Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42)

AMENDMENTS NOT IN FORCE

• — 2022, c. 10, s. 276

  • 276 Section 6 of the Copyright Act is replaced by the following:

    • Term of copyright

      6 Except as otherwise expressly provided by this Act, the term for which copyright subsists is the life of the author, the remainder of the calendar year in which the author dies, and a period of 70 years following the end of that calendar year.

• — 2022, c. 10, s. 277

  • 277 Subsection 6.2(2) of the Act is replaced by the following:

    • Identity of author commonly known

      (2) If, during any term referred to in subsection (1), the identity of one or more of the authors becomes commonly known, copyright subsists for the life of whichever of those authors dies last, the remainder of the calendar year in which that author dies and a period of 70 years following the end of that calendar year.

• — 2022, c. 10, s. 278

  • 278 Section 7 of the Act is replaced by the following:

    • Term of copyright in certain posthumous works

      • 7 (1) Subject to subsection (2), in the case of a literary, dramatic or musical work, or an engraving, in which copyright subsists at the date of the death of the author — or, in the case of a work of joint authorship, at or immediately before the date of the death of the author who dies last — but which has not been published or, in the case of a lecture or a dramatic or musical work, been performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication, before that date, copyright subsists for the longer of

        • (a) the period until publication, or performance in public or communication to the public by telecommunication, whichever may first happen, as well as the remainder of the calendar year of the publication or of the performance in public or communication to the public by telecommunication, as the case may be, and for a period of 50 years following the end of that calendar year, and

        • (b) the life of the author — or, in the case of a work of joint authorship, the life of the author who dies last — as well as the remainder of the calendar year in which that author dies and a period of 70 years following the end of the calendar year in which that author dies.

      • Application of subsection (1)

        (2) Subsection (1) applies only if the work in question was published or performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication, as the case may be, before December 31, 1998.

      • Transitional provision

        (3) If a work was not published or performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication before December 31, 1998, if subsection (1) would apply to that work had it been published or performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication before that day, and if the relevant death referred to in subsection (1) occurred during the period of 50 years immediately before that day, copyright subsists in the work, whether or not the work is published or performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication on or after that day,

        • (a) until December 31, 2048; or

        • (b) for the life of the author — or, in the case of a work of joint authorship, the life of the author who dies last — as well as the remainder of the calendar year in which that author dies and a period of 70 years following the end of that calendar year, if that period ends after December 31, 2048.

• — 2022, c. 10, s. 279

  • 279 Section 9 of the Act is replaced by the following:

    • Cases of joint authorship

      9 In the case of a work of joint authorship, except as provided in section 6.2 or subsection 7(1) or (3), copyright subsists during the life of the author who dies last, for the remainder of the calendar year in which that author dies, and for a period of 70 years following the end of that calendar year, and references in this Act to the period after the expiration of any specified number of years from the end of the calendar year of the death of the author shall be construed as references to the period after the expiration of the like number of years from the end of the calendar year of the death of the author who dies last.

• — 2022, c. 10, s. 280

  • No revival of copyright

    280 Section 6, subsections 6.2(2) and 7(1) and (3) and section 9 of the Copyright Act, as enacted by sections 276 to 279, do not have the effect of reviving the copyright in any work in which the copyright had expired before the day on which sections 276 to 279 come into force.