Copyright Law in Canada

• Author: Lesley Ellen Harris
• Profession: Lawyer, author, and educator
• Pages: 15-22

15

CHAPTER 2

Copyright Law in Canada

I just do what I do. I like to make music.

—Neil Young

History of Canadian Copyright Law

In Canada, copyright law falls under federal jurisdiction. The copyright

law, then, does not vary from province to province but is consistent

throughout the country. This is because the Parliament of Canada was

given exclusive jurisdiction to deal with the matter of “copyrights”

under subsection 91(23) of the Constitution Act of 1867.

The current Canadian copyright legislation is found in one statute

called the Copyright Act.

1

This piece of legislation, based on the United

Kingdom Copyright Act, 1911, was introduced in 1921 and came into

force on January 1, 1924. Since that time, it has remained the governing

copyright legislation in Canada, along with its schedules, annexes, and

rules, and including various amendments made to it.

The Canadian Copyright Act, consolidated with amendments made

to it since its enactment in 1924, related information, and related regu-

lations are at http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-42/index.html .

Before the 1924 Act came into force, the governing legisla-

tion consisted of various pre-Confederation provincial legislation,

post- Confederation federal statutes, British statutes, and the Berne

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