Copyright was created as a way of protecting those things that we have created on our own. Copyright is considered a bundle of different rights that are set and outlined in the Copyright Act. Copyright was created so that you can make sure that if you are creating something like a song or a piece of art, that someone else is not going to be able to use your creation to their benefit or claim that it is their own. Copyright helps to protect the economic interests of those people that are creating artistic and dramatic works and want to protect them.
How to Get a Copyright?
Copyright is necessary to help make sure that the things that you have created are protected from people that might want to copy your work without permission. For those that are in Canada, the copyright laws that were created in the Copyright Act are governed by the federal government, so they are the same across the entire country.
To get a copyright, you first need to make sure that your work qualifies for copyright. It must meet three criteria, it has to be original, it has to be in a somewhat permanent form like written down or recorded, and the person that is seeking the copyright must meet the person qualifications, this means that you cannot copyright something that your cat says or does.
For work to qualify as original, it has to be at least somewhat new and different, and you cannot make something trivial that has only a minimal change from the original and then claim that it is your own. It is not required that you have to have a recorded copy of something like a song to copyright it, but you should seek copyright as soon as you have created it so that you can be sure that it is adequately protected.
In the final series of our blog, we will outline how to register for copyright and how this contributes to protecting your intellectual property. If you have any questions about copyright or intellectual property protection, click here to schedule free consultation with our lawyers.