America-Israel Patent Law Blog

Fellow patent practitioner Lee Golden did what I did not do, namely read the Canadian Copyright statute. He notes that the terrorists with the GoPro cameras likely don't even have copyright protection in Canada, since "Palestine" is not a member of the Berne Convention, so 5(1)(a) and (b)(ii) are inapplicable, and since the terrorists first livestreamed from Gaza, that would count as first publication and thus 5(1)(c)(i) is likewise inapplicable.

Works in which Copyright may Subsist

Marginal note:Conditions for subsistence of copyright

• 5 (1) Subject to this Act, copyright shall subsist in Canada, for the term hereinafter mentioned, in every original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work if any one of the following conditions is met:

  • (a) in the case of any work, whether published or unpublished, including a cinematographic work, the author was, at the date of the making of the work, a citizen or subject of, or a person ordinarily resident in, a treaty country;

  • (b) in the case of a cinematographic work, whether published or unpublished, the maker, at the date of the making of the cinematographic work,

    • (i) if a corporation, had its headquarters in a treaty country, or

    • (ii) if a natural person, was a citizen or subject of, or a person ordinarily resident in, a treaty country; or

  • (c) in the case of a published work, including a cinematographic work,

    • (i) in relation to subparagraph 2.2(1)(a)(i), the first publication in such a quantity as to satisfy the reasonable demands of the public, having regard to the nature of the work, occurred in a treaty country, * * *

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