Copyright Act

Marginal note:Copyright in performer’s performance

• 15 (1) Subject to subsection (2), a performer has a copyright in the performer’s performance, consisting of the sole right to do the following in relation to the performer’s performance or any substantial part thereof:

  • (a) if it is not fixed,

    • (i) to communicate it to the public by telecommunication,

    • (ii) to perform it in public, where it is communicated to the public by telecommunication otherwise than by communication signal, and

    • (iii) to fix it in any material form,

  • (b) if it is fixed,

    • (i) to reproduce any fixation that was made without the performer’s authorization,

    • (ii) where the performer authorized a fixation, to reproduce any reproduction of that fixation, if the reproduction being reproduced was made for a purpose other than that for which the performer’s authorization was given, and

    • (iii) where a fixation was permitted under Part III or VIII, to reproduce any reproduction of that fixation, if the reproduction being reproduced was made for a purpose other than one permitted under Part III or VIII, and

  • (c) to rent out a sound recording of it,

  and to authorize any such acts.

• Marginal note:Copyright in performer’s performance

  (1.1) Subject to subsections (2.1) and (2.2), a performer’s copyright in the performer’s performance consists of the sole right to do the following acts in relation to the performer’s performance or any substantial part of it and to authorize any of those acts:

  • (a) if it is not fixed,

    • (i) to communicate it to the public by telecommunication,

    • (ii) to perform it in public, if it is communicated to the public by telecommunication otherwise than by communication signal, and

    • (iii) to fix it in any material form;

  • (b) if it is fixed in a sound recording, to reproduce that fixation;

  • (c) to rent out a sound recording of it;

  • (d) to make a sound recording of it available to the public by telecommunication in a way that allows a member of the public to have access to the sound recording from a place and at a time individually chosen by that member of the public and to communicate the sound recording to the public by telecommunication in that way; and

  • (e) if it is fixed in a sound recording that is in the form of a tangible object, to sell or otherwise transfer ownership of the tangible object, as long as that ownership has never previously been transferred in or outside Canada with the authorization of the owner of the copyright in the performer’s performance.

• Marginal note:Conditions

  (2) Subsection (1) applies only if the performer’s performance

  • (a) takes place in Canada or in a Rome Convention country;

  • (b) is fixed in

    • (i) a sound recording whose maker, at the time of the first fixation,

      • (A) if a natural person, was a Canadian citizen or permanent resident within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, or a citizen or permanent resident of a Rome Convention country, or

      • (B) if a corporation, had its headquarters in Canada or in a Rome Convention country, or

    • (ii) a sound recording whose first publication in such a quantity as to satisfy the reasonable demands of the public occurred in Canada or in a Rome Convention country; or

  • (c) is transmitted at the time of the performer’s performance by a communication signal broadcast from Canada or a Rome Convention country by a broadcaster that has its headquarters in the country of broadcast.

• Marginal note:Conditions for copyright

  (2.1) Subsection (1.1) applies if

  • (a) the performer’s performance takes place in Canada;

  • (b) the performer’s performance is fixed in

    • (i) a sound recording whose maker, at the time of its first fixation,

      • (A) was a Canadian citizen or permanent resident as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, in the case of a natural person, or

      • (B) had its headquarters in Canada, in the case of a corporation, or

    • (ii) a sound recording whose first publication in a quantity sufficient to satisfy the reasonable demands of the public occurred in Canada; or

  • (c) the performer’s performance is transmitted at the time of its performance by a communication signal broadcast from Canada by a broadcaster that has its headquarters in Canada.

• Marginal note:Publication

  (3) The first publication is deemed to have occurred in a country referred to in paragraph (2)(b) notwithstanding that it in fact occurred previously elsewhere, if the interval between those two publications does not exceed thirty days.