CRAFTS & DESIGN

LEGAL AND COPYRIGHT

• Artists Legal Advice Service

  ALAS provides free legal advice to Ontario artists working in all disciplines. Artists can schedule an appointment to see a lawyer for one-half hour by calling 416.367.2527.

• Canadian Artists Representation (CARFAC Ontario)

  CARFAC Ontario coordinates the Visual Artists' Legal Clinic. This service pairs each participant with a lawyer for a free 30-60 minute session. Artists can consult on questions such as copyright, commercial, contract and tax law.  Artists outside Toronto are accommodated by telephone.

  Members may also receive advice from staff on exhibition contracts, GST, international regulations and other matters pertaining to the business of art.

• Canadian Artists Representation Copyright Collective (CARCC)

  CARCC is a copyright collective that licenses, administers and collects copyright for visual and media artists in Canada who have assigned their copyright to it.

• Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency

  Access Copyright is a not-for-profit agency established by Canadian publishers and creators to license public access to copyright works.  Any Canadian citizen or permanent resident who has published works in Canada in print form and has not assigned their copyright to another collective, such as COPIBEC,  can become an Access Copyright affiliate.  In the visual arts this includes illustrators, photographers and other artists whose work appears in, or is reproduced in, books, magazines, journals and newspapers.  Access Copyright collects and re-distributes royalties on behalf of its members.

• Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO)

  CIPO is an agency associated with Industry Canada responsible for the administration of intellectual property in Canada. This site provides basic information about Canada’s copyright law and systems, including a section of FAQs which may be of interest to choreographers.

• Copyright

  This web portal offers access to information about copyright in Canada.

• Creators’ Rights Alliance (CRA) and the Creators Copyright Coalition (CCC)

  These are coalitions of national artists’ associations and collectives responsible for managing authors’ rights, which is devoted to the defense, the promotion and the protection of the interests of Canadian creators in relation to intellectual property. The sites have information about domestic and international copyright issues.

• Exhibition Right

  Professional visual artists are entitled to a fee for exhibiting their work in professional venues, reproduction fees for work used in printed materials and on websites, fees for work used in advertising and professional fees for giving workshops, seminars and setting up exhibitions. The fee schedule developed by CARFAC is posted on this site.

• Lawyer Referral Service (No link available)

  The Law Society of Upper Canada established this service in 1969. You can obtain the name of a lawyer who will provide a free consultation of up to 30 minutes by calling 905.565.4577. The call will cost you a modest sum, currently $6.00.

• Legal Line

  A not-for-profit organization which offers legal information free of charge. Written information is available about a number of topics of interest to artists, including copyright, internet law, business law, bankruptcy and entertainment law (primarily music and the recorded media).

• Ontario Legal Aid Plan (OLAP)

  OLAP funds community legal clinics, and specialty clinics that provide services to defined communities, such as tenants, First Nations, African Canadians and Chinese and South Asian Ontarians.

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