CanadaCopyright Act, Circumvention of Technological Protection Measures (sections 41 to 41.21 and 42(3.1))
R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42, ss. 41 to 41.21
In force since .
A copyright and text and data mining (TDM) rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Access restriction
As of .
What it requires
- Do not circumvent a technological protection measure that controls access to a work, a performer's performance fixed in a sound recording or a sound recording and whose use is authorized by the copyright owner, by descrambling or decrypting the work or otherwise avoiding, bypassing, removing, deactivating or impairing the measure, unless you have the authority of the copyright owner or a statutory exception applies.
- Do not offer or provide services to the public primarily for the purposes of circumventing a technological protection measure, and do not manufacture, import, distribute, offer for sale or rental or provide a technology, device or component designed or produced primarily for that purpose.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
Criminal exposure note
Section 42(3.1) makes it an offence, for a person other than one acting on behalf of a library, archive, museum or educational institution, knowingly and for commercial purposes to contravene section 41.1. On conviction on indictment the maximum is a fine of $1,000,000, imprisonment for five years, or both; on summary conviction a fine of $25,000, imprisonment for six months, or both.
Penalty structure
The ceiling on a fine for a knowing contravention of section 41.1 for commercial purposes, on conviction on indictment; imprisonment for up to five years may be imposed instead of or with the fine, and on summary conviction the fine ceiling is 25,000 dollars and the imprisonment ceiling six months (s. 42(3.1)).
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- CAD
- Fixed cap
- 1,000,000
What this law does
Section 41 of the Copyright Act defines a technological protection measure as any effective technology, device or component that, in the ordinary course of its operation, controls access to a work, a performer's performance fixed in a sound recording or a sound recording and whose use is authorized by the copyright owner, or restricts the doing of an act referred to in section 3, 15 or 18 or an act for which remuneration is payable under section 19.
For a measure that controls access, to circumvent means to descramble a scrambled work or computer program, or decrypt an encrypted work or computer program, or to otherwise avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate or impair the measure, unless it is done with the authority of the copyright owner. Paragraph 41.1(1)(a) prohibits any person from circumventing a technological protection measure within the meaning of paragraph (a) of that definition, which is a measure that controls access to the work.
Paragraph 41.1(1)(b) separately prohibits offering or providing services to the public if the services are offered or provided primarily for the purposes of circumventing a technological protection measure, if their uses are not commercially significant other than for circumvention, or if the person markets them as being for that purpose.
Paragraph 41.1(1)(c) prohibits manufacturing, importing, distributing, offering for sale or rental or providing a technology, device or component that is designed or produced primarily for the purposes of circumventing a technological protection measure, whose uses are not commercially significant other than for circumvention, or that the person markets as being for that purpose.
The owner of the copyright in the work is entitled, subject to the Act and any regulations made under section 41.21, to all remedies by way of injunction, damages, accounts, delivery up and otherwise that are or may be conferred by law for the infringement of copyright against a person who contravened paragraph 41.1(1)(a). The owner may not elect to recover statutory damages from an individual who contravened that paragraph only for his or her own private purposes.
Paragraph 41.1(1)(a) does not apply if a technological protection measure is circumvented for the purposes of an investigation related to the enforcement of any Act of Parliament or any Act of the legislature of a province, or for the purposes of activities related to the protection of national security.
Paragraph 41.1(1)(a) does not apply to a person who circumvents a technological protection measure that protects a lawfully obtained computer program for the purpose of obtaining information that would allow the program or a device in which it is embedded to be made interoperable with any other computer program, device or component, or of making it interoperable.
Paragraph 41.1(1)(a) also does not apply to a person who, for the purposes of encryption research, circumvents a technological protection measure by means of decryption if it would not be practical to carry out the research without circumventing it, the person has lawfully obtained the protected work, and the person has informed the owner of the copyright who applied the measure.
A person who knowingly and for commercial purposes contravenes section 41.1 commits an offence, unless acting on behalf of a library, archive, museum or educational institution, and is liable on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding $1,000,000 or imprisonment for up to five years or both, or on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $25,000 or imprisonment for up to six months or both.
Sections 41 to 41.21 were enacted by section 47 of the Copyright Modernization Act, which came into force on , the day on which the order fixing its commencement was published in the Canada Gazette, Part II.
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