A broad definition of copyright is that copyright is the legal rights of the owner of the intellectual property created.
Literally, the definition of copyright is the right to copy. The person who owns the copyright of a work is the only person who can copy that work or give permission to someone else to copy it.
The definition of copyright according to Canada's Copyright Act is: "the sole right to produce or reproduce a work or any substantial part thereof in any material form, to perform the work or any substantial part thereof in public, or, if the work is unpublished, to publish the work or any substantial part thereof."
Besides being able to assign their copyright, license it or use it for funding, copyright holders may also collect royalties when others use their copyrighted work.
Copyright differs from other intellectual property in that copyright is automatically created when a person creates a copyrightable work, that is, an original literary (including software), dramatic, musical, or artistic work. There is no need to register such a work for it to "be copyrighted".
However, you can register your copyright if you like. The Canadian Intellectual Property Office advises that "Although copyright in a work exists automatically... a certificate of registration is evidence that your creation is protected by copyright and that you, the person registered, are the owner. It can be used in court as evidence of ownership." Their A Guide to Copyrights explains the registration process.
And copyright, unlike other intellectual property rights, is automatically applicable to many countries which have copyright treaties with Canada (such as the United States and countries in Europe).
Quite severe penalties exist for copyright infringement. Besides knowing what your copyright rights are, you need to take care not to violate the copyright of others.
