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Copyright Act

Version of section 7 from 2002-12-31 to 2022-12-29:


Marginal note:Term of copyright in posthumous works

  •  (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 shall subsist until publication, or performance in public or communication to the public by telecommunication, whichever may first happen, for 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 fifty years following the end of that calendar year.

  • Marginal note:Application of subsection (1)

    (2) Subsection (1) applies only where the work in question was published or performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication, as the case may be, before the coming into force of this section.

  • Marginal note:Transitional provision

    (3) Where

    • (a) a work has not, at the coming into force of this section, been published or performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication,

    • (b) subsection (1) would apply to that work if it had been published or performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication before the coming into force of this section, and

    • (c) the relevant death referred to in subsection (1) occurred during the period of fifty years immediately before the coming into force of this section,

    copyright shall subsist in the work for the remainder of the calendar year in which this section comes into force and for a period of fifty years following the end of that calendar year, whether or not the work is published or performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication after the coming into force of this section.

  • Marginal note:Transitional provision

    (4) Where

    • (a) a work has not, at the coming into force of this section, been published or performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication,

    • (b) subsection (1) would apply to that work if it had been published or performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication before the coming into force of this section, and

    • (c) the relevant death referred to in subsection (1) occurred more than fifty years before the coming into force of this section,

    copyright shall subsist in the work for the remainder of the calendar year in which this section comes into force and for a period of five years following the end of that calendar year, whether or not the work is published or performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication after the coming into force of this section.

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-42, s. 7
  • 1993, c. 44, s. 58
  • 1997, c. 24, s. 6

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