Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42)

Provisions Applicable to both Performers and Sound Recording Makers

Marginal note:Right to remuneration — Canada

• 19 (1) If a sound recording has been published, the performer and maker are entitled, subject to subsection 20(1), to be paid equitable remuneration for its performance in public or its communication to the public by telecommunication, except for a communication in the circumstances referred to in paragraph 15(1.1)(d) or 18(1.1)(a) and any retransmission.

• Marginal note:Right to remuneration — Rome Convention country

  (1.1) If a sound recording has been published, the performer and maker are entitled, subject to subsections 20(1.1) and (2), to be paid equitable remuneration for its performance in public or its communication to the public by telecommunication, except for

  • (a) a communication in the circumstances referred to in paragraph 15(1.1)(d) or 18(1.1)(a), if the person entitled to the equitable remuneration is entitled to the right referred to in those paragraphs for that communication; and

  • (b) any retransmission.

• Marginal note:Right to remuneration — WPPT country

  (1.2) If a sound recording has been published, the performer and maker are entitled, subject to subsections 20(1.2) and (2.1), to be paid equitable remuneration for its performance in public or its communication to the public by telecommunication, except for a communication in the circumstances referred to in paragraph 15(1.1)(d) or 18(1.1)(a) and any retransmission.

• Marginal note:Royalties

  (2) For the purpose of providing the remuneration mentioned in this section, a person who performs a published sound recording in public or communicates it to the public by telecommunication is liable to pay royalties

  • (a) in the case of a sound recording of a musical work, to the collective society authorized under Part VII.1 to collect them; or

  • (b) in the case of a sound recording of a literary work or dramatic work, to either the maker of the sound recording or the performer.

• Marginal note:Division of royalties

  (3) The royalties, once paid pursuant to paragraph (2)(a) or (b), shall be divided so that

  • (a) the performer or performers receive in aggregate fifty per cent; and

  • (b) the maker or makers receive in aggregate fifty per cent.

Marginal note:Deemed publication — Canada

19.1 Despite subsection 2.2(1), a sound recording that has been made available to the public by telecommunication in a way that allows a member of the public to access it from a place and at a time individually chosen by that member of the public, or that has been communicated to the public by telecommunication in that way, is deemed to have been published for the purposes of subsection 19(1).

Marginal note:Deemed publication — WPPT country

19.2 Despite subsection 2.2(1), a sound recording that has been made available to the public by telecommunication in a way that allows a member of the public to access it from a place and at a time individually chosen by that member of the public, or that has been communicated to the public by telecommunication in that way, is deemed to have been published for the purposes of subsection 19(1.2).

Marginal note:Conditions — Canada

• 20 (1) The right to remuneration conferred by subsection 19(1) applies only if

  • (a) the maker was, at the date of the first fixation, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or, if a corporation, had its headquarters in Canada; or

  • (b) all the fixations done for the sound recording occurred in Canada.

• Marginal note:Conditions — Rome Convention country

  (1.1) The right to remuneration conferred by subsection 19(1.1) applies only if

  • (a) the maker was, at the date of the first fixation, a citizen or permanent resident of a Rome Convention country or, if a corporation, had its headquarters in a Rome Convention country; or

  • (b) all the fixations done for the sound recording occurred in a Rome Convention country.

• Marginal note:Conditions — WPPT country

  (1.2) The right to remuneration conferred by subsection 19(1.2) applies only if

  • (a) the maker was, at the date of the first fixation, a citizen or permanent resident of a WPPT country or, if a corporation, had its headquarters in a WPPT country; or

  • (b) all the fixations done for the sound recording occurred in a WPPT country.

• Marginal note:Exception — Rome Convention country

  (2) Despite subsection (1.1), if the Minister is of the opinion that a Rome Convention country does not grant a right to remuneration, similar in scope and duration to that provided by subsection 19(1.1), for the performance in public or the communication to the public of a sound recording whose maker, at the date of its first fixation, was a Canadian citizen or permanent resident within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or, if a corporation, had its headquarters in Canada, the Minister may, by a statement published in the Canada Gazette, limit the scope and duration of the protection for sound recordings whose first fixation is done by a maker who is a citizen or permanent resident of that country or, if a corporation, has its headquarters in that country.

• Marginal note:Exception — WPPT country

  (2.1) Despite subsection (1.2), if the Minister is of the opinion that a WPPT country does not grant a right to remuneration, similar in scope and duration to that provided by subsection 19(1.2), for the performance in public or the communication to the public of a sound recording whose maker, at the date of its first fixation, was a Canadian citizen or permanent resident within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or, if a corporation, had its headquarters in Canada, the Minister may, by a statement published in the Canada Gazette, limit the scope and duration of the protection for sound recordings whose first fixation is done by a maker who is a citizen or permanent resident of that country or, if a corporation, has its headquarters in that country.

• (3) [Repealed, 2020, c. 1, s. 28]

• (4) [Repealed, 2020, c. 1, s. 28]

Rights of Broadcasters

Marginal note:Copyright in communication signals

• 21 (1) Subject to subsection (2), a broadcaster has a copyright in the communication signals that it broadcasts, consisting of the sole right to do the following in relation to the communication signal or any substantial part thereof:

  • (a) to fix it,

  • (b) to reproduce any fixation of it that was made without the broadcaster’s consent,

  • (c) to authorize another broadcaster to retransmit it to the public simultaneously with its broadcast, and

  • (d) in the case of a television communication signal, to perform it in a place open to the public on payment of an entrance fee,

  and to authorize any act described in paragraph (a), (b) or (d).

• Marginal note:Conditions for copyright

  (2) Subsection (1) applies only if the broadcaster

  • (a) at the time of the broadcast, had its headquarters in Canada, in a country that is a WTO Member or in a Rome Convention country; and

  • (b) broadcasts the communication signal from that country.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), if the Minister is of the opinion that a Rome Convention country or a country that is a WTO Member does not grant the right mentioned in paragraph (1)(d), the Minister may, by a statement published in the Canada Gazette, declare that broadcasters that have their headquarters in that country are not entitled to that right.

Reciprocity

Marginal note:Reciprocity

• 22 (1) If the Minister is of the opinion that a country other than a Rome Convention country or a WPPT country grants or has undertaken to grant

  • (a) to performers and to makers of sound recordings, or

  • (b) to broadcasters

  that are Canadian citizens or permanent residents within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or, if corporations, have their headquarters in Canada, as the case may be, whether by treaty, convention, agreement or law, benefits substantially equivalent to those conferred by this Part, the Minister may, by a statement published in the Canada Gazette,

  • (c) grant the benefits conferred by this Part

    • (i) to performers and to makers of sound recordings, or

    • (ii) to broadcasters

    as the case may be, that are citizens, subjects or permanent residents of or, if corporations, have their headquarters in that country, and

  • (d) declare that that country shall, as regards those benefits, be treated as if it were a country to which this Part extends.

• Marginal note:Reciprocity

  (2) If the Minister is of the opinion that a country other than a Rome Convention country or a WPPT country neither grants nor has undertaken to grant

  • (a) to performers, and to makers of sound recordings, or

  • (b) to broadcasters

  that are Canadian citizens or permanent residents within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or, if corporations, have their headquarters in Canada, as the case may be, whether by treaty, convention, agreement or law, benefits substantially equivalent to those conferred by this Part, the Minister may, by a statement published in the Canada Gazette,

  • (c) grant the benefits conferred by this Part to performers, makers of sound recordings or broadcasters that are citizens, subjects or permanent residents of or, if corporations, have their headquarters in that country, as the case may be, to the extent that that country grants that those benefits to performers, makers of sound recordings or broadcasters that are Canadian citizens or permanent residents within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or, if corporations, have their headquarters in Canada, and

  • (d) declare that that country shall, as regards those benefits, be treated as if it were a country to which this Part extends.

• Marginal note:Application of Act

  (3) Any provision of this Act that the Minister specifies in a statement referred to in subsection (1) or (2)

  • (a) applies in respect of performers, makers of sound recordings or broadcasters covered by that statement, as if they were citizens of or, if corporations, had their headquarters in Canada; and

  • (b) applies in respect of a country covered by that statement, as if that country were Canada.

• Marginal note:Application of Act

  (4) Subject to any exceptions that the Minister may specify in a statement referred to in subsection (1) or (2), the other provisions of this Act also apply in the way described in subsection (3).

Term of Rights

Marginal note:Term of copyright — performer’s performance

• 23 (1) Subject to this Act, copyright in a performer’s performance subsists until the end of 50 years after the end of the calendar year in which the performance occurs. However,

  • (a) if the performance is fixed in a sound recording before the copyright expires, the copyright continues until the end of 70 years after the end of the calendar year in which the first fixation of the performance in a sound recording occurs; and

  • (b) if a sound recording in which the performance is fixed is published before the copyright expires, the copyright continues until the earlier of the end of 75 years after the end of the calendar year in which the first such publication occurs and the end of 100 years after the end of the calendar year in which the first fixation of the performance in a sound recording occurs.

• Marginal note:Term of copyright — sound recording

  (1.1) Subject to this Act, copyright in a sound recording subsists until the end of 70 years after the end of the calendar year in which the first fixation of the sound recording occurs. However, if the sound recording is published before the copyright expires, the copyright continues until the earlier of the end of 75 years after the end of the calendar year in which the first publication of the sound recording occurs and the end of 100 years after the end of the calendar year in which that first fixation occurs.

• Marginal note:Term of copyright — communication signal

  (1.2) Subject to this Act, copyright in a communication signal subsists until the end of 50 years after the end of the calendar year in which the communication signal is broadcast.

• Marginal note:Term of right to remuneration

  (2) The rights to remuneration conferred on performers and makers by section 19 have the same terms, respectively, as those provided by subsections (1) and (1.1).

• Marginal note:Application of subsections (1) to (2)

  (3) Subsections (1) to (2) apply whether the fixation, performance or broadcast occurred before or after the coming into force of this section.

• Marginal note:Berne Convention countries, Rome Convention countries, WTO Members

  (4) Where the performer’s performance, sound recording or communication signal meets the requirements set out in section 15, 18 or 21, as the case may be, a country that becomes a Berne Convention country, a Rome Convention country or a WTO Member after the date of the fixation, performance or broadcast is, as of becoming a Berne Convention country, Rome Convention country or WTO Member, as the case may be, deemed to have been such at the date of the fixation, performance or broadcast.

• Marginal note:Where term of protection expired

  (5) Subsection (4) does not confer any protection in Canada where the term of protection in the country referred to in that subsection had expired before that country became a Berne Convention country, Rome Convention country or WTO Member, as the case may be.