Legal Question in Entertainment Law in Canada

Re: About a registered copyright

Hello:

The CIPO registration will at least be evidence of the timing of your copyright. A copyright prohibits others from copying your work without your permission.

An song is copyrighted the moment it is created and committed to to some tangible media - either electronic or paper.

By registering with CIPO, you are obtaining the evidence that prove your ownership if there is a subsequent challenge to your ownership.

CIPO (Canadian Intellectual Property Office) is an agency of Industry Canada that administers Canada's intellectual property legislation and regulations regarding, among other things, copyrights.

Note for a musicial composition there are two separate copyrights: (1) for the song and (2) for the medium that records the song, either tape or CD. The song and the recording of the song are considered two different works, each with a separate copyright (1) to publish and (2) to rent out the sound recording such as to a radio station.

For more information about CIPO and copyright protection, please see link to CIPO Copyright Site (copy and paste in the following link):

http://strategis.gc.ca/sc_mrksv/cipo/cp/copy_gd_protect-e.html#1