In the next section of the presentation we'll discuss what kind of material is actually protected by copyright and what is the nature of that protection—in other words, what rights are inherent in the copyright.
First, I'd like to mention that ideas themselves are not protected by copyright; it is the expression of the idea that is actually protected. By way of example, we can think of software. There are many ways of executing certain instructions to do certain things, but it's the way the author chooses to create the program that is protected, not necessarily what the program does.
The same is true with a literary work. There are certain stories that in a sense are universal and very much belong to the public. But what is expressly protected are the words used by the author to tell the story.
Copyright protects a variety of works: literary works, dramatic works, musical works, artistic works, and combinations of those works, as well as combinations of facts. Although a fact is not typically protected by copyright, the combination of those facts may give rise to protection as a compilation.
These are the works of creation, but copyright also protects what builds on that creation and enhances it. Thus the way a performer actually performs a musical work is protected, as is the way that performance is recorded. As well, the way it's communicated through a broadcast signal may be protected. These latter types of protections, which are not the works themselves, are sometimes referred to as neighbouring rights.
On page 9, there are some examples from each category of works. While you may wish to read through them, there are a couple of points worth noting. Under “Literary works”, for example, copyright obviously protects works of fiction, but it also protects academic material, and computer programs are recognized as literary works.
Under “Compilations”, I want to draw your attention to the fact that a database of facts can be protected, where the arrangement and selection of the facts that go into the database give it an original character. Although each individual fact is not protected, the database as a whole may be protected as an original work.
In terms of what I've talked about regarding neighbours, when we talk about performances, there are the performances of actors, musicians, dancers, and singers. They get a type of protection that's more limited in scope than the work they're actually performing. Presumably that's in recognition of the special originality and creativity that attaches to the underlying work. The same is true for sound recordings and broadcast signals, which benefit from protection.
On page 11, we start to describe the rights inherent in copyright. Copyright is not a monolithic single right; it's sometimes referred to as a bundle of smaller rights that cover very specific kinds of activities. Not all uses of a copyright work are protected by the Copyright Act.
The list on page 11 is not exhaustive but identifies perhaps the most significant rights. It includes the right to control the reproduction of a work, which is probably the most important right in copyright. Reproduction in the paper world obviously refers to photocopying, but the right is crafted in a way that's technologically neutral. When you have a digital reproduction of a work, it's also covered by the Copyright Act.
The second right, communication to the public by telecommunication, is something that covers what we traditionally think of broadcasting, and until the later 1980s was actually referred to as a broadcasting right, but subsequently it's been broadened to be more technologically neutral and is now a communication to the public by telecommunication right. That right not only governs traditional broadcasting, but communications that take place over the Internet. We have confirmation of this through a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada when it looked at a tariff that would have been applied to Internet service providers. While the court concluded that Internet service providers are not communicating works, it still recognized that the right does apply to the Internet environment.
A third important right is the public performance right. Again, in a traditional setting we think of the performance of plays or perhaps a work of choreography in the form of a ballet, but it also extends to venues where you might have some kind of electronic performance. For example, if you're talking about a sports bar where there's a widescreen TV with a sports event going on in the background, in that case there's the public performance of the sports event as a work, so the use of that work is controlled by the rights holder. In contrast, a private performance in one's own home is not covered by copyright, and that's the distinction there. Ultimately, the list is finite, and anything that's not on the list is not protected by copyright.
I won't go through the other two. There are illustrations, but again this list you see here is not the full list you would find in the act.
Pages 12, 13, and 14 give some sense of the more limited right that's granted to the neighbours. So performers, until their performances are actually recorded, have the right to control their broadcasts to the public.