Canada's Copyright Act protects original works that are expressed in a fixed form — meaning recorded, written, photographed, or otherwise captured in some tangible way. Copyright protection is automatic in Canada: as soon as an original work is created and fixed, it is protected. No registration is required. No copyright notice (the © symbol) is required. The absence of a copyright notice on a photograph, article, or illustration does not mean it is free to use.

The categories of works protected by copyright are broad and include literary works (articles, website copy, blog posts, software code, instruction manuals), artistic works (photographs, illustrations, paintings, graphic designs, logos), musical works, dramatic works, sound recordings, and broadcasts. A website typically contains multiple categories simultaneously — the written content, the photographs, the design, and any custom code are all independently protected if they are original.

"Original" in Canadian copyright law means that the work originated with the author and reflects some degree of skill and judgment. The threshold is not high. A photograph taken on a smartphone is original. A short paragraph of marketing copy is original. A simple logo design is original. Copyright does not require artistic merit — only that the work originated with a human author and reflects their choices.

Copyright does not protect ideas, facts, titles, names, slogans, or data — only the specific expression of those things. The idea for a web design business is not protected. The specific written description of that business on a website is.

How long copyright lasts

In Canada, copyright in most works lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. Canada amended its Copyright Act in 2022 to extend the term from 50 years after death to 70 years after death, aligning with the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom.

Works where the author died more than 70 years ago are in the public domain in Canada and can be used without permission. This covers literature, art, and music created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and earlier. However, a new photograph of a public domain painting is itself protected by copyright — the photographer has created a new original work. A modern edition of a public domain text may include newly copyrighted editorial content. The public domain status of the underlying work does not automatically extend to every reproduction of it.

For photographs and other works where the author is unknown or corporate, different rules apply. Crown copyright — copyright owned by the Canadian federal or provincial government — also has its own rules and lasts for 50 years from publication.

Fair dealing: Canada's limited exception

Canadian copyright law includes a "fair dealing" exception, which allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission for certain purposes: research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, review, and news reporting. If the purpose qualifies, the use must also be "fair" — assessed by factors including how much of the work is used, the nature of the dealing, the effect of the dealing on the market for the original, and whether an alternative was available.

Fair dealing in Canada is significantly narrower than the American "fair use" doctrine. Canadian fair dealing has a defined list of allowable purposes — if your purpose is not on that list, fair dealing does not apply. Reproduction for commercial promotion, for example, is not a recognized fair dealing purpose. Using a photograph to illustrate a product listing is not fair dealing.

For website purposes, fair dealing is most relevant when quoting or referencing third-party content for critical or informational purposes — such as quoting a short passage from a published article to discuss or critique it. Even then, the use should be limited (typically a brief excerpt, not the full work), the source and author should be credited, and the use should not substitute for the original.

Images and photographs on your website

Images are the category where copyright infringement is most common on small business websites. The ease of saving or right-clicking images found online creates an impression that those images are freely available. They are not.

Every photograph you see online is almost certainly protected by copyright unless it comes from a source that explicitly grants permission to use it. Finding an image through a Google Image Search does not grant any right to use it. Hotlinking to an image hosted on someone else's server (embedding their image on your site by referencing their URL) creates both copyright and technical issues. Downloading and re-uploading the image does not resolve the copyright status — it only moves the infringing copy.

For legal images on your website, your options are: use images you or your business created and own, purchase a licence from a stock photography service (Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Getty Images, and similar), use images released under licences that permit the use you intend (see Creative Commons below), or use truly public domain images from verified public domain sources such as Unsplash, Pexels, or Pixabay — but read their licence terms carefully, as they vary.

A stock photo licence is typically limited to a defined scope of use. A "standard licence" from a stock site may permit website use but not resale, print runs above a certain size, or use in certain commercial contexts. Read the licence for the specific image, not just the platform's general terms.

Written content and text

Copying text from another website is copyright infringement, even if the source is not identified. It does not matter whether the copied text is from a competitor, a news outlet, a government agency, or a Wikipedia article — each of these is subject to its own copyright terms.

Beyond the legal issue, copying text from other websites is also a significant problem for search engine performance. Search engines demote or ignore duplicate content, which means copied text actively harms your site's visibility. For both legal and practical reasons, your website content should be original.

Quoting brief passages with attribution for commentary or informational purposes may qualify as fair dealing, but this is context-dependent. A short quote with a link back to the source, clearly presented as a quote, for the purpose of discussing or building on the original, is generally lower risk. Reproducing multiple paragraphs of someone else's article is not.

Product descriptions, terms of service, and privacy policies are also copyrighted. Copying a competitor's terms of service is a copyright violation on top of being a bad business practice — their terms are specific to their operations and almost certainly do not accurately describe yours.

Fonts and typefaces

Font licensing is frequently misunderstood by website owners and even by some web designers. A font you have on your computer for use in desktop applications does not automatically come with a web licence. Web fonts — fonts embedded in a website so browsers can render them — require a separate web licence in most cases.

When a web font is referenced in a stylesheet with a @font-face declaration, copies of the font file are downloaded to every visitor's browser. Font licences that permit desktop use (installing the font in Windows or macOS for use in Word or Adobe applications) typically do not permit this kind of distribution to end users. Embedding a desktop-licensed font in a website is a licence violation even if you own the font.

The solutions are straightforward. Use Google Fonts, which are licensed under the SIL Open Font Licence and permit free use on any website. Use fonts from other open-source repositories such as Font Squirrel, which filters fonts by web-licence compatibility. Purchase a web licence for commercial fonts from the type foundry or distributor. Or use a font service such as Adobe Fonts with an appropriate subscription.

Self-hosting fonts that were originally loaded from Google Fonts or another CDN is permitted under the font's licence — the licence applies to the font itself, not to where it is hosted. Many web designers self-host fonts for performance and privacy reasons, and this is fine as long as the font's licence permits it.

Creative Commons licences explained

Creative Commons licences are a set of standardized public licences that creators can apply to their work to grant specific permissions to the public. Understanding what each licence allows — and does not allow — is important before using Creative Commons-licensed content on a commercial website.

The six main Creative Commons licences combine four elements. CC BY requires attribution — you must credit the creator. CC BY-SA requires attribution and also that any derivative work be shared under the same licence. CC BY-ND requires attribution and prohibits derivative works (no modifications). CC BY-NC requires attribution and restricts use to non-commercial purposes. CC BY-NC-SA combines the non-commercial and share-alike restrictions. CC BY-NC-ND is the most restrictive, requiring attribution, prohibiting commercial use, and prohibiting derivatives.

For most commercial small business websites, the critical restriction is NC (NonCommercial). A CC BY-NC licence means the content cannot be used commercially — and "commercial" is interpreted broadly to include any use that is primarily intended for commercial advantage. A business website is almost always commercial use, even if the specific page using the image is not a sales page. If you are in doubt, avoid NC-licensed content for commercial use and find content with a more permissive licence or purchase a stock licence.

Attribution requirements under CC BY are real obligations. When using CC-licensed content, you must credit the creator with their name (or pseudonym), the title of the work if available, the source URL, and the licence URL or name. Cropping out a watermark does not satisfy attribution — it is an additional infringement.

Logos, trademarks, and brand assets

Logos and brand assets are typically protected by both copyright (as artistic works) and trademark law. Using another company's logo on your website without permission is generally not permitted. Common situations where this arises include adding client logos to a portfolio or testimonials section, showing brand logos in a "as seen in" section, or using a supplier or partner's logo.

Many businesses will give permission for legitimate partner or client acknowledgment use of their logo — but permission should be confirmed. Using a client's logo in a portfolio should be authorized by the client as part of your engagement. Using a brand's logo to imply endorsement or affiliation that does not exist is both a copyright and trademark issue and creates additional legal exposure.

Trademark law also applies to domain names and website names. Using a trademarked name in your domain, in your site's title, or prominently in your site's content in a way that could cause confusion with the trademark owner's business can constitute trademark infringement independently of any copyright concern.

What happens if you infringe

In Canada, copyright owners can sue for infringement in the Federal Court or a provincial superior court. Remedies include injunctions (an order to stop the infringing use immediately), actual damages (compensation for financial losses caused by the infringement), and statutory damages. Statutory damages under the Copyright Act range from $500 to $20,000 per work for commercial infringement. In cases of non-commercial infringement, statutory damages are lower, but the ceiling is still $5,000 for all infringements in a single proceeding.

Copyright owners may also pursue their claims through a cease-and-desist letter before litigation. For small business website infringements — particularly image use — the more common practical outcome is receiving a demand letter from a rights management company (often on behalf of stock photo agencies or photographers) requesting payment for the unauthorized use. These demands can be significant, often running to hundreds or thousands of dollars per image, regardless of whether the infringement was intentional.

Not knowing that content was protected by copyright is not a complete defence to infringement — but it is a factor courts consider when assessing whether infringement was wilful and therefore whether higher damages are appropriate.

Safe practices for website content

The following habits eliminate the vast majority of copyright risk for small business websites.

For images: Use your own photography where possible. For stock images, use a reputable paid service and keep your licence records. For free images, use Unsplash, Pexels, or Pixabay — and read the licence for the specific image before use, as some images on these platforms carry additional restrictions from the photographer.

For written content: Write your own content. If you quote other sources, keep quotes brief, attribute clearly, and link back to the original. Do not copy and paste content from other websites — not even a sentence or two without attribution.

For fonts: Use Google Fonts, open-source fonts with confirmed web licences, or paid web font subscriptions. Keep a record of what fonts you use and what licences cover them.

For logos and third-party brand assets: Get permission in writing before using another organization's logo on your website, even for legitimate acknowledgment purposes.

For content your web designer creates: If you hire a web designer or copywriter to create content for your site, ensure your contract makes clear that you own the copyright in the deliverables — or that you have a licence to use them. In Canada, copyright in a work created by an independent contractor typically belongs to the contractor, not the client, unless the contract says otherwise. This is different from employment situations, where work created by an employee in the course of employment is owned by the employer.