CanDo StudioCopyright in Canada: music in your videos, pictures on your menu, music in your shop — what is allowed and what costs money
People ask: any song works in a WeChat Channels or Douyin video, so why does the same video get claimed the moment it lands on YouTube? Why does someone turn up asking a shop for a music licence fee? Can a picture from the internet go on the menu? This guide turns Canadian copyright into a checklist you can follow: why platform music is legal and why the licence does not travel with the video; the basics of Canadian copyright and how fair dealing differs from American fair use; then three things that cost real money — running a channel, playing music in a shop, using pictures and fonts; and finally what to do with a copyright notice from your internet provider, who owns AI-generated content, and the common myths.
0. The short answer
Copyright in Canada is automatic: what someone else created belongs to them by default, unless the law makes an exception or they have given you a licence.
1. Why any song works on a short-video platform, and why it fails elsewhere
The platform paid for it
The music libraries inside WeChat Channels, Douyin, TikTok and YouTube Shorts are blanket licences the platform signed with record labels and music publishers. When you tap “add sound”, the licence belongs to the platform, on the condition that the video is published on that platform.
The licence does not travel with the video
TikTok’s Commercial Music Library terms say it plainly: videos containing Commercial Sounds may only be posted or shared within TikTok; “Commercial Uses outside of TikTok are not permitted and no rights are granted by TikTok for such uses”. Any use elsewhere means licensing the track yourself from the rights holders. Other platforms’ terms are much the same: a song legally added inside WeChat Channels, uploaded unchanged to YouTube, is not recognised by YouTube as licensed — YouTube only recognises whose song it is, and a claim follows.
Chinese songs are protected in Canada too
Canada and China are both parties to the Berne Convention (Canada since 1928, China since 1992). A Chinese author’s work is protected in Canada under the Canadian Copyright Act automatically, and vice versa. “It is a Chinese song, nobody in Canada cares” is not true.
WeChat Channels’ own rules
The WeChat Channels Operating Standards, clause 5.3.1, prohibit content that infringes others’ copyright (copying, re-uploading and the like); clauses 6.3 and 6.5 say content with infringing material may be throttled and removed from promotion. So even inside WeChat Channels, using someone else’s video, or music another user uploaded themselves, is outside the platform library’s licence.
2. The basics of Canadian copyright
Automatic; no registration needed
Section 5 of the Copyright Act: an original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work is protected the moment it is created and fixed — written down, recorded, photographed. Photos, short videos, menu copy, a shop logo, the article you posted on WeChat: all covered.
Registration is optional
You can register with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) for $63 online (plus $18 if not filed online). The certificate is evidence: it shows the copyright exists and that the registered person owns it, which saves work in court. Not registering does not weaken the right itself.
Term: the author’s life plus 70 years
Since 30 December 2022 the general term in Canada runs to the end of the calendar year of the author’s death plus 70 years, up from 50. It is not retroactive: works whose protection had already expired did not come back under copyright. In practice: if the author died in 1971 or earlier, the work is in the public domain in Canada; from 1972 onward, count 70 years.
Who owns it
The author, by default. Two common exceptions:
- A work made by an employee in the course of employment belongs to the employer unless agreed otherwise (section 13(3)).
- A logo, website or promotional video you paid someone to make stays with the person who made it unless the contract assigns it — read that clause before signing a design contract for your shop.
Moral rights stay with the author
The right to be credited and the right to the integrity of the work (section 14.1) belong to the author personally, even after the copyright is sold. So even with a licence, do not mangle someone’s work and leave their name on it.
Government material
Information and images on federal government sites may be reproduced free for non-commercial purposes, provided you give the full title, the author and the source URL and do not present it as official; commercial redistribution needs written permission first.
3. Fair dealing is not American fair use
Canada uses a closed list
Section 29 of the Copyright Act names the purposes: research, private study, education, parody or satire; sections 29.1 and 29.2 add criticism, review and news reporting (those two require naming the source and author). If the purpose is not on the list, nothing else matters. American fair use is an open four-factor test; Canada’s is not — do not apply what an American creator says to Canada.
On the list, it still has to be fair
The Supreme Court’s 2004 CCH decision set six considerations: the purpose of the dealing, its character, its amount, the alternatives, the nature of the work, and the effect on the work. Fair dealing is a user’s right and, the Court said, must not be read narrowly; but any one of the six can sink you.
The non-commercial user-generated content exception (section 29.21, the “YouTube exception”)
A distinctly Canadian rule: an individual who uses an existing work to create a new one (a mash-up, a cover, a remix) does not infringe if four conditions are met:
- the use is solely for non-commercial purposes;
- the source and author are mentioned where reasonable;
- you had reasonable grounds to believe the material you used was not itself infringing;
- the new work has no substantial adverse effect, financial or otherwise, on the original.
4. Running a channel: how YouTube’s rules work
Where free music comes from
Music and sound effects in the YouTube Audio Library (YouTube Studio → Audio Library) are free to use and can be monetised; tracks marked Creative Commons must be credited in the video description. YouTube says outright that only Audio Library music is known to be copyright-safe; if “royalty-free” music from another channel or site causes trouble, YouTube is not responsible.
A claim and a strike are different things
- A Content ID claim: the system automatically matched someone else’s content in your video. What happens is set by the rights holder: ads on your video with the revenue going to them, blocking in some regions, or just tracking. A claim is not a strike and does not count against your channel.
- A copyright strike: the rights holder filed a valid removal request; the video comes down and the channel gets a strike. Three strikes and the account, with every associated channel, is terminated, and you cannot open a new one. A strike expires after 90 days if you complete Copyright School; a retraction or a successful counter notification also clears it.
What to do about a claim
Dispute only if you genuinely hold the rights (abusing the process brings penalties). The route: YouTube Studio → Content → the video → “See details” under Restrictions → “Take action” → “Dispute”. If the claimant does not respond within 30 days the claim is released; if they reject, you can appeal, and they then have 7 days; they can also file a removal request at any point — which turns it into a strike.
WeChat and Xiaohongshu too
Content posted from Canada is governed by Canadian law; platform rules are a separate layer. Reposting someone’s article or using their picture is not legal just because the platform has not caught it.
5. Music in your shop: the licence that costs real money
A licence is required, two rights on one invoice
Playing recorded or live music in a public setting — a restaurant, bubble-tea shop, retail store, nail salon, gym, hotel banquet room — needs a licence from Entandem. Entandem is the not-for-profit set up in 2019 by SOCAN (composers, songwriters and publishers) and Re:Sound (performers and record labels): one licence, one invoice, both organisations paid.
What counts and what does not
- Counts: music from a phone, computer or speakers; a television showing music programming (the SOCAN tariff says “including a television set”); DJs, live performers and karaoke have their own tariffs.
- A personal Spotify or Apple Music subscription is not a licence: Entandem says personal subscriptions are for individual use only; playing them in a business needs a public performance licence.
- AM/FM radio is the exception: under section 72.1(1) of the Copyright Act no royalties are collected from the owner of a radio receiving set in a place other than a paid-admission theatre, and Entandem confirms no separate licence is needed for AM/FM radio. The statute says “radio receiving set”; whether internet radio on a phone app counts is not written down, so plan on needing a licence.
How the fee is worked out
Rates are set by the Copyright Board of Canada, mainly by floor area. SOCAN’s published background music tariff (15.A):
| Period | Per m² | Per sq ft | Annual minimum | Status (Sept 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022–2024 | $1.53 | 14.28¢ | $117.75 | Published |
| 2025–2027 | $2.32 | 21.58¢ | $177.99 | Before the Copyright Board |
Example: an 80 m² shop at the 2025–2027 rate pays about $186 a year for the SOCAN layer; Re:Sound is a second layer (its 2023–2026 tariff is also still before the Board) and Entandem quotes both together. Seasonal businesses open under six months pay half. Call Entandem with your floor area before opening and you get an exact figure.
6. Pictures and fonts: what you find online is not free material
First question: where does the licence come from?
A Baidu image, a Xiaohongshu screenshot, a picture from someone’s WeChat article, a still from a TV drama: all copyrighted by default. On a shop sign, a menu, a website or a flyer, that is commercial use, and crediting the source does not fix it.
Using the free stock sites (three sets of terms)
- Unsplash: free, commercial use allowed, no permission needed, credit appreciated but not required; images may not be sold unaltered or compiled into a competing service.
- Pexels: free, editable, no credit required; identifiable people may not be shown in a bad light, no implied endorsement by people or brands, no use in a trademark or logo, no resale of unaltered copies.
- Pixabay: free, no credit required, editable; no standalone resale, no commercial use where a brand appears in the image, no misleading use, no use as a trademark.
Reading the six Creative Commons marks
BY = credit required; SA = adaptations must carry the same licence; NC = no commercial use; ND = no changes. Combined: BY / BY-SA / BY-ND / BY-NC / BY-NC-SA / BY-NC-ND. CC0 waives copyright: copy, modify, use commercially, without asking or crediting.
Rights beyond copyright
An identifiable person in the picture brings image and privacy rights; a brand logo brings trademark rights; CC0 settles neither. Fonts on your sign, menu or business card are licensed too — many are “free for personal use, paid for commercial use” — so read the font licence before using it commercially.
The public domain
A work whose author died more than 70 years ago (or 50 years before the end of 2022) is free to use in Canada; but check the actual version — a new recording of an old tune or a new photograph of an old painting may itself still be protected.
7. A copyright notice from your internet provider
This is the “notice and notice” regime. A rights holder who sees an IP address downloading or sharing their work can send a notice to your internet provider (Shaw, Telus, Rogers and the rest), and the provider must forward it to you.
Four things to remember
- Receiving a notice does not mean you infringed, nor that you will be sued; it may have been someone else in the household or on your Wi-Fi.
- The law does not require you to reply, to pay, or to contact the sender.
- A compliant notice may not contain a settlement offer, a demand for payment or a request for personal information, nor a link to any of those (section 41.25(3)). A notice that asks for money is itself non-compliant — do not pay; ask your provider.
- Your provider does not hand your identity to the rights holder unless a court orders it (which normally means an actual lawsuit). The provider only keeps records for 6 months (1 year if a case is filed).
If it does go to court
Statutory damages under section 38.1 of the Copyright Act: for non-commercial infringement, $100 to $5,000 in total for all works; for commercial infringement, $500 to $20,000 per work. Once one rights holder has sued for non-commercial infringement, no other rights holder can claim statutory damages for earlier non-commercial infringements.
8. Who owns AI-generated content
Canada has not decided. The federal government consulted in 2023–2024 and published its report in February 2025: most respondents said only content with sufficient human contribution should be protected, and existing case law points to an author who exercises skill and judgment; the government says it is still studying the question and has announced no legislation.
9. Common myths
Fact: Credit is one condition of fair dealing, not a licence. If the purpose is not on the list, crediting does not help.
Fact: Non-commercial only lowers the damages (statutory damages capped at $5,000 in total); it is not a defence. The section 29.21 exception has three further conditions.
Fact: The law asks whether a substantial part was taken, not how many seconds; Content ID matches a few seconds easily.
Fact: What you bought is personal use; public performance needs an Entandem licence.
Fact: The library licence works only inside that platform and does not travel with the video.
Fact: Downloading is not a licence; for commercial use read the stock site’s terms or buy a licence.
Fact: Under the Berne Convention, Chinese works are protected in Canada just the same.
Fact: A compliant notice cannot ask for money; one that does is non-compliant. Ask your provider first.
Fact: Without an assignment in the contract, the copyright stays with the designer. Put it in writing.
Fact: Ownership is undecided, and the infringement risk is unchanged.
10. The line we do not cross, and where to check a licence
This page points the way only. If you are claimed against, sued, about to sign a licence, or need to enforce your own rights, see an intellectual property lawyer.
- Law Society of BC lawyer directory: check a lawyer’s licence and practice areas.
- IPIC “Find an IP professional”: the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada directory, searchable by province and type (patent agent, trademark agent, lawyer).
- CIPO “Contact an IP professional”: the official guide page, pointing to the CPATA register and IPIC.
- Access Pro Bono Lawyer Referral Service (B.C.): 604-687-3221 (Monday to Friday, 8:30–16:30), a free first consultation of 15–30 minutes; a $25 booking fee applies if you self-book online or your household income is $100,000 or more.
All links are in section 11.
11. The official sites
These are all official or first-party pages, each opened and checked on 2026-09-20. The Supreme Court decisions site and the Copyright Board tariff pages block automated tools; please open them directly in your browser.