Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is doing, without the owner’s consent, anything the Copyright Act reserves to the owner of the copyright. Section 27 also treats certain dealings in copies, such as selling them, as infringement where the person knows or should have known the copy infringes copyright or would if made in Canada.
A buyer or seller meets this when a business uses photos, software, written content or music that someone else made. Section 27(1) of the Copyright Act makes it an infringement for any person to do, without the consent of the owner, anything that by the Act only the owner has the right to do. CIPO gives no advice on whether a particular act infringes. See who owns the intellectual property after a sale.
Limits and remedies
Section 29 says fair dealing for the purpose of research, private study, education, parody or satire does not infringe copyright; check the Act for the other fair dealing provisions. Where copyright has been infringed, s. 34(1) entitles the owner, subject to the Act, to all remedies by way of injunction, damages, accounts, delivery up and otherwise that the law confers for infringement of a right.
What to ask
- Who made each photo, text, design and piece of software, and whether the business holds a licence or an assignment of copyright in writing.
- Whether the licences are transferable to a buyer.
- Whether the business has received any claim or demand letter about its content.
Sources
This definition is checked against primary sources. Links were last confirmed on the dates shown.
- 01Government of Canada (Department of Justice)GovernmentCopyright Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42
- 02Canadian Intellectual Property OfficeGovernmentA guide to copyright
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