Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42)

Provisions Applicable to both Performers and Sound Recording Makers

Marginal note:Right to remuneration — Canada

• 19 (1) If a sound recording has been published, the performer and maker are entitled, subject to subsection 20(1), to be paid equitable remuneration for its performance in public or its communication to the public by telecommunication, except for a communication in the circumstances referred to in paragraph 15(1.1)(d) or 18(1.1)(a) and any retransmission.

• Marginal note:Right to remuneration — Rome Convention country

  (1.1) If a sound recording has been published, the performer and maker are entitled, subject to subsections 20(1.1) and (2), to be paid equitable remuneration for its performance in public or its communication to the public by telecommunication, except for

  • (a) a communication in the circumstances referred to in paragraph 15(1.1)(d) or 18(1.1)(a), if the person entitled to the equitable remuneration is entitled to the right referred to in those paragraphs for that communication; and

  • (b) any retransmission.

• Marginal note:Right to remuneration — WPPT country

  (1.2) If a sound recording has been published, the performer and maker are entitled, subject to subsections 20(1.2) and (2.1), to be paid equitable remuneration for its performance in public or its communication to the public by telecommunication, except for a communication in the circumstances referred to in paragraph 15(1.1)(d) or 18(1.1)(a) and any retransmission.

• Marginal note:Royalties

  (2) For the purpose of providing the remuneration mentioned in this section, a person who performs a published sound recording in public or communicates it to the public by telecommunication is liable to pay royalties

  • (a) in the case of a sound recording of a musical work, to the collective society authorized under Part VII to collect them; or

  • (b) in the case of a sound recording of a literary work or dramatic work, to either the maker of the sound recording or the performer.

• Marginal note:Division of royalties

  (3) The royalties, once paid pursuant to paragraph (2)(a) or (b), shall be divided so that

  • (a) the performer or performers receive in aggregate fifty per cent; and

  • (b) the maker or makers receive in aggregate fifty per cent.

Marginal note:Deemed publication — Canada

19.1 Despite subsection 2.2(1), a sound recording that has been made available to the public by telecommunication in a way that allows a member of the public to access it from a place and at a time individually chosen by that member of the public, or that has been communicated to the public by telecommunication in that way, is deemed to have been published for the purposes of subsection 19(1).

Marginal note:Deemed publication — WPPT country

19.2 Despite subsection 2.2(1), a sound recording that has been made available to the public by telecommunication in a way that allows a member of the public to access it from a place and at a time individually chosen by that member of the public, or that has been communicated to the public by telecommunication in that way, is deemed to have been published for the purposes of subsection 19(1.2).

Marginal note:Conditions — Canada

• 20 (1) The right to remuneration conferred by subsection 19(1) applies only if

  • (a) the maker was, at the date of the first fixation, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or, if a corporation, had its headquarters in Canada; or

  • (b) all the fixations done for the sound recording occurred in Canada.

• Marginal note:Conditions — Rome Convention country

  (1.1) The right to remuneration conferred by subsection 19(1.1) applies only if

  • (a) the maker was, at the date of the first fixation, a citizen or permanent resident of a Rome Convention country or, if a corporation, had its headquarters in a Rome Convention country; or

  • (b) all the fixations done for the sound recording occurred in a Rome Convention country.

• Marginal note:Conditions — WPPT country

  (1.2) The right to remuneration conferred by subsection 19(1.2) applies only if

  • (a) the maker was, at the date of the first fixation, a citizen or permanent resident of a WPPT country or, if a corporation, had its headquarters in a WPPT country; or

  • (b) all the fixations done for the sound recording occurred in a WPPT country.

• Marginal note:Exception — Rome Convention country

  (2) Despite subsection (1.1), if the Minister is of the opinion that a Rome Convention country does not grant a right to remuneration, similar in scope and duration to that provided by subsection 19(1.1), for the performance in public or the communication to the public of a sound recording whose maker, at the date of its first fixation, was a Canadian citizen or permanent resident within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or, if a corporation, had its headquarters in Canada, the Minister may, by a statement published in the Canada Gazette, limit the scope and duration of the protection for sound recordings whose first fixation is done by a maker who is a citizen or permanent resident of that country or, if a corporation, has its headquarters in that country.

• Marginal note:Exception — WPPT country

  (2.1) Despite subsection (1.2), if the Minister is of the opinion that a WPPT country does not grant a right to remuneration, similar in scope and duration to that provided by subsection 19(1.2), for the performance in public or the communication to the public of a sound recording whose maker, at the date of its first fixation, was a Canadian citizen or permanent resident within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or, if a corporation, had its headquarters in Canada, the Minister may, by a statement published in the Canada Gazette, limit the scope and duration of the protection for sound recordings whose first fixation is done by a maker who is a citizen or permanent resident of that country or, if a corporation, has its headquarters in that country.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) If so requested by a country that is a party to the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Minister may, by a statement published in the Canada Gazette, grant the right to remuneration conferred by subsection 19(1.1) to performers or makers who are nationals of that country and whose sound recordings embody dramatic or literary works.

• Marginal note:Application of section 19

  (4) Where a statement is published under subsection (3), section 19 applies

  • (a) in respect of nationals of a country mentioned in that statement, as if they were citizens of Canada or, in the case of corporations, had their headquarters in Canada; and

  • (b) as if the fixations made for the purpose of their sound recordings had been made in Canada.

Rights of Broadcasters

Marginal note:Copyright in communication signals

• 21 (1) Subject to subsection (2), a broadcaster has a copyright in the communication signals that it broadcasts, consisting of the sole right to do the following in relation to the communication signal or any substantial part thereof:

  • (a) to fix it,

  • (b) to reproduce any fixation of it that was made without the broadcaster’s consent,

  • (c) to authorize another broadcaster to retransmit it to the public simultaneously with its broadcast, and

  • (d) in the case of a television communication signal, to perform it in a place open to the public on payment of an entrance fee,

  and to authorize any act described in paragraph (a), (b) or (d).

• Marginal note:Conditions for copyright

  (2) Subsection (1) applies only if the broadcaster

  • (a) at the time of the broadcast, had its headquarters in Canada, in a country that is a WTO Member or in a Rome Convention country; and

  • (b) broadcasts the communication signal from that country.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), if the Minister is of the opinion that a Rome Convention country or a country that is a WTO Member does not grant the right mentioned in paragraph (1)(d), the Minister may, by a statement published in the Canada Gazette, declare that broadcasters that have their headquarters in that country are not entitled to that right.