Copyright is a property right that arises initially from authorship alone. In Canada, formal registration is not required. An author has copyright in any original literary work, whether or not it is published, except in some cases where the author has been employed to write the work. Copyright in a work remains with the author or his or her heirs for the life of the author plus fifty years, unless copyright is assigned (by sale or gift) to someone else. Do not assign copyright to your publisher.

To register copyright and for more information, contact: The Commissioner of Patents, The Copyright Office, 50 Victoria Street, Place du Portage, Tower 1, Hull, Canada, K1A 0C9.

To register copyright in the United States, write to: Copyright Office, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20559, U.S.A.

The Writers Guild of Canada has a formal Script Registration Service.