Section 21 — Copyright Act: Copyright in communication signals

Subject to subsection (2), a broadcaster has a copyright in the communication signals that it broadcasts, consisting of the sole right to do the following in relation to the communication signal or any substantial part thereof: to fix it, to reproduce any fixation of it that was made without the broadcaster’s consent, to authorize another broadcaster to retransmit it to the public simultaneously with its broadcast, and in the case of a television communication signal, to perform it in a place open to the public on payment of an entrance fee, and to authorize any act described in paragraph (a), (b) or (d). Subsection (1) applies only if the broadcaster at the time of the broadcast, had its headquarters in Canada, in a country that is a WTO Member or in a Rome Convention country; and broadcasts the communication signal from that country. Notwithstanding subsection (2), if the Minister is of the opinion that a Rome Convention country or a country that is a WTO Member does not grant the right mentioned in paragraph (1)(d), the Minister may, by a statement published in the Canada Gazette , declare that broadcasters that have their headquarters in that country are not entitled to that right.