Copyright Resources

Links to useful information and resources about copyright on other websites from Canada and around the world.

Copyright in Canada

• Copyright Act of Canada (last amended November 7, 2012)
• Copyright Board of Canada
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office - CIPO is responsible for administering patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial designs and integrated circuit topographies in Canada.
• Department of Canadian Heritage - Houses the Copyright Policy Branch which, in conjunction with the Intellectual Property Policy Directorate of Industry Canada, is responsible for formulating and implementing an integrated Canadian copyright policy.
• Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada -  Houses the Intellectual Property Policy Directorate which, in conjunction with the Copyright Policy Branch of the Department of Canadian Heritage, is responsible for formulating and implementing an integrated Canadian copyright policy.

Copyright Around the World

• The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Paris Text 1971)
• Collection of Laws for Electronic Access (CLEA) - This site contains national legislative intellectual property texts, texts of treaties administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and bibliographic data about each legislative text and treaty.
• Fair Use and Copyright - Information about fair use in the US.
• International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO) - An independent organization that fosters collaboration among reproduction rights organizations (RROs) around the world intent on collectively managing the reproduction rights of creators and publishers.
• International Federation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC)- A federation of over 225 authors' societies from over 120 countries which strives to, among other things, advance the cause of collective management of the right of creators to be compensated for the use of their works.
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) - Copyright treaties ratified by the United Nations.

Public domain, Creative Commons, and Open Access

• Creative Commons - Creative Commons licences are a tool that enables copyright owners to licence their works to the public using a "some rights reserved" model as opposed to a traditional "all rights reserved" model. All Creative Commons licences permit distribution, display and copying of works provided the copyright owners choice of terms is respected.
• D Space - A digital repository system that captures, stores, indexes, preserves, and distributes digital research material.
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) - Categorized, searchable links to free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals.
• LibriVox - Provides free audio books from the public domain.
• Project Gutenberg - A large collection of free electronic books.
• The public domain is comprised of all creative works that are not protected by copyright. Generally, works enter the public domain in one of three ways: When copyright expires, when the work is so old it was created before copyright protection existed, or when the copyright owner chooses to put a work in the public domain. Public domain works can be copied, used, or modified in any way without asking for permission.

Other Copyright Collectives

• Audio Cine Films Inc. - Issues public performance licences on behalf of such companies as Disney, Warner Bros., etc.
• The Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Limited (CMRRA) - A Canadian collective that administers reproduction of musical works, often called mechanical or synchronization licences.
• Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) - Handles the tariff for blank audio cassettes and compact discs.
• Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) - Handles requests to purchase church liturgy.
• Copyright Clearance Centre (CCC) - The reproduction rights organization for the United States.
• Music Publishers' Association of the United States (MPA) - Contains an open access directory of all American music publishers.
• Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers (SOCAN) - Licenses the public performance of copyright protected music.
• Société québécoise de gestion collective des droits de reproduction (COPIBEC) - Canadian reproduction collective for the province of Quebec.
• Visual Education Centre - Issues film rights.

For a list of international reproduction rights organizations (RROs), please visit our Reciprocal Agreements page.