2 Canadian Copyright

As mentioned, copyright law is a national matter, so let’s get into the specifics for the Canadian context. In Canada we have the Copyright Act. In Canada copyright is applied automatically. There is no need to register, but if you want to you can with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.

In the previous chapter we saw that copyright is meant to protect the rights of creator, and there are some balances for the benefit of society. In other words, it’s meant to incentivize new creations by protecting the rights of the creator while also ensuring that the public can derive benefits from new creations. In Canada, the Copyright Act asserts the rights of the creator by saying:

3(1) For the purposes of this Act, copyright, in relation to a work, means the sole right to produce or reproduce the work or any substantial part thereof in any material form whatever, to perform the work or any substantial part thereof in public or, if the work is unpublished, to publish the work or any substantial part thereof, and includes the sole right

• o (a)to produce, reproduce, perform or publish any translation of the work,
• o …

and to authorize any such acts.

Please note that section 3 of the Act is actually longer than what is quoted here because there are more rights for other formats (dramatic, musical, etc.). However, in this book we’re focusing on the rights that are generally most applicable for research in a university, specifically publications.

Canada is an example of a jurisdiction that recognizes both economic and moral rights. So far we’ve been talking about economic rights, which are activities that are connected to the ability to generate profit from a work (such as publishing). Moral rights in Canada cover the “right to the integrity of the work and, in connection with an act mentioned in section 3, the right, where reasonable in the circumstances, to be associated with the work as its author by name or under a pseudonym and the right to remain anonymous” (Copyright Act, section 14.1). The Copyright Act goes on to explain that “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 (Copyright Act, section 6). These are some of the main protections given to the creator of works protected by copyright.

However, as noted in the previous section, copyright exceptions apply for some uses. These exceptions are intended to provide balance between the rights of the creators and the rights of the public to benefit from new knowledge and resources. In the Canada the copyright exceptions are for research, private study, education, parody or satire. There are also exceptions for criticism or review, and news reporting, but they have additional citation requirements (Copyright Act, section 29). There are also exceptions for making accessible copies for people with perceptual disabilities (Copyright Act, section 32). For more information on how libraries can make accessible copies available, check out this accessibility resource from OCUL.

In the next section we’ll talk about how copyright can be transferred or rights can be licensed, specifically by looking at Creative Commons licenses. But first a Q&A about copyright…

QUESTION: How do I know what jurisdiction applies when I am using someone else’s work?

Generally, the rule of territoriality applies: national laws are limited in their reach to activities taking place within the country. This also means that, generally speaking, the law of the country where a work is used applies to that particular use. For example: if you are a Canadian citizen traveling to Sri Lanka and using a copyrighted work in your PowerPoint presentation, then Sri Lankan copyright law normally applies to your use. With webinars hosting speakers from multiple countries, or PowerPoints presented in multiple countries, it can become complex to determine applicable copyright laws. To avoid confusion, the Creative Commons course recommends using resources that are CC licensed (more on that later!), or creating one’s own content rather than copying other resources.  (2.2 Global Aspects of Copyright by Creative Commons. CC BY 4.0.)

QUESTION: Are there times when I might be the creator of a work, but not the copyright holder by default?

Yes! Two of the most common cases are works created in association with the Government of Canada (unless otherwise specified, copyright in works prepared by or under the direction or control of the Government of Canada (Crown) is owned by the Crown), and works created by employees (where an author/creator is employed, and the work is made as part of that employment, the employer instead of the author/creator is regularly the first owner of the copyright). (About Copyright, Government of Canada). If you are a University of Guelph community member, copyright ownership is subject to the University’s Intellectual Property Policy (Requires SSO), or for University of Guelph Faculty Association (UGFA) members, the UGFA Collective Agreement. If you’re a student, you own copyright in the works you produce as part of your program of study, including works you submit in partial fulfilment of the requirements for completing a degree (Copyright for Students).

Do you have more copyright questions? Check out the University of Guelph’s Copyright FAQs.