Will 2020 be the year of copyright?

Copibec is optimistic about the coming year and will soon be distributing the Université Laval payment.

Executive Director’s update

Happy New Year to everyone! The start of a new year often symbolizes renewal and Copibec certainly hopes that will be the case for the arts and culture sphere and copyright.

We ended 2019 by paying out the royalties collected from the education sector. Over $3 million was distributed to copyright owners whose content was used by institutions at the elementary, high school and college levels.

The coming year will be the final stage in implementing the financial provisions of the settlement reached in the lawsuit involving copyright owners and Université Laval. Our team is currently taking the last few steps before paying out royalties, which will be distributed in the coming weeks to the copyright owners concerned. Make sure you don’t miss any information about your copyright collective’s activities by following us on Facebook and Twitter.

We hope that 2020 will be the year the Copyright Act is finally updated to ensure that the contributions made to our society by authors and publishers will be recognized for their true value.

After last fall’s federal election, we have a new government and a new Canadian Heritage minister. Following a major mobilization effort at the Montreal book fair and the publication of the Canadian Heritage Committee's report, the time has definitely come to complete the process first undertaken in 2012.

Turning our attention to in-house operations, Christian Liboiron, who was in charge of our Businesses and Governments team, has been given a promotion to become that team’s Director. Xavier Daffe-Bordeleau, who was an officer for the education team, has left to take on other challenges. Morgane Chaffiraud will be taking over to handle requests for digital content. We would like to wish them both much success in their new positions.

Frédérique Couette
Executive Director

Unclaimed royalties

If the content user has taken all the necessary steps but still can’t find the copyright owners, clearance can be requested from the Copyright Board, which has the power to designate "orphan" works and grant user licences. The relevant copyright collective must then collect the royalties and distribute them to the copyright owners after they have been located.

As part of these efforts, Copibec is holding royalties to be paid to the copyright owners of the following works:

- ANONYME. « Photographie d’Hubert Aquin » tirée des archives du journal La Presse, date indéterminée;
- ANONYME. « Le Rockhead Paradise (photographie) », Virus Montréal, ISSN 0704-8475, Volume 1 (juin 1978), 4^e de couverture;
- Collectif. La Revue de Manon, Montréal [Emma GENDRON éd.], 1925-1931;
- Collectif. La Revue du Foyer, Montréal [Emma GENDRON & Joseph-Arthur HOMIER éd.], 1929-1931;
- Collectif. Programmes du Montreal Repertory Theatre, Montréal : [s.n.], 193?-1960;
- Collectif. Programmes du Théâtre Arcade, Montréal : [s.n.], 194?-1949;
- d’AUTEUIL, Marie-Louise (texte); Le TESTUT, Gérard (illustrations). Mémoires d’une souris canadienne, Montréal, Éditions Albert - Lévesque / Librairie d’Action canadienne-française limitée (collection « Les Récompenses »), 1932;
- DAVELUY, Marie-Claire (texte). Les Aventures de Perrine et de Charlot, Montréal, Bibliothèque de l’Action française, 1923;
- DAVELUY, Marie-Claire (texte). La captivité de Charlot, Montréal, Librairie Granger Frères limitée, 1938;
- FOREST, Marguerite et OUIMET, Madeleine (texte). Mon premier livre de lecture (éd. rev.), Montréal, Granger Frères, © 1943;
- FOREST, Marguerite et OUIMET, Madeleine (texte). Mon deuxième livre de lecture, Montréal, Granger Frères, 1959, © 1943;
- MARCHAND, Gérard. Le régiment de Maisonneuve vers la victoire, 1944-1945. Montréal, Presses Libres, 1980;
- MÉLANÇON, Claude (texte). Par terre et par eau, Québec, Le Soleil, 1928;
- NELCYA (texte). Nogard ou Le Dragon qui voulait apprendre à vivre, Montréal, Les Éditions la Courte Échelle, 1981;
- OUELLETTE, Roger. « De Gaulle et Daniel Johnson entourés de plusieurs ministres français » photographie tirée du Fonds du journal L’Action catholique, 19 mai 1967;
- OUELLETTE, Roger. « De Gaulle salue le premier ministre Johnson à la sortie de l’Élysée » photographie tirée du Fonds du journal L’Action catholique, 21 mai 1967;
- PAGÉ, Jean-Charles. Les Fous crient au secours. Montréal, les Éditions du Jour, 1961;
- TESSIER, Pierre. « Arthur Prévost, le 10 janvier 1969, à l’occasion de son 6000^e article », photographie, 10 janvier 1969;

If your name appears in this list or you have information about any of these individuals, please contact us.

What happens to your copyright after you die?

What is spoken can be forgotten, but what is written remains. Authors are not immortal but their copyrights can survive them, for a certain time at least. What happens to the copyright on an (...)

Copibec welcomes its new IT Analyst-Advisor

Last October, Copibec welcomed Bayard Donkou, software engineer, as its new IT Analyst-Advisor.

Bayard's main responsibility is to analyze Copibec's IT needs. He also plays an advisory role (...)