had no reasonable ground for suspecting, that the performance would be an infringement of copyright.