Copyright

Copyright law in Canada gives authors the right to control their creative works. If you hire creative people, you need advice on copyright. Under copyright law, the definition of an "author" includes engineers, software programmers, draftspersons, photographers, mobile-app developers, animators, graphic designers, writers, and artists, including visual artists and musicians. At Field Law, we have extensive experience in providing advice to clients on the protection and enforcement of copyright in all of these areas.

It is an infringement of copyright to make unauthorized copies of all or a portion of a protected work. There are many exceptions that we provide advice on, including fair dealing and fair use.

Copyright law does not protect ideas or concepts. Rather it protects the original expression of ideas and can extend to the expression of facts and information, where the work product represents the output of labour, skill and judgment. This includes content expressed in written or fixed form, such as recorded or observed information and data, equipment and process drawings, recorded music, video content, photos, manuals, software code, website code, brands represented in design format. We take care to understand your business and provide practical advice on how copyright protection applies.

Our lawyers and agents support clients in many different industries on a range of issues including:

• Copyright registration and protection
• Practical business advice on copyright protection strategies
• Copyright protection for databases and datasets
• Copyright protection and ownership issues for employers, employees and contractors
• Licensing of copyright materials
• Advice and due diligence on copyright ownership
• Copyright agreements including sharing, co-creation, licensing and assignments
• Ownership due diligence, transfers and ensuring or challenging chain-of-title
• Software development and licensing agreements
• Software integration agreements
• Copyright infringement litigation, prosecution and defence
• Copyright ownership litigation
• Fair dealing exceptions
• Copyright protection in the information and e-communications sectors
• Copyright issues in the context of social media
• Website development agreement

Contact any one of our copyright group including Laura MacFarlane at lmacfarlane@fieldlaw.com or 403-260-8577 to discuss how we can assist to protect and enforce copyright for your organization.