A Guide to Copyrights: Additional Information

A Guide To Copyrights (PDF - 3.1 KB - 25 pages)

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Please note: Due to the recent changes to regulations that came into force on June 2, 2007, the publication A Guide to Copyrights is currently being updated. For more information and to receive these updates, please contact us. We apologize for the inconvenience.

• Agreements: assignments and licences
• Royalties and tariffs
• Collectives
• Performing rights societies
• Government publications
• For more information

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Agreements: assignments and licences

As the owner of a copyright, you may confer your rights to produce or reproduce a creative work to other people through a legal agreement. There are many kinds of agreements, with the main types being assignments and licences.

An assignment occurs when you transfer part, or all, of your rights to another party. The assignment may be for the whole term of the copyright, or for a certain part of it. In this case, you have given up your rights for a certain part of the copyright, or for the whole term of the copyright. You do not have to register your assignment with the Copyright Office, but it is wise to do so. Suppose the original copyright owner does assign the same rights to two separate parties for the same work. If one party does not register its assignment, the assignment that was registered will be considered the valid one.

A licence gives someone else permission to use your work for certain purposes and under certain conditions, but you still retain ownership. You have not given up your rights.

To be valid, an assignment or licence must be inwriting and signed by you, the owner.

Assignments and licences which are considered "grants of interest" in a copyright, may be registered with the Copyright Office. All you have to do is send a certified copy of the original agreement along with the prescribed fee. Registration takes about three weeks. The Copyright Office will retain a copy of the documentation and return your original documentation along with a certificate of registration.

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Royalties and tariffs

Royalties are sums paid to copyright owners as commission for sales of their works or permission to use them. For example, a musician is entitled to a royalty every time a radio station publicly plays his or her record. You do not have to pay royalties for private performance, such as playing music in your home. But you do if you are holding a dance or concert, since this is considered a public performance. In many cases, the concert hall, hotel, or other facility will have already made the necessary arrangements for paying royalties.

Tariffs are set fees that users must pay for using certain copyright material. For example, cable companies pay tariffs for permission to transmit programs. Both tariffs and royalties account for many business transactions every day. To help regulate this complex and growing sector of the economy, the Canadian government has set up a public tribunal known as the Copyright Board. This Board has a number of responsibilities under the Copyright Act, such as:

• reviewing and approving fees set by the Canadian performing rights society, SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada);
• setting tariffs for cable retransmission;
• arbitrating tariffs if there is a disagreement between a licensing body and another party;
• reviewing and approving fees for the public performance and telecommunication to the public of sound recordings. These fees are paid by broadcasters and other public users of music to the makers of sound recordings and the performers whose performances are recorded on those sound recordings;
• setting the amount of a levy on all blank audio recording media such as blank tapes and cassettes which are made or imported, and sold in Canada. The proceeds from this levy are paid to eligible composers, lyricists, performers and makers of sound recordings through their professional associations or collectives;
• setting royalties for the reproduction and performance of radio and television programs by educational institutions;
• granting licences for the use of published works in certain cases. For example, if you wanted to use a published work, but could not locate the author, you could apply to the Copyright Board for permission. You would most likely have to pay a fee which would be kept by the Board on behalf of the owner, should that person eventually be located.

For more information contact:
Copyright Board of Canada
56 Sparks Street, Suite 800
Ottawa ON  K1A 0C9
Tel.: 613-952-8621
Fax: 613-952-8630
Web site: www.cb-cda.gc.ca

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Collectives

Sometimes people find it inconvenient or difficult to administer the rights they hold through the copyright system. In such cases, they might choose to join a collective, that is, an organization that collects royalties on behalf of its members. Collectives, known as "collective societies" in the Copyright Act, grant permission to people to use works owned by their members and determine the conditions under which those works can be used. The organization may also launch a civil suit on behalf of one of its members in the case of copyright infringement.

There is a wide range of collectives covering such areas as television and radio broadcasts, sound recordings, reprography (photocopying), performances, video recordings and visual arts.

One example is a reprography collective called ACCESS COPYRIGHT (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency) that grants licences to photocopy or digitally reproduce copyright-protected works and collects and distributes fees on behalf of its members. Suppose you are the owner of the copyright on a book on the history of Canada: membership in the collective allows it to grant permission to teachers, for example, to copy chapters of your book and collect fees on your behalf.

Remember that you may not make photocopies of material protected by copyright (other than for purposes of fair dealing) without permission, nor may a library do this for you. To seek permission, contact the owner or, ACCESS COPYRIGHT, if the owner is a member.

In Ontario:
ACCESS COPYRIGHT
1 Yonge Street
Suite 1900
Toronto ON  M5E 1E5
Tel.: 416-868-1620 ext. 228 or 1-800-893-5777
Fax: 416-868-1621
E-mail: info@accesscopyright.ca

In Quebec:
COPIBEC
1290 Saint-Denis Street
7th floor
Montréal QC  H2X 3V7
Tel: 514-288-1664
1-800-717-2022
Fax: 514-288-1669
E-mail: info@copibec.qc.ca

You may obtain a list of some other Canadian collectives through the Copyright Office or the Copyright Board.

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Performing rights societies

A performing rights society is a collective that deals with musical works, collecting royalties on behalf of composers, lyricists, songwriters and music publishers for the public performance or broadcasting of their music. There is currently only one such organization in Canada, SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada).

SOCAN
41 Valleybrook Drive
Don Mills ON  M5B 2S6
Tel.: 416-445-8700 or 1-800-557-6226
Fax: 416-445-7108
Web site: www.socan.ca

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Government publications

Government publications are usually protected by Crown Copyright. You may seek permission to use or reproduce government works bywriting to:

Crown Copyright Officer
Canadian Government Publishing
Public Works and Government Services Canada
Ottawa ON  K1A 0S9
Tel.: 613-996-6886
Fax: 613-998-1450
E-mail: copyright. droitdauteur@pwgsc.gc.ca

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For more information

Staff at the Copyright Office will be pleased to assist you with general questions about copyright and the registration process.

Correspondence procedures
Emergency procedures

For information about a particular application, please contact us. Please do not call the office to find out the status of a new application until at least four weeks after sending it.

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