Canada And The United States: Differences In Copyright Law

Canada is a party to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Berne Convention). The Copyright Act of Canada governs copyright protection in Canada. It extends the same protection to both Canadian nationals and foreign nationals of other Berne Convention countries. There are many fundamental similarities between U.S. and Canadian copyright law. Some key similarities include:

• The concept of originality: Canada, like the U.S., confers protection to original works as an essential condition of protection.
• The nature of the works protected: Both countries recognize protection for relatively comparable subject matter. The Canadian Act recognizes original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, however, these terms have been given a broad definition. The U.S. statutory language protects all original "works of authorship." Ultimately, the categories of protected works are comparable in both counties.