A Critical Analysis of Copyright Laws in Canada

Copyright is the exclusive legal right given to a creator to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something. Copyright is divided into seven categories: literary work, dramatic work, artistic work, musical work, sound recording, performer’s performance, and communication signal. The Copyright Act of Canada is a federal statute that governs copyright laws in Canada. It was first passed in 1921 and in summary, prohibits others from copying one’s work without their permission. Copyright laws in Canada are necessary because they protect the rights of the creator, control when and how one’s work can be copied and distributed, and prevent others from using one’s work without permission.

A creation such as a song, a book, a recorded performance, a painting, and even an e-mail is considered a valuable piece of work. No matter what the value is, Canadian law protects all original works as long as the conditions set out in the Copyright Act are met.

This means that the author must be, at the date of the making of the work, a citizen of a treaty country. To maximize international protection, it is recommended by the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada that the work be marked and registered. When a person has copyright, he/she has the sole right to generate or duplicate their work in any form until 50 years after the death of the creator.

A very significant right given to the owner of Canadian copyright is the right to reproduce their work in any form.

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Adding to that, the owner of Canadian copyright in a work has the right to stop others from reproducing their work illegally. It is up to the creator to take additional steps to let people know their work is copyrighted. There are several steps that can be taken to reduce the risk of others copying a creator’s work. When a creator is creating a piece of work, it is recommended they use a clear copyright notice on their site, include a watermark, and use a Creative Common License which is used when an author wants to give people the right to share, use, and add on to work they have created. It is in the hands of the creator to take these steps to have control over their work.

In Canada, when a person creates a piece of original work, that work is automatically protected. However, it is sometimes difficult to control when and how a piece of work can be copied and distributed when there are so many people copying work without permission. The copying, distributing, or sharing of copyrighted works is considered “copyright infringement”, “pirating”, or “illegal file sharing” and is a violation of the federal law, the Copyright Act, and, in a student’s case, the student code of conduct. Section 34 of the Copyright Act states that specific penalties will be decided by the court. Section 35 states that an infringer is liable for the financial gain made through infringement, and “such damages to the owner of the copyright as the owner has suffered due to the infringement”.

Copyright infringement can be costly, embarrassing, and even criminal. To avoid violating a copyright, the author’s permission is necessary before using their ideas. If someone cannot get permission, they must restate their ideas in their own words.

In summary, copyright laws in Canada do the best they can to protect an author’s original work and there are multiple steps that can be taken to decrease the risk of copyright. Copyright laws in Canada are necessary and should continue to protect the rights of the creator, control when and how one’s work can be copied and distributed, and prevent others from using one’s work without permission. Copyright law has two jobs. It provides rights to authors in order to protect their work and also promotes creativity and learning. In the words of Esther Dyson, “I think copyright is moral, proper. I think a creator has the right to control the disposition of his or her works – I actually believe that the financial issue is less important than the integrity of the work, the attribution, that kind of stuff.” In conclusion, Canada’s copyright laws should stay the way they are.