Amendments to the 1985 Canadian Copyright Act

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Littleguy
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p.1 #1 · Amendments to the 1985 Canadian Copyright Act

Any fellow Canadian photographers here, who are up on the new copyright changes?

Does anyone know where I can find the new Act with the amendments in it?

Here was the original act from 1985:
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-42/FullText.html

Here were the proposed changes from bill C-11 - I understand that it received Royal Assent in June of 2012. But I am not sure if everything that was proposed here got into the Act.
http://www.parl.gc.ca/About/Parliament/LegislativeSummaries/bills_ls.asp?Language=E&ls=c11&Parl=41&Ses=1&source=library_prb#a13

There were 2 big proposals that directly affected Canadian photographers related to the infamous section 13(2):

1) Photographers are now automatically the first copyright holders for any photos taken by them (regardless if there was a commission paid or not) - no more need of a contract to establish that.

2) Person who commissioned (paid for the photos) can use the photos for personal / non-commercial use without the photographers permission - unless there is a contract that states otherwise.

The concern I have is that those were the proposals and the amendments was passed but I don't see the updates in the Copyright Act - so I am not sure if anything changed along the way.

Also, has anyone amendment their own contracts in light of the new proposed changes?

Sep 24, 2012 at 03:08 PM

Ian Ivey
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p.1 #2 · Amendments to the 1985 Canadian Copyright Act

Interesting. Even though I'm in the US, I'd also be interested to know whether your parliament passed these changes. Change #1 would bring your law more in line with US law, and is a good change for photographers generally. Change #2 seems sensible, but quite different from US law, where the copyright holder retains exclusive rights absent an agreement.

Sep 24, 2012 at 05:50 PM

arossphoto
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p.1 #3 · Amendments to the 1985 Canadian Copyright Act

Check out this post on the Canadian Photographers Network website. It includes an excerpt and link to the amended act, which still must go through an order-in-council process before the reforms take effect.

Bill C-11 receives royal assent: Canadian photographers will finally own copyright of commissioned photos

Sep 26, 2012 at 04:25 PM

arossphoto
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p.1 #4 · Amendments to the 1985 Canadian Copyright Act

Oops! I just realized your original post includes the same link as the one on CanPhoto. Since the act has not passed the order-in-council process, the act won't actually be amended until later this year and none of the changes have taken effect yet.

Sep 26, 2012 at 04:31 PM

Littleguy
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p.1 #5 · Amendments to the 1985 Canadian Copyright Act

That would explain why the government site has not been updated yet.

Odd - an order in council process usually means there are regulations that still have to be written / added. Most acts become law as soon as they receive Royal Assent. Not sure which regulation needs to be added.

I don't know how reliable this guy is but here is a site with the amendments incorporated:

http://mincovlaw.com/doc/canada_copyright_act_consolidated_with_bill_c-11_after_royal_assent#Section 13.

Section 13(2) - Gone - which is good for photographers, photographers automatically become the copyright holders - unless there is a contract which states otherwise, not the other way around.

Section 32.2 (f) - new rights for person who paid for the photos in the absence of a signed contract.

Section 38.1 - Changes to statutory damage limits.

Sep 28, 2012 at 05:14 PM

DTOB
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p.1 #6 · Amendments to the 1985 Canadian Copyright Act

Wow, great info here. Thanks for posting.

Sep 28, 2012 at 05:54 PM

arossphoto
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p.1 #7 · Amendments to the 1985 Canadian Copyright Act

Here's some updated info published yesterday:

Copyright Modernization Act soon to be law in Canada

Oct 31, 2012 at 03:12 PM

arossphoto
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p.1 #8 · Amendments to the 1985 Canadian Copyright Act

The sections of the Copyright Modernization Act which finally give Canadian photographers the same rights as other creators took effect Nov 7th!

http://www.canphoto.net/canadian-photographers-now-officially-own-the-copyright-to-commissioned-images/

Nov 08, 2012 at 03:29 PM

Ghost
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Huzzah!

Nov 08, 2012 at 07:39 PM

canon pants
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Does this apply to photos taken prior to the amendments?

Nov 08, 2012 at 10:35 PM

arossphoto
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canon pants wrote:
Does this apply to photos taken prior to the amendments?

I'm no lawyer, but I can't imagine that it would be retroactive in any way. Prior to the amendments, the only way to ensure you held the copyright to commissioned photos was to have an agreement in place that clearly stated you retained the copyright.

Nov 09, 2012 at 12:44 AM

Littleguy
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arossphoto wrote:
canon pants wrote:
Does this apply to photos taken prior to the amendments?

I'm no lawyer, but I can't imagine that it would be retroactive in any way. Prior to the amendments, the only way to ensure you held the copyright to commissioned photos was to have an agreement in place that clearly stated you retained the copyright.

Here is the official transitional provisions:
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/AnnualStatutes/2012_20/page-20.html#h-3

Section 13(2) was the old section that gave copyright to the person who paid for the photos if there wasn't an agreement in place stating who owned the copyrights.

"60. Subsection 13(2) of the Copyright Act, as it read immediately before the coming into force of section 7, continues to apply with respect to any engraving, photograph or portrait the plate or original of which was commissioned before the coming into force of that section 7."

So in other words - arossphoto is correct.

Nov 09, 2012 at 03:23 PM

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