Audiovisual copyright, an evolving culture

The issue of copyright ownership in cinematographic works became controversial in Canada in 1993 during the preparation of Bill C-115, the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement: the federal government proposed that the director be the author of the cinematographic work and that the producer be the first owner of copyright in the work. The massive opposition of authors prevented the adoption of this proposal and the Canadian legislator chose instead to maintain the status quo with respect to this category of work: the cinematographic work is still, under the Copyright Act, considered a dramatic work and the author is the person who created it. The particularity of the audiovisual or cinematographic work comes from the fact that it involves a plurality of authors who collaborate in the creation of the common work. On the international scene, the notion of author, for this category of work, has evolved according to opposite principles according to whether it is a 'copyright' country or a 'copyright' country.