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Copyright
Simply stated, copyright means the exclusive right to copy an original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work. Copyright includes the exclusive right to produce, reproduce, perform, publish, translate, convert, adapt, publicly present, record or broadcast the work or any substantial part of it. The owner of copyright in a work may by law prevent anyone else from doing any of the foregoing.
Copyright applies to original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, whatever the mode or form of expression. To be original, the work must be the product of the author's skill and labour and must not be copied from another's work. The originality requirement does not mean that the work must be the product of genius or a high degree of creative skill. The author's labour is also significant. Thus, non-trivial compilations of information, maps and engineering drawings as well as books, plays, songs or paintings are all proper subject matter for copyright. The words "every original literary, artistic, dramatic and musical work" in the Copyright Act are given a wide, liberal interpretation.
Generally speaking, copyright does not extend to the idea or basic subject underlying the work but only to the author's particular expression of that idea. Thus, even though some artist may have previously painted the Toronto City Hall, anyone may photograph or paint a picture of Toronto City Hall, but must not copy the previous artist's painting. To take another example, anyone is free to write a biography of Sir John A. MacDonald, but must not copy some one else's biography of Canada's first Prime Minister.
Copyright does not apply to transient occurrences such as sporting events that are not performed according to a script or screenplay or the like. However, something reduced to tangible reproducible form, such as a film, videotape or broadcast of the event, would be protected. There is also a performance right for works of music, drama and choreography. Copyright does not apply to titles, names, slogans, or other short word combinations.
Copyright protection does not extend to designs applied to useful mass-produced articles. Usually, such designs consist of shapes of manufactured articles or patterns or ornamentation applied to such articles. It may be possible to protect original designs of that sort by obtaining an industrial design registration - please consult us if this possibility exists.
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