I am glad to announce (in case you haven’t heard) that as of today, Canadian photographers are finally the copyright holders of the work they produce under contract.
You Americans are thinking “What? You didn’t actually own the copyright to the images you created?” It’s true.
We Canadians have been fighting for that change to the Copyright act for 20 odd years, and it finally became official this morning. I’m sure you can read about it in detail on the CAPIC website or pull up a digital version of the Copyright act online.
As a Canuck myself, I’m very glad to see this correction finally come to fruition. Now we just have to educate all the new customers so that we don’t have to deal with silly things like going to court to argue for the rights to our work.
Here is an excerpt from the post on the CAPIC site. Please go there to read the entire thing.
A Great Victory For Canadian Photographers
A GREAT VICTORY FOR CANADIAN PHOTOGRAPHERS
OTTAWA, November 7, 2012: At last, Canadian photographers own their copyright.
The Canadian Association of Professional Image Creators (CAPIC) would like to congratulate all Canadian photographers in Canada on this important date and pivotal achievement in the photographic industry. As of today, Canadian photographers now officially own the copyright to all of their work whether the photograph is commissioned or not, thanks to the new Copyright law.
The principle of protecting photographers’ ownership rights started 65 years ago by Henri Cartier-Bresson, who founded Magnum with Robert Capa and David Seymour. Magnum assured that a photographer’s image belonged to the photographer and not to the commissioner of the work.
The CAPIC site.
Mike,
I think you’re confusing “Commisioned work” with “Work for Hire”. Canadian photographers have always owned our copyright from the moment of creation unless we specifically forfited our rights. The exception to this rule was the case in “work for hire” contracts were you are an employee and therefore any work created is owned by the employer. Under Canadian copyright law, if you create the work you automatically own the copyright to that work. Unfortunately many of the more recent editorial contracts required that you sign over some or all of your copyright in the work created. I personally have always walked away from such contracts.
Thank you for the clarification.
I’ve been known to goof now and then so I’m glad somebody noticed.
NO, it seems that it includes “work for hire” and commisioned work
http://www.capic.org/photography-copyright-laws-in-canada
COPYRIGHT – MISSION POSSIBLE!
Since its founding in 1978 CAPIC has worked very hard to ensure that members’ copyright in their works is valid and, protected.
Today, 82 years after the Copyright Act was proclaimed in Canada, our photographer members and all other professional and amateur photographers in Canada are still denied automatic ownership of copyright in commissioned works.
Under Section 13(2) of the Act, any person or corporation that hires a photographer (commissions a work) will automatically own the copyright in that work, once the work has been paid for UNLESS there is an agreement to the contrary.
No other creators in Canada are treated with such disdain! Canadian sculptors, playwrights, illustrators, authors, painters and other creators of original works automatically own the copyright in their work, even when the work is commissioned.
I think it is great that people are getting into the details and digging out the details. Thanks for the clarification.