Copyright Act

Marginal note:Copyright in performer’s performance

• 15 (1) Subject to subsection (2), a performer has a copyright in the performer’s performance, consisting of the sole right to do the following in relation to the performer’s performance or any substantial part thereof:

  • (a) if it is not fixed,

    • (i) to communicate it to the public by telecommunication,

    • (ii) to perform it in public, where it is communicated to the public by telecommunication otherwise than by communication signal, and

    • (iii) to fix it in any material form,

  • (b) if it is fixed,

    • (i) to reproduce any fixation that was made without the performer’s authorization,

    • (ii) where the performer authorized a fixation, to reproduce any reproduction of that fixation, if the reproduction being reproduced was made for a purpose other than that for which the performer’s authorization was given, and

    • (iii) where a fixation was permitted under Part III or VIII, to reproduce any reproduction of that fixation, if the reproduction being reproduced was made for a purpose other than one permitted under Part III or VIII, and

  • (c) to rent out a sound recording of it,

  and to authorize any such acts.

• Marginal note:Conditions

  (2) Subsection (1) applies only if the performer’s performance

  • (a) takes place in Canada or in a Rome Convention country;

  • (b) is fixed in

    • (i) a sound recording whose maker, at the time of the first fixation,

      • (A) if a natural person, was a Canadian citizen or permanent resident within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, or a citizen or permanent resident of a Rome Convention country, or

      • (B) if a corporation, had its headquarters in Canada or in a Rome Convention country, or

    • (ii) a sound recording whose first publication in such a quantity as to satisfy the reasonable demands of the public occurred in Canada or in a Rome Convention country; or

  • (c) is transmitted at the time of the performer’s performance by a communication signal broadcast from Canada or a Rome Convention country by a broadcaster that has its headquarters in the country of broadcast.

• Marginal note:Publication

  (3) The first publication is deemed to have occurred in a country referred to in paragraph (2)(b) notwithstanding that it in fact occurred previously elsewhere, if the interval between those two publications does not exceed thirty days.