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What is copyright?

When you create something, aren't you proud of your work when you spend a lot of time and energy creating it? How about that social studies report you finally finished, that poem for your Mom that made her smile, that cool logo you came up with for your soccer team, the great song you wrote for the school play, or even your journal that you don't "have" to do but you enjoy it so much and it's special to you? Well, all these are your creations and you'd probably be pretty upset if someone just copied any of them without your permission. That's where copyright comes in.

The Big C

©  The Big C

In the simplest terms, "copyright" means "the right to copy." Only the owner of copyright, very often the creator of the work, is allowed to produce or reproduce the work in question or to permit anyone else to do so. Suppose, for example, that you have written a novel. Copyright law rewards and protects your creative endeavor by giving you the sole right to publish or use your work in any number of ways. You may also choose not to publish your work and to prevent anyone else from doing so.

As the creator of your work, you should have the right to control what people can and cannot do with your work. Your right to control your work has actually turned into big business, but that's what allows all the creative people around us to get paid for coming up with all the wonderful songs, shows, books, painting, movies and other great works that we enjoy.

Just think of all the cool songs your favourite band has written, the great books you loved reading, the plays, movies and television shows you love to watch again and again. These talented musicians, authors, illustrators and screenwriters deserve our respect and appreciation - and they deserve to make a living from the hard work they put into their creative works -- otherwise most of them wouldn't be able to produce as many (or any) of the songs, books, plays, movies and TV shows that you like. That's what copyright is all about. It reflects our appreciation for all the hard work that goes into creating "original works of authorship" and respect for the right of the creator of that work to control what people can and cannot do with it.

Copyright law touches people's lives in many ways. The project you did for the science fair, the song you downloaded from the internet, the computer software you used to play games or word-process, the book you just read and the movie you rented are all protected by copyright law. Copyright makes it illegal to copy someone else's work without their permission. This means that you cannot produce or reproduce the work. For example, copyright of a play includes the right to perform the play in public and copyright of a book includes the right to make a copy and publish it.

Copyright law protects all original works regardless of whether these works are published or have commercial value. Original works that are protected include, literary, dramatic, artistic and musical works, as well as performances, sound recordings and communications signals.

© is a symbol that authors can place on their works to remind people that a work is copyrighted. However, all original works are covered by copyright whether the author has placed the copyright on them or not.

  •   Copyright applies to

    • a song
    • a novel
    • a magazine article
    • a computer program

  •   Copyright does NOT apply To

    • the title of a song
    • the idea for a plot
    • a method of staging a play
    • Hamle because the work is public domain
    • the facts in an article
    • the name of the program (however, this be covered by trademark)
    • a list of ingredients

See the below video from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office

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