Intellectual Property Canada

Intellectual property is one of the most challenging and prolific subjects of all legal matter. In general, Intellectual property is made up of four separate fields of law: trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets. More specifically, the United States has a long history of dealing with issues of copyright laws. America has been deliberating on issues concerning copyright law since the birth of the constitution in 1787, when James Madison requested that a provision be added to the constitution that would provide protection to literary authors for a determined time. However, copyright laws are not just limited to the United States it applies to 168 nations. These nations enjoy protections of the set forth in the Berne Convention which

When comparing and contrasting the laws we see many similarities and many differences. For instance, Canada and the U.S. seem to see things the same way when comparing the concept of “originality” in which both countries seem to confer protection to the original work as an essential condition of protection. Also, the U.S. and Canada both seem to agree on the “nature of works” that are protected. For example, The Canadian Act recognizes original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works in all of its entirety. While the U.S. statutory protects all “original” works of authorship. Finally, just like the U.S., Canada does not require the registration of a copyright to be valid in its Country. However, registering in Canada presents certain possible advantages in Canada, while absence of enrollment in the U.S. limits certain accessible

For starters, the “duration of protection” in the U.S. lasts the creator for life plus 70 years after death, if the work was “work for hire” then the copyright lasts for 120 years after the creation or 95 years after the publication, whichever is shorter. Whereas, in Canada the copyright is simple and lasts for life plus 50 years after death. “Work for hire” is a different as well, unlike in the U.S. Act, Canada does not recognize the concept of “work made for hire”, because it doesn’t exist. In Canada, the authorship of a copyrightable work made by an employee remains with that employee. Whereas, in the United States, the employer is automatically deemed the author and owner of a copyrightable work created by an employee in his course of dealings with the employer (Russ Hodgson, (2015)). And finally, on the concept or “governmental works” the laws in each country are different. In the U.S. the government allows copyrightable work that is created by its employees as part of their duties to be automatically in the publics domain. These types of works cannot be copy written under U.S. law. However, In Canada, governmental works created by the governments employees are subject to the Crown Copyright. “This copyright is based on the idea of royal prerogative and “is not subject to the usual statutory copyright term” ( Russ Hodgson,