Legal Brief for December, 2013

Christmas and Copyright

With the coming of the Christmas season we often find ourselves at Christmas parties and events singing some favourite carols from a song book that the party organizers may have put together.  Did you ever stop to think whether some of those carols and songs might be protected by copyright? It is entirely possible that our well intentioned party hosts may be infringing a composer's rights if the artist's permission has not been obtained for the reproduction of the music or lyrics.

Many Christmas songs and carols are what are known as "traditional" or "public domain".  In these cases there is no copyright protection, either because the composer or lyricist is unknown or the copyright protection has expired, and the work has therefore passed into the "public domain" and is available for copying and reproduction without charge by anyone.  In Canada the copyright on a work lasts for the life of the author/creator plus 50 years.  In the U.S. the period lasts for 70 years after the death of the person.

Here is a listing of common Christmas songs/carols and whether they are currently protected by copyright or not:

We are not breaking any laws when we sing these songs (after all, that's what the composer wants!).  However, the inherent purpose of a copyright law is to ensure that a creator obtains appropriate financial compensation for the reproduction of his or her work.  Any unauthorized copying or reproduction prevents that from happening.  So the next time you are at an event, especially a "for profit" situation, check the program to see if the organizers have noted that Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer has been reprinted with the permission of the copyright holder.  If not, they may be breaking the law!