Protect your creation

You've created an original work. It could be a song, a book, a painting, a map, a play, a video or any other dramatic, musical, artistic or literary work (including computer programs). Learn how to protect your creation.

Created an original work?

Whether you are a songwriter, an author, a musician or someone delivering a performance such as a play or audio-visual show, in Canada you automatically hold the copyright on your work. You do not have to register in any way to have this right. However, if you get a certificate of registration, you have evidence that there is a copyright and that you are the registered owner.

Copyright

In general, when you have copyright, you have the sole right to produce or reproduce a work or a substantial part of it in any form. That includes the right to perform the work or any substantial part of it or, in the case of a lecture, to deliver it. If the work is unpublished, copyright includes the right to publish the work or any substantial part of it.

Copyright commonly protects the following:

Literary works
books, pamphlets, computer programs and other works consisting of text
Dramatic works
films, plays, screenplays, scripts, etc.
Musical works
musical compositions with or without words
Artistic works
paintings, drawings, maps, photographs, sculptures, plans, etc.

Copyright also applies to performers' performances, sound recordings and communication signals (radio waves).

Learn more about copyright by reading A Guide to Copyright or register your copyright online.