Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42)

Marginal note:Ephemeral recordings — broadcasting undertaking

• 30.9 (1) It is not an infringement of copyright for a broadcasting undertaking to reproduce in accordance with this section a sound recording, or a performer’s performance or work that is embodied in a sound recording, solely for the purpose of their broadcasting, if the undertaking

  • (a) owns the copy of the sound recording, performer’s performance or work and that copy is authorized by the owner of the copyright, or has a licence to use the copy;

  • (b) is authorized to communicate the sound recording, performer’s performance or work to the public by telecommunication;

  • (c) makes the reproduction itself, for its own broadcasts;

  • (d) does not synchronize the reproduction with all or part of another recording, performer’s performance or work; and

  • (e) does not cause the reproduction to be used in an advertisement intended to sell or promote, as the case may be, a product, service, cause or institution.

• Marginal note:Record keeping

  (2) The broadcasting undertaking must record the dates of the making and destruction of all reproductions and any other prescribed information about the reproduction, and keep the record current.

• Marginal note:Right of access by copyright owners

  (3) The broadcasting undertaking must make the record referred to in subsection (2) available to owners of copyright in the sound recordings, performer’s performances or works, or their representatives, within twenty-four hours after receiving a request.

• Marginal note:Destruction

  (4) The broadcasting undertaking must destroy the reproduction when it no longer possesses the sound recording, or performer’s performance or work embodied in the sound recording, or its licence to use the sound recording, performer’s performance or work expires, or at the latest within 30 days after making the reproduction, unless the copyright owner authorizes the reproduction to be retained.

• Marginal note:Royalty

  (5) If the copyright owner authorizes the reproduction to be retained, the broadcasting undertaking must pay any applicable royalty.

• (6) [Repealed, 2012, c. 20, s. 34]

• Marginal note:Definition of broadcasting undertaking

  (7) In this section, broadcasting undertaking means a broadcasting undertaking, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Broadcasting Act, that holds a broadcasting licence issued by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission under that Act. For greater certainty, it does not include an online undertaking, as defined in that subsection 2(1).

Retransmission

Marginal note:Interpretation

• 31 (1) In this section,

  new media retransmitter

  new media retransmitter means a person whose retransmission would be lawful under the Broadcasting Act — as that Act read immediately before the day on which section 31.1 of that Act comes into force — only by reason of the Exemption order for digital media broadcasting undertakings, issued by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission as the appendix to Broadcasting Order CRTC 2012-409, as it read immediately before that day; (retransmetteur de nouveaux médias)

  retransmitter

  retransmitter means a person who performs a function comparable to that of a cable retransmission system, but does not include a new media retransmitter; (retransmetteur)

  signal

  signal means a signal that carries a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work and is transmitted for free reception by the public by a terrestrial radio or terrestrial television station. (signal)

• Marginal note:Retransmission of local and distant signals

  (2) It is not an infringement of copyright for a retransmitter to communicate to the public by telecommunication any literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work if

  • (a) the communication is a retransmission of a local or distant signal;

  • (b) the retransmission is lawful under the Broadcasting Act;

  • (c) the signal is retransmitted simultaneously and without alteration, except as otherwise required or permitted by or under the laws of Canada;

  • (d) in the case of the retransmission of a distant signal, the retransmitter has paid any royalties, and complied with any terms and conditions, fixed under this Act; and

  • (e) the retransmitter complies with the applicable conditions, if any, referred to in paragraph (3)(b).

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (3) The Governor in Council may make regulations

  • (a) defining “local signal” and “distant signal” for the purposes of subsection (2); and

  • (b) prescribing conditions for the purposes of paragraph (2)(e), and specifying whether any such condition applies to all retransmitters or only to a class of retransmitter.

Network Services

Marginal note:Network services

• 31.1 (1) A person who, in providing services related to the operation of the Internet or another digital network, provides any means for the telecommunication or the reproduction of a work or other subject-matter through the Internet or that other network does not, solely by reason of providing those means, infringe copyright in that work or other subject-matter.

• Marginal note:Incidental acts

  (2) Subject to subsection (3), a person referred to in subsection (1) who caches the work or other subject-matter, or does any similar act in relation to it, to make the telecommunication more efficient does not, by virtue of that act alone, infringe copyright in the work or other subject-matter.

• Marginal note:Conditions for application

  (3) Subsection (2) does not apply unless the person, in respect of the work or other subject-matter,

  • (a) does not modify it, other than for technical reasons;

  • (b) ensures that any directions related to its caching or the doing of any similar act, as the case may be, that are specified in a manner consistent with industry practice by whoever made it available for telecommunication through the Internet or another digital network, and that lend themselves to automated reading and execution, are read and executed; and

  • (c) does not interfere with the use of technology that is lawful and consistent with industry practice in order to obtain data on the use of the work or other subject-matter.

• Marginal note:Hosting

  (4) Subject to subsection (5), a person who, for the purpose of allowing the telecommunication of a work or other subject-matter through the Internet or another digital network, provides digital memory in which another person stores the work or other subject-matter does not, by virtue of that act alone, infringe copyright in the work or other subject-matter.

• Marginal note:Condition for application

  (5) Subsection (4) does not apply in respect of a work or other subject-matter if the person providing the digital memory knows of a decision of a court of competent jurisdiction to the effect that the person who has stored the work or other subject-matter in the digital memory infringes copyright by making the copy of the work or other subject-matter that is stored or by the way in which he or she uses the work or other subject-matter.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (6) Subsections (1), (2) and (4) do not apply in relation to an act that constitutes an infringement of copyright under subsection 27(2.3).

Persons with Perceptual Disabilities

Marginal note:Reproduction in alternate format

• 32 (1) It is not an infringement of copyright for a person with a perceptual disability, for a person acting at the request of such a person or for a non-profit organization acting for the benefit of such a person to

  • (a) reproduce a literary, musical, artistic or dramatic work, other than a cinematographic work, in a format specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability;

  • (a.1) fix a performer’s performance of a literary, musical, artistic or dramatic work, other than a cinematographic work, in a format specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability;

  • (a.2) reproduce a sound recording, or a fixation of a performer’s performance referred to in paragraph (a.1), in a format specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability;

  • (b) translate, adapt or reproduce in sign language a literary or dramatic work, other than a cinematographic work, in a format specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability;

  • (b.1) provide a person with a perceptual disability with, or provide such a person with access to, a work or other subject-matter to which any of paragraphs (a) to (b) applies, in a format specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability, and do any other act that is necessary for that purpose; or

  • (c) perform in public a literary or dramatic work, other than a cinematographic work, in sign language, either live or in a format specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the work or other subject-matter is commercially available, within the meaning of paragraph (a) of the definition commercially available in section 2, in a format specially designed to meet the needs of the person with a perceptual disability referred to in that subsection.

• (3) [Repealed, 2016, c. 4, s. 1]

Marginal note:Print disability  —  outside Canada

• 32.01 (1) Subject to this section, it is not an infringement of copyright for a non-profit organization acting for the benefit of persons with a print disability to do any of the following:

  • (a) for the purpose of doing any of the acts set out in paragraph (b),

    • (i) reproduce a literary, musical, artistic or dramatic work, other than a cinematographic work, in a format specially designed for persons with a print disability,

    • (ii) fix a performer’s performance of a literary, musical, artistic or dramatic work, other than a cinematographic work, in a format specially designed for persons with a print disability, or

    • (iii) reproduce a sound recording, or a fixation of a performer’s performance referred to in subparagraph (ii), in a format specially designed for persons with a print disability;

  • (b) provide either of the following with, or provide either of the following with access to, a work or other subject-matter to which any of subparagraphs (a)(i) to (iii) applies, in a format specially designed for persons with a print disability, and do any other act that is necessary for that purpose:

    • (i) a non-profit organization, in a country other than Canada, acting for the benefit of persons with a print disability in that country, or

    • (ii) a person with a print disability, in a country other than Canada, who has made a request to be provided with, or provided with access to, the work or other subject-matter through a non-profit organization acting for the benefit of persons with a print disability in that country.

• Marginal note:Available in other country

  (2) Paragraph (1)(b) does not apply if the work or other subject-matter, in the format specially designed for persons with a print disability, is available in the other country within a reasonable time and for a reasonable price and may be located in that country with reasonable effort.

• Marginal note:Marrakesh Treaty country

  (3) An injunction is the only remedy that the owner of the copyright in the work or other subject-matter has against a non-profit organization relying on the exception set out in paragraph (1)(b) if

  • (a) the other country referred to in that paragraph is a Marrakesh Treaty country; and

  • (b) the non-profit organization infringes copyright by reason only that the work or other subject-matter, in the format described in subsection (2), is available, and may be located, as described in that subsection.

  The owner of the copyright bears the burden of demonstrating that the work or other subject-matter, in the format described in subsection (2), is available, and may be located, as described in that subsection.

• Marginal note:Not Marrakesh Treaty country

  (3.1) An injunction is the only remedy that the owner of the copyright in the work or other subject-matter has against a non-profit organization relying on the exception set out in paragraph (1)(b) if

  • (a) the other country referred to in that paragraph is not a Marrakesh Treaty country;

  • (b) the non-profit organization infringes copyright by reason only that the work or other subject-matter, in the format described in subsection (2), is available, and may be located, as described in that subsection; and

  • (c) the non-profit organization demonstrates that it had reasonable grounds to believe that the work or other subject-matter, in the format described in subsection (2), was not available, and could not be located, as described in that subsection.

• Marginal note:Royalty

  (4) A non-profit organization relying on the exception set out in subsection (1) shall pay, in accordance with the regulations, any royalty established under the regulations to the copyright owner.

• Marginal note:If copyright owner cannot be located

  (5) If the organization cannot locate the copyright owner, despite making reasonable efforts to do so, the organization shall pay, in accordance with the regulations, any royalty established under the regulations to a collective society.

• Marginal note:Reports

  (6) A non-profit organization relying on the exception set out in subsection (1) shall submit reports to an authority, in accordance with the regulations, on the organization’s activities under this section.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (7) The Governor in Council may make regulations

  • (a) requiring that, before a non-profit organization provides, or provides access to, a work or other subject-matter under paragraph (1)(b), the organization enter into a contract with respect to the use of the work or other subject-matter with, as the case may be, the recipient non-profit organization or the non-profit organization through which the request was made;

  • (b) respecting the form and content of such contracts;

  • (c) respecting any royalties to be paid under subsections (4) and (5);

  • (d) respecting to which collective society a royalty is payable in relation to works or other subject-matter, or classes of works or other subject-matter, for the purposes of subsection (5);

  • (e) respecting what constitutes reasonable efforts for the purposes of subsection (5); and

  • (f) respecting the reports to be made, and the authorities to which the reports are to be submitted, under subsection (6).

• Marginal note:Definitions

  (8) The following definitions apply in this section.

  Marrakesh Treaty country

  Marrakesh Treaty country means a country that is a party to the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled, done at Marrakesh on June 27, 2013. (pays partie au Traité de Marrakech)

  print disability

  print disability means a disability that prevents or inhibits a person from reading a literary, musical, artistic or dramatic work in its original format and includes such a disability resulting from

  • (a) severe or total impairment of sight 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 de lecture des imprimés)