What entrepreneurs need to know about Canada’s new Copyright Act

What entrepreneurs need to know about Canada’s new Copyright Act

In November 2012, Canada introduced a new Copyright Act that has been commonly identified as “user-focused.” This has left many businesses wondering what has changed and what remains the same for commercial copyright owners.

At the April MaRS Best Practices session, Karen Durell, an associate lawyer with Miller Thomson LLP, discussed how these changes will affect Canadian businesses. Karen practises intellectual property (IP) law and advises technology companies with respect to their unique issues relating to IP procurement, intellectual asset management and IP transactions.

How the new Act affects entrepreneurs

Aimed at startups, her presentation emphasized what entrepreneurs need to know to protect their existing copyright and to keep from infringing the copyright of others.

Karen highlighted the following four points as things that every business owner should know and watch for:

  1. Know what copyright you own.
  2. Be aware of digital locks.
  3. Track use of open-source content.
  4. Watch for amendments.

She expands on these tips in the following five-minute Hot Tips for Startups video.

For more details on how the Copyright Act changes could affect you, watch Karen’s full lecture and have a look at her presentation slides.

Register now for our next MaRS Best Practices event: The Crowdfunding Success Pattern with RocketHub co-founder and CEO Brian Meece.

Additional resources: 

Starting a business? Check out the resources in our Entrepreneur’s Toolkit.