Copyright is created and governed by the Canadian Copyright Act and Canadian court decisions.
When any person creates an original “work”, the law of copyright automatically governs who has the right to produce, copy, perform, publish, adapt, translate or telecommunicate that work.
The term “work” means
- any literary, artistic, dramatic and musical work,
- a computer program,
- a translation of a work,
- a compilation of others’ works,
- a recording of any kind, and
- a performance of a work.
Generally (not always), the author of the work is the copyright owner – and that person is said to hold or own the copyright in the work. In other words, they have the right to control if and how the work will be produced, copied, performed, etc.
The rights of the copyright owner, however, are subject to certain user rights, which permit members of the general public to copy, perform etc. works in certain limited circumstances, without the copyright owner’s knowledge or permission.
