An American Attorney in Canada (Part 1: Copyright)

Okay, so maybe it's neither as romantic as Gershwin's "An American in Paris", nor as historical as Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," but many US lawyers do find themselves facing legal issues in Canada. US practitioners who deal with Canadian legal matters must take note of a few common pitfalls. In this series, we review some of the most common misconceptions and flag a number of important tips in the area of cross-border intellectual property law:

• Copyright Law - both countries are party to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and both copyright regimes cover the same basic categories of protection. In Canada, the Copyright Act protects original literary works, dramatic works (including choreographic works), musical and artistic works, computer programs, performances, sound recordings and communication signals. The scope of protection the USA is roughly the same.