Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42)

Marginal note:Application and term

• 17.2 (1) Subsection 17.1(1) applies only in respect of a performer’s performance that occurs after the coming into force of that subsection. The moral rights subsist for the same term as the copyright in that performer’s performance.

• Marginal note:Succession

  (2) The moral rights in respect of a performer’s performance pass, on the performer’s death, to

  • (a) the person to whom those rights are specifically bequeathed;

  • (b) if there is not a specific bequest of those moral rights and the performer dies testate in respect of the copyright in the performer’s performance, the person to whom that copyright is bequeathed; or

  • (c) if there is not a person as described in paragraph (a) or (b), the person entitled to any other property in respect of which the performer dies intestate.

• Marginal note:Subsequent succession

  (3) Subsection (2) applies, with any modifications that the circumstances require, on the death of any person who holds moral rights.

Rights of Sound Recording Makers

Marginal note:Copyright in sound recordings

• 18. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the maker of a sound recording has a copyright in the sound recording, consisting of the sole right to do the following in relation to the sound recording or any substantial part thereof:

  • (a) to publish it for the first time,

  • (b) to reproduce it in any material form, and

  • (c) to rent it out,

  and to authorize any such acts.

• Marginal note:Copyright in sound recordings

  (1.1) Subject to subsections (2.1) and (2.2), a sound recording maker’s copyright in the sound recording also includes the sole right to do the following acts in relation to the sound recording or any substantial part of it and to authorize any of those acts:

  • (a) to make it available to the public by telecommunication in a way that allows a member of the public to have access to it from a place and at a time individually chosen by that member of the public and to communicate it to the public by telecommunication in that way; and

  • (b) if it is in the form of a tangible object, to sell or otherwise transfer ownership of the tangible object, as long as that ownership has never previously been transferred in or outside Canada with the authorization of the owner of the copyright in the sound recording.

• Marginal note:Conditions for copyright

  (2) Subsection (1) applies only if

  • (a) the maker of the sound recording was a Canadian citizen or permanent resident within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, or a citizen or permanent resident of a Berne Convention country, a Rome Convention country or a country that is a WTO Member, or, if a corporation, had its headquarters in one of the foregoing countries,

    • (i) at the date of the first fixation, or

    • (ii) if that first fixation was extended over a considerable period, during any substantial part of that period; or

  • (b) the first publication of the sound recording in such a quantity as to satisfy the reasonable demands of the public occurred in any country referred to in paragraph (a).

• Marginal note:Conditions for copyright

  (2.1) Subsection (1.1) applies if

  • (a) at the time of the first fixation or, if that first fixation was extended over a considerable period, during any substantial part of that period, the maker of the sound recording

    • (i) was a Canadian citizen or permanent resident as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, or

    • (ii) had its headquarters in Canada, in the case of a corporation; or

  • (b) the first publication of the sound recording in a quantity sufficient to satisfy the reasonable demands of the public occurred in Canada.

• Marginal note:Publication

  (3) The first publication is deemed to have occurred in a country referred to in paragraph (2)(a) notwithstanding that it in fact occurred previously elsewhere, if the interval between those two publications does not exceed thirty days.