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Copyright can be a strange beast. You buy a painting. You can hang it on the wall but can you make prints? Without anything more, when you buy a copyrighted work, you acquire the physical work but not the right to copy the work. So, when you buy a painting, you buy the physical work but you do not acquire the copyright.

In another example, you hire a writer to write a technical manual. Nothing is said about copyright. The manual is delivered and you pay the writer. Then the writer says, “by the way, if you want to make copies, that will be another $10,000”!

The general rule is that the author of a work is the first owner of the copyright in respect of the work. Works include every original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work.

There are certain exceptions to the general rule. For example, where an “engraving, photograph or portrait” is commissioned by a third party, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, the third party is the first owner of the work.

Another exception is where an employee creates a work (other than an article or other contribution to a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical) in the course of his or her employment. In that case, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, the employer is the first owner of the copyright,.

The copyright in a work may be assigned. Hence the phrase “first owner” refers to the original owner of the copyright before any assignment occurs. Assignments must be in writing. Moral rights, as defined in the Copyright Act, cannot be assigned but they may be released.

As noted above, the general rule and the exceptions concerning the first ownership of a copyright can be altered by agreement. To remove any uncertainty concerning who, between competing parties,  owns the copyright in a work, it is advisable that a written contract be signed that expressly deals with copyright ownership.