General Information

If you would like to use something protected by copyright - a book, a poem, a song, a video, a photograph (referred to here as a “work”), you must seek authorization from the copyright owner before using it. However, you may be unable to find the owner of the copyright.

In such a case, after you have tried to locate the copyright owner, you can apply for a licence with the Copyright Board. If your application meets the conditions (details below), the Board can issue a licence to authorize the use of the work.

It is important to note that the Board may issue a licence only under the following conditions:

• Owner cannot be located: 
  A licence may be issued only if the owner cannot be found after reasonable and diligent efforts to find them. A licence cannot be issued if the owner has been located but cannot be reached, does not respond to permission requests, or refuses to grant permission.
• Non-exclusive licence: 
  This means that other people may also obtain a licence to use the same work.
• Valid only in Canada: 
  The licence does not cover uses in other countries. If you use the work outside Canada, you are subject to the laws of each country in which you will use it.
• Limited duration:
  The licence is issued for a specific time period and cannot be granted in perpetuity. 

A licence application requires a certain level of efforts and takes time.

The Board aims to deliver a decision within 45 business days of the application file being considered complete.

Yes.

1 - The work must be protected by copyright 

• You do not require a licence if the work you intend to use is no longer protected by copyright.
• In general, copyright in Canada expires 70 years after the author’s death, but there are exceptions. More specifically, copyright exists in a work until the author’s death, plus the remainder of that calendar year, plus another 70 years. The work then enters the public domain on January 1 of the year following that period. 

For example: An author died on May 9, 1977. Copyright in their works exists for the remainder of 1977 and for 70 additional years, until December 31, 2047. Their works enter the public domain on January 1, 2048.

Important note: Before December 30, 2022, copyright protection expired 50 years after the author’s death. Works that had already entered the public domain did not receive an extension to 70 years. Therefore, if the author died in 1971 or earlier, their work is part of the public domain. A work that is part of the public domain can be used freely. You do not need permission, and you do not need a licence from the Board. 

To help you determine whether the work you wish to use is protected by copyright, you can consult the University of Alberta’s Canadian Copyright Term and Public Domain Flowchart.

If you are unsure whether the work you want to use is protected by copyright, contact us at unlocatables-introuvables@cb-cda.gc.ca.

2 - The work must be published 

Section 2.2. of the Copyright Act explains what “published” means. Essentially, a work must have been made available to the public with the consent of the copyright owner (for example, the work must not have been stolen or pirated).

Under the Copyright Act, the following are not considered published works.

Works published only on the Internet
Works that have been made available exclusively online, including: 

• A video available only on an online video platform like YouTube
• A song available only on a streaming service and not on a CD
• A book published only as an eBook without a paper version being offered
• A news article published only on the newspaper’s website and not in the printed version
• A photograph posted only on social media

Works only performed in public
Works that have only been publicly performed, such as: 

• A song performed in concert but not recorded on an album
• A theater play performed on stage but not recorded on film

Works only exhibited in public
Works that have been exhibited publicly but not recorded or preserved in any way, such as: 

• A sculpture or painting displayed in an art gallery without appearing in the exhibition guide book

The Board cannot issue a licence if the work does not meet the definition of “publication”. You should seek independent legal advice to determine if you can use the work in such a case.

If you are unsure if a work has been published, contact us at unlocatables-introuvables@cb-cda.gc.ca

3 -  You have made “reasonable efforts” to locate the copyright owner

When applying for a licence, we will ask you to demonstrate that you have made reasonable efforts to locate the copyright owner of the work you seek permission to use. This means explaining what steps you took to find the copyright owner before submitting your application. More details on this in the section below.  

There is no fee to apply for a licence. However, you may have to pay royalties for the use of the work if you are issued a licence by the Board.

The Board will issue a licence only if the applicant has done their best, in the circumstances, to locate the copyright owner. The depth of the research required will depend on the work and the information available about it. For example, if the identity of the author is unknown, the options for conducting research will be much more limited than if the author is known or is famous.

Who owns the copyright?
The owner of copyright is the person or legal entity entitled to grant or refuse permission to use the work.

While the author is often the owner of copyright, this is not always the case:

• The author may have sold or attributed the rights to someone else
• The work was created in the course of employment
• The author is unknown, anonymous, or uses a pseudonym
• The Crown owns the copyright
• In the case of joint authorship, there may be several copyright holders.

Additionally, there may be multiple rights within a work, owned by different copyright owners. For example, in a book containing illustrations, the rights to the text and the rights to the art may belong to different people. 

Researching the copyright owner
A good starting point of any research to find information on the copyright owner is a general web search. This may include: search engines such as Google, online databases such as Wikipedia, and people search sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

You should contact the collective society that manages the type of copyrighted works like the one you want to use. Since they administer the rights of several copyright owners, collective societies sometimes have information about the copyright holders of a work. 

You should also search publishers, libraries, archives, universities and museums to collect as much information about the copyright owner as possible. 

Additionally, you may also want to consult the database of licences previously issued by the Copyright Board, to determine if the copyright owner was already found to be unlocatable.

Deceased authors and estates
If the author of the work is deceased, you must try to find out who inherited the copyright or who administers the estate. If possible, provide copies of the obituary in your application. 

Multiple copyright owners
If there are multiple copyright owners, you must conduct a complete search for each of them. If one of them is locatable, you must obtain permission to use the work from them. You can then apply for a licence with the Copyright Board to cover the remaining unlocatable owner(s). 

Fill out and submit the application form on our website. 

You will be asked to provide the following:

• information about the work for which you are seeking a licence and about how you intend to use it
• a document containing the research you conducted to locate the copyright owner. 

If your application is incomplete, the Board will ask you for more information. Being diligent in your research and submitting clear and complete documentation in support of your research helps prevent delays in processing your application. 

The more information you submit with your application form, the less time it will take to process your request.
 
If you need help filing out your application or if you require an alternative format of the application form, contact us at unlocatables-introuvables@cb-cda.gc.ca. 

You will receive an acknowledgement of receipt within 2 business days. Board staff will be in contact with you throughout the process. We will review your application, ensuring it is complete before sending it to Board Members for decision. 

If your application is incomplete or unclear, we may ask you some questions or request additional information. We may also suggest other potential areas of research that may help you locate the copyright owner.

We may consult collective societies regarding the royalties to be paid for a potential licence based on the intended use of the work. We may also set the amount based on information and knowledge we have. You may be consulted on the amount.

Once your application is considered complete, it will be submitted to a Copyright Board Member for decision. You will receive a copy of the decision. If your application is successful, you will receive a licence. If not, you will receive a decision explaining why the Board is unable to grant a licence. Board decisions are published on our website. 

The Board’s service standard is 45 business days from the moment the application file is considered complete to the rendering of the decision. Each request is examined carefully to ensure that it meets the criteria of the Copyright Act before a decision is issued. For this reason, we invite you to submit your application as soon as possible.

If you decide to use a work before receiving a licence from the Board, you may be liable for unauthorized use. If you are limited in resources and time, you may want to consider using another work for which the copyright owner is known and locatable and from which you can obtain permission directly.  

A licence issued by the Board will specify the following:

• The name of the licensee (person or legal entity);
• Information about the work(s) licensed: title(s), author(s), date of creation, description (as available);
• A description of the use(s) of the work(s) and of the rights licensed;
• The authorized uses (for example, the number of copies permitted, to whom they may be distributed and for what purpose(s));
• The effective date and the expiration date of the licence;
• The mention that the licence is valid only in Canada;
• The royalties to be paid;
• Any other condition deemed appropriate by the Board.

The licence will be published on the Board’s website.