Tag: Communication

Telecommunication and Communication Signal in Canadian Copyright Act

This is a bilingual post. Chinese version is following the English one.
加拿大版权法中“电磁通讯”与“广播信号”的区别
这是一篇双语日志，中文版跟在英文版后面。
 

Easy124, a reader of this blog, sent me some provisions in Canadian Copyright Act, and asked me some questions on the performer’s rights in that law.

Actually I am not among professionals specially in Canadian law. Last time I read the Canadian Copyright Act was two months ago when I was revising my paper on orphan Works. So to me, his questions are opportunities for my study rather than enquires for somehow expertise.

There are three questions raised by Easy. I have mentioned one of them in a former post, which is about the unauthorized fixation of a performer’s performance. Here I’d like to discuss another interesting question: difference between "telecommunication" and "communication signal". The last question about the Right to Remuneration will be disscussed  later.

In Section 15 (1) (a) of Canada Copyright  Act, the law noted that, if a performance is not fixed, its performer has the right:

(i) to communicate it to the public by telecommunication,
(ii) to perform it in public, where it is communicated to the public by telecommunication otherwise than by communication signal, and
(iii) to fix it in any material form,

Easy’s question are: What’s the difference between "telecommunication" and "communication signal"? Why the copyright is hereby refined to "perform [the performance] in public, where it is communicated to the public by telecommunication otherwise than by communication signal"?

In fact, these two terms has been legally defined in Sec. 2 of the Canadian Copyright Act:

"communication signal" means radio waves transmitted through space without any artificial guide, for reception by the public;