Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42)

Marginal note:Interoperability of computer programs

• 30.61 (1) It is not an infringement of copyright in a computer program for a person who owns a copy of the computer program that is authorized by the owner of the copyright, or has a licence to use a copy of the computer program, to reproduce the copy if

  • (a) they reproduce the copy for the sole purpose of obtaining information that would allow the person to make the program and another computer program interoperable; and

  • (b) they do not use or disclose that information, except as necessary to make the program and another computer program interoperable or to assess that interoperability.

• Marginal note:No limitation

  (2) In the case where that information is used or disclosed as necessary to make another computer program interoperable with the program, subsection (1) applies even if the other computer program incorporates the information and is then sold, rented or otherwise distributed.

Encryption Research

Marginal note:Encryption research

• 30.62 (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), it is not an infringement of copyright for a person to reproduce a work or other subject-matter for the purposes of encryption research if

  • (a) it would not be practical to carry out the research without making the copy;

  • (b) the person has lawfully obtained the work or other subject-matter; and

  • (c) the person has informed the owner of the copyright in the work or other subject-matter.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the person uses or discloses information obtained through the research to commit an act that is an offence under the Criminal Code.

• Marginal note:Limitation  — computer program

  (3) Subsection (1) applies with respect to a computer program only if, in the event that the research reveals a vulnerability or a security flaw in the program and the person intends to make the vulnerability or security flaw public, the person gives adequate notice of the vulnerability or security flaw and of their intention to the owner of copyright in the program. However, the person need not give that adequate notice if, in the circumstances, the public interest in having the vulnerability or security flaw made public without adequate notice outweighs the owner’s interest in receiving that notice.

Security

Marginal note:Security

• 30.63 (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), it is not an infringement of copyright for a person to reproduce a work or other subject-matter for the sole purpose, with the consent of the owner or administrator of a computer, computer system or computer network, of assessing the vulnerability of the computer, system or network or of correcting any security flaws.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the person uses or discloses information obtained through the assessment or correction to commit an act that is an offence under the Criminal Code.

• Marginal note:Limitation  — computer program

  (3) Subsection (1) applies with respect to a computer program only if, in the event that the assessment or correction reveals a vulnerability or a security flaw in the program and the person intends to make the vulnerability or security flaw public, the person gives adequate notice of the vulnerability or security flaw and of their intention to the owner of copyright in the program. However, the person need not give that adequate notice if, in the circumstances, the public interest in having the vulnerability or security flaw made public without adequate notice outweighs the owner’s interest in receiving that notice.

Incidental Inclusion

Marginal note:Incidental use

30.7 It is not an infringement of copyright to incidentally and not deliberately

• (a) include a work or other subject-matter in another work or other subject-matter; or

• (b) do any act in relation to a work or other subject-matter that is incidentally and not deliberately included in another work or other subject-matter.

Temporary Reproductions for Technological Processes

Marginal note:Temporary reproductions

30.71 It is not an infringement of copyright to make a reproduction of a work or other subject-matter if

• (a) the reproduction forms an essential part of a technological process;

• (b) the reproduction’s only purpose is to facilitate a use that is not an infringement of copyright; and

• (c) the reproduction exists only for the duration of the technological process.

Ephemeral Recordings

Marginal note:Ephemeral recordings

• 30.8 (1) It is not an infringement of copyright for a programming undertaking to fix or reproduce in accordance with this section a performer’s performance or work, other than a cinematographic work, that is performed live or a sound recording that is performed at the same time as the performer’s performance or work, if the undertaking

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

  • (b) makes the fixation or the reproduction itself, for its own broadcasts;

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

  • (d) does not cause the fixation or 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 programming undertaking must record the dates of the making and destruction of all fixations and reproductions and any other prescribed information about the fixation or reproduction, and keep the record current.

• Marginal note:Right of access by copyright owners

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

• Marginal note:Destruction

  (4) The programming undertaking must destroy the fixation or reproduction within thirty days after making it, unless

  • (a) the copyright owner authorizes its retention; or

  • (b) it is deposited in an archive, in accordance with subsection (6).

• Marginal note:Royalties

  (5) Where the copyright owner authorizes the fixation or reproduction to be retained after the thirty days, the programming undertaking must pay any applicable royalty.

• Marginal note:Archive

  (6) Where the programming undertaking considers a fixation or reproduction to be of an exceptional documentary character, the undertaking may, with the consent of an official archive, deposit it in the official archive and must notify the copyright owner, within thirty days, of the deposit of the fixation or reproduction.

• Marginal note:Definition of official archive

  (7) In subsection (6), official archive means the Library and Archives of Canada or any archive established under the law of a province for the preservation of the official archives of the province.

• Marginal note:Application

  (8) This section does not apply where a licence is available from a collective society to make the fixation or reproduction of the performer’s performance, work or sound recording.

• Marginal note:Telecommunications by networks

  (9) A broadcasting undertaking, as defined in the Broadcasting Act, may make a single reproduction of a fixation or reproduction made by a programming undertaking and communicate it to the public by telecommunication, within the period referred to in subsection (4), if the broadcasting undertaking meets the conditions set out in subsection (1) and is part of a prescribed network that includes the programming undertaking.

• Marginal note:Limitations

  (10) The reproduction and communication to the public by telecommunication must be made

  • (a) in accordance with subsections (2) to (6); and

  • (b) within thirty days after the day on which the programming undertaking made the fixation or reproduction.

• Marginal note:Definition of programming undertaking

  (11) In this section, programming undertaking means

  • (a) a programming undertaking, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Broadcasting Act, that is carried on lawfully under that Act;

  • (b) a programming undertaking described in paragraph (a) that originates programs within a network, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Broadcasting Act; or

  • (c) a distribution undertaking, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Broadcasting Act, that is carried on lawfully under that Act, in respect of the programs that it originates.

  For greater certainty, it does not include an online undertaking, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Broadcasting Act.

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).