In yesterday’s blog, I mentioned that the Copyright Act is, “for the most part,” a statute providing civil remedies for copyright holders. Today I want to talk about criminal offences under the Copyright Act.
It is an offence for anyone to…
- sell or rent out an infringing copy,
- import for sale or rental an infringing copy,
- distribute widely or by way of trade infringing copies (e.g., through music sharing and downloading),
- exhibit in public an infringing copy,
- knowingly possess or adapt any plate for the purpose of making infringing copies,
- knowingly, for private profit, cause copyright-protected work to be performed in public without the consent of the copyright holder.
The punishment for the above-mentioned offences depends on whether the Crown elects to proceed summarily or by way of indictment. The liabilities range from up to six months of imprisonment to up to 5 years, and from up to $25,000 dollars to up to $1 million.
