Some parts of the bill are likely to be controversial. Even if the bill is enacted next year, there is likely to be some delay, if only for administrative reasons, before any of its provisions become effective. However, the bill also gives the Minister of Industry the power to grant additional rights to the extent that reciprocal rights are granted to Canadians in the foreign jurisdiction concerned. Better for performers In one major change, the bill greatly extends the rights of performers. The bill defines performance as the performance of an artistic, literary, dramatic or musical work protectable by copyright, whether or not the work is in fact so protected.
Cinematographic works are protectable as dramatic works.
Where the performance is fixed, the performer has the right to control a rental of a sound recording embodying the fixed performance. If the performance was fixed without the performer's authorization, the performer has the right to reproduce that fixation. Where a performance is fixed with the performer's authorization, the performer has the right to conrol the reproduction of that fixation if such reproduction is made for a purpose other than that for which the performer's authorization was given. These general rights do not, however, not extend to cinematographic works. Performers in such works are granted only the right to authorize the first fixation of the performance in the cinematographic work.