priority in Canada if, among other things, the applicant was at the date of application a citizen or
national, or domiciled in that country, or has a real and effective industrial or commercial
establishment in the country of the Union.139
In light of the above legal provisions, it appears that no citizenship is required and that a stateless
person as a resident of Canada is able to enjoy the rights of trademark under Article 14. For
stateless persons outside Canada to register a trademark in Canada, the person must at least be
domiciled or have a commercial establishment in accordance with applicable international
conventions.
d. Copyright
Like trademarks, copyright arises when the works are created.140 The conditions for the
subsistence of copyright are contingent on whether the person is linked to a treaty country. In
particular, section 5(1) of the Copyright Act provides that copyright applies to every original
literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work, the author was, at the date of the making of the
work, a citizen or subject of, or a person ordinarily resident in, Canada or some other treaty
country.141 Copyright also applies when a work is first published in a treaty country even if the
author was not a citizen or subject of, or a person ordinarily resident in, Canada or some other
treaty country.142 Treaty country is defined under the Copyright Act as a Berne Convention
country, Universal Copyright Convention country, WIPO Copyright Treaty country or World
Trade Organization member.143 The Minister may also extend protection to other countries that
are not treaty countries by way of notice in the Canada Gazette.144
In order to register a copyright, this can be done “by or on behalf of the author of the work, the
owner of the copyright in the work, an assignee of the copyright, or a person to whom an interest
in the copyright has been granted by licence.”145 Based on the foregoing it appears as though
stateless persons who publish a work in Canada, or are “ordinarily resident” in Canada would be
able to exercise their entitlement to copyright for the purposes of Article 14.
Ibid., at s. 34(1)(b). Once the Economic Action Plan 2014 Act comes into effect, s. 34(1)(b) becomes s. 34(1)(c):
“when an applicant files an application for the registration of a trademark in Canada after the applicant or the
applicant’s predecessor in title has applied, in or for any country of the Union other than Canada, for the registration
of the same or substantially the same trademark in association with the same kind of goods or services, the filing
date of the application in or for the other country is deemed to be the filing date of the application in Canada and the
applicant is entitled to priority in Canada accordingly despite any intervening use in Canada or making known in
Canada or any intervening application or registration, if…(b) the applicant files a request for priority in the
prescribed time and manner and informs the Registrar of the filing date and country or office of filing of the
application on which the request is based;”
140
Canadian Intellectual Property Office, “What is copyright?” (2 September 2014), available at:
http://tinyurl.com/pghlz8l [What is copyright?].
141
Copyright Act, RSC 1985, c C-42, at s. 5(1), available at: http://canlii.ca/t/52dfv [Copyright Act]; and see,
Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Copyright Guide (30 April 2015), available at: http://tinyurl.com/opmnwam
[Copyright Guide].
142
Copyright Act, ibid., at s. 5(1)(c).
143
Ibid., at s. 2.
144
Copyright Guide, supra note 141.
145
Copyright Act, supra note 141 at s. 55(1).
139
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