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.
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.
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 If the work is unpublished, copyright includes the right to publish the work or any substantial part of it.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.