| Subject to subsection (2), in the case of a literary, dramatic or musical work, or an engraving, in which copyright subsists at the date of the death of the author or, in the case of a work of joint authorship, at or immediately before the date of the death of the author who dies last, but which has not been published or, in the case of a lecture or a dramatic or musical work, been performed in public or communicated to the public by telecommunication, before that date, copyright shall subsist until publication, or performance in public or communication to the public by telecommunication, whichever may first happen, for the remainder of the calendar year of the publication or of the performance in public or communication to the public by telecommunication, as the case may be, and for a period of fifty years following the end of that calendar year.
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- This is the basic rule for posthumous works. Where a work has not been published during the author's lifetime the copyright will last for 50 years after the year of first publication.
Term of copyright, joint authors - Subsection 9(1)
| In the case of a work of joint authorship, except as provided in section 6.2, copyright shall subsist during the life of the author who dies last, for the remainder of the calendar year of that author’s death, and for a period of fifty years following the end of that calendar year, and references in this Act to the period after the expiration of any specified number of years from the end of the calendar year of the death of the author shall be construed as references to the period after the expiration of the like number of years from the end of the calendar year of the death of the author who dies last.
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Sous réserve de l’article 6.2, lorsqu’il s’agit d’une oeuvre créée en collaboration, le droit d’auteur subsiste pendant la vie du dernier survivant des coauteurs, puis jusqu’à la fin de la cinquantième année suivant celle de son décès. Toute mention dans la présente loi de la période qui suit l’expiration d’un nombre spécifié d’années après l’année de la mort de l’auteur doit s’interpréter comme une mention de la période qui suit l’expiration d’un nombre égal d’années après l’année du décès du dernier survivant des coauteurs.
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- Fundamentally, if you know who all the authors are the term is based on the author who died latest. The reference to section 6.2 applies when the authors are unknown. The rest of the subsection affects other calculations under the act, such as the reversionary rights under subsection 14(1).
Rule of the Shorter Term - Subsection 9 (2)
| Authors who are nationals of any country, other than a country that is a party to the North American Free Trade Agreement, that grants a term of protection shorter than that mentioned in subsection (1) are not entitled to claim a longer term of protection in Canada.
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Les auteurs ressortissants d’un pays — autre qu’un pays partie à l’Accord de libre-échange nord-américain — qui accorde une durée de protection plus courte que celle qui est indiquée au paragraphe (1) ne sont pas admis à réclamer une plus longue durée de protection au Canada.
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- This is key in the treatment of works from other countries. Where an individual has lived in several countries there may still be questions about determining the nationality of the person at the time a work was published. Works by United States nationals with a shorter term there would be subject to Canadian terms unless they went into the US public domain before January 1,1994, the date on which the North American Free Trade Agreement came into effect. A longer term in the United States should be disregarded. Interaction of this section with other sections may determine how the shorter term for another country is calculated. Notable in this regard are Section 7 (posthumous works), and Subsection 5 (1.02) (limitation on the application of the Berne Convention).
Government works - Section 12
| Without prejudice to any rights or privileges of the Crown, where any work is, or has been, prepared or published by or under the direction or control of Her Majesty or any government department, the copyright in the work shall, subject to any agreement with the author, belong to Her Majesty and in that case shall continue for the remainder of the calendar year of the first publication of the work and for a period of fifty years following the end of that calendar year.
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Sous réserve de tous les droits ou privilèges de la Couronne, le droit d’auteur sur les oeuvres préparées ou publiées par l’entremise, sous la direction ou la surveillance de Sa Majesté ou d’un ministère du gouvernement, appartient, sauf stipulation conclue avec l’auteur, à Sa Majesté et, dans ce cas, il subsiste jusqu’à la fin de la cinquantième année suivant celle de la première publication de l’oeuvre.
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- In practical terms this simply means that copyright on government works lasts for fifty years. This rule should also extend to works by provincial or municipal governments. Unlike other works for hire the presumption appears to favour ownership by the government instead of the individual author.
Works for hire — Subsection 13 (3)
| Where the author of a work was in the employment of some other person under a contract of service or apprenticeship and the work was made in the course of his employment by that person, the person by whom the author was employed shall, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, be the first owner of the copyright, but where the work is an article or other contribution to a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical, there shall, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, be deemed to be reserved to the author a right to restrain the publication of the work, otherwise than as part of a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical.
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Lorsque l’auteur est employé par une autre personne en vertu d’un contrat de louage de service ou d’apprentissage, et que l’oeuvre est exécutée dans l’exercice de cet emploi, l’employeur est, à moins de stipulation contraire, le premier titulaire du droit d’auteur; mais lorsque l’oeuvre est un article ou une autre contribution, à un journal, à une revue ou à un périodique du même genre, l’auteur, en l’absence de convention contraire, est réputé posséder le droit d’interdire la publication de cette oeuvre ailleurs que dans un journal, une revue ou un périodique semblable.
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- There are two points made by this subsection:
- It allows for a copyright to be owned by an employer in specific circumstances. The work must be "under contract of service or apprenticeship". A contract of service defines a strict employer/employee relationship; it does not apply when the author is an independent contractor in a contract for service. The work must also as a part of his employment. Furthermore, courts have ruled that an employer's copyrights must be specifically argued, and do not apply by default.
- The second part allows the author to limit the use of periodical material.
See also
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