Copyright
5. Notice of Copyright
Many Canadians are familiar with the copyright symbol ©. This is due largely to our exposure to copyrighted materials originating in, or destined for, the United States, where it had, until recently, been a requirement that published works, as a condition for maintaining copyright protection, bear a notice of copyright. There has never been such a mandatory notice requirement in Canada. Moreover, the mandatory notice requirements have been removed from US law for works published in the United States after March 1, 1989, at which date the United States conformed its laws to the international standard of no marking requirement, thereby allowing the United States to become a member of the Berne Convention for the protection of copyrighted works. This treaty extends minimum levels of reciprocal copyright protection to nationals of the member states, and is discussed in more detail in Registration of Copyright of this paper.
However, notwithstanding that there is no legal requirement to do so, it is advisable to place some form of copyright notice on works in which copyright is claimed. Firstly, under Canadian law, if the name of the owner of the copyright in the work in question is printed, or otherwise indicated, on the work, that person shall, unless the contrary is proven, be presumed to be the owner of the subject copyright.
Additionally, the placing of an appropriate notice of copyright serves to give the copyright owner an advantage over infringers. Pursuant to Canadian law, if a person was not aware, and had no reasonable grounds to suspect, that a work was subject to copyright, no damages are payable to the owner of the copyright relating to infringement by that person. That is, only injunctive relief may be available against the infringer, to stop ongoing infringement. By giving potential infringers notice of copyright on the work (i.e. by placing a suitable indication of copyright on the work), copyright owners can make it difficult, if not impossible, for an infringing party to allege that he or she "had no reasonable grounds" to suspect that the work was copyrighted, thereby enabling the owner to collect full damages for any infringement, in addition to an injunctive remedy.
In the United States, placing notice on the work has a similar effect; if a proper notice of copyright appears on published copies to which a defendant in any infringement suit had access, then the courts are directed not to give any weight to a claim of innocent infringement in mitigation of actual or statutory damages, which are discussed in the next section.
If notice of copyright is given, it should be at least be marked on the title page of the work, or the reverse thereof, in the following form:
All Rights Reserved
e.g. © 1999 HOFBAUER ASSOCIATES PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION
All Rights Reserved