Register a copyright online with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office: the single-work application, the My Canada Business Account sign-in, the $63 online fee, and the 7-business-day certificate standard.
Applies in: CA
Copyright registration in Canada is a public record, not the act that creates the right. An original work is protected by copyright the moment it is created and fixed in a material form, and registration with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is voluntary. What registration buys is a certificate of registration that serves as evidence in court that the copyright subsists and that the person registered is the owner, as set out in A guide to copyright. This guide walks through filing that registration online through CIPO's e-filing service: confirming the work fits, gathering the application details, signing in, filing, paying, and receiving the certificate.
The limits matter as much as the process: CIPO does not verify or examine the claims made in applications for copyright registration, is not responsible for monitoring registered works, and cannot guarantee the legitimacy, ownership, authorship or originality of a work, on the same page. Registration records your claim; it does not judge whether the work is original, who truly owns it, or whether someone else infringed it. CIPO does not offer advice on whether a particular act constitutes infringement, and this guide gives no IP advice beyond the published process: if your situation needs legal advice, the guide directs you to a lawyer specializing in intellectual property law or a legal clinic focused on IP.
The steps below are the copyright steps only: copyright, patents, trademarks, industrial designs and integrated circuit topographies are distinct forms of IP with their own CIPO applications, and a copyright registration creates no patent or trademark rights.
Copyright applies to original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works that are in a fixed material form, meaning written or recorded, according to A guide to copyright. Literary works include books, pamphlets, computer programs, software and other works consisting of text; dramatic works include motion picture films, plays, screenplays and scripts; musical works include musical compositions with or without words; artistic works include paintings, drawings, maps, photographs, sculptures and plans. Copyright also applies to other subject-matter: performers' performances, sound recordings, and communication signals, with rights that may differ somewhat. Ideas, facts, short and one-word titles, and works that are not fixed in a material form are not protected by copyright, and works that are not original cannot be protected, on the same page.
Each application for registration must be restricted to a single work identified by a title, according to Copyright – Learn the basics. Do not include descriptive matter that does not constitute part of the title. One exception is stated on the same page: if the work is published in a series of books or parts, as in the case of an encyclopedia, a single application for the whole work is sufficient. If you have several separate works, expect a separate application for each, each with its own fee.
Pick the right e-form before you start. Online services and forms lists two copyright registration services: an application for registration of a copyright in a work, and an application for registration of a copyright in a performer's performance, sound recording or communication signal. A song, book, photograph or program goes through the first; a performance, a sound recording, or a broadcast signal goes through the second. Filing in the wrong stream means re-filing, so settle this in step 1, not at the payment screen.
Before registering, you may wish to search the copyright databases to get an idea of the types of entries found in the Register of Copyrights, according to Copyright – Learn the basics. The Canadian Copyrights Database covers all Canadian copyright registered as of October 1991, free of charge, and registrations dating back to 1841, including those registered before 1991 that are not accessible online, can be searched in person at CIPO's Client Service Centre, on the same page. A search is optional and does not reserve a title or block a later application: CIPO does not examine claims, so a search tells you what is already on the Register, not whether your application will succeed. Do it if you want to see how similar works were entered; skip it if you already know the exact title and details you will file.
A complete application for registration of copyright must include the name and address of the owner or owners, the name of the author or authors of the work, the title of the single work, the category of the work (artistic, literary, musical or dramatic), and the date and place of the first publication, if applicable, according to Copyright – Learn the basics. It must also include a declaration confirming that the applicant is 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. Assemble these five items plus the declaration before signing in: the e-filing session logs you out automatically after 30 minutes of inactivity, according to Registration of copyright—filing online, and retyping from memory inside a timed session is how details get entered wrong.
Settle author versus owner before you type either name. The creator of an original work will always remain its author, but the author may not always be the owner: any other individual or legal entity could become the owner through a transfer of ownership, on the same learn-the-basics page. The creator of an original work is normally the owner, but if the work was created in the course of employment, the employer may legally own the copyright, and if you commissioned content on a for-hire basis, the creator may legally own it. The application asks for both names because they are different facts: entering the owner where the author belongs, or vice versa, misstates the record the certificate will evidence. If ownership is not clear from a written agreement, sort it out before filing; this guide does not advise on who owns a given work.
Two naming points from A guide to copyright. First, if you are the author and owner and you wish to remain anonymous, you may use a pseudonym in place of your name when applying, but you must still include a complete mailing address. Second, marking a work with the copyright symbol is not mandatory under Canadian copyright law: the notice consists of the symbol, the name of the copyright owner and the year of first publication, and you can use the symbol even if the work is not registered. Neither point changes the application contents; both are decisions to make before you file, not after.
Do not prepare a copy of the work. CIPO does not require a copy for registration and does not accept copies submitted with application forms at filing or after registration, as the guide states. The application is a record of the claim: title, names, category, publication details, and declaration. Sending the work itself adds nothing and will not be kept.
You need a My Canada Business Account to use the copyright e-filing application, according to Registration of copyright—filing online. If you do not have an account, visit the login page and follow the steps to create one, on the same page. Online services and forms states the same requirement across CIPO's online services: you need a My Canada Business Account to log in, and if you do not have an account, visit the login page of any CIPO online service and follow the steps to create one.
Behind the account sit the credentials CIPO actually accepts. Login process for CIPO online services states that each individual must have their own unique GCKey or Sign-In Partner credentials for connecting to CIPO online services: GCKey, a unique electronic credential issued by the Government of Canada, or the Interac sign-in service (Sign-In Partner) using Canadian online banking credentials. If you do not have a GCKey, you can create one during the migration process described on that page. A mandatory 2-step verification step has also been added as an extra layer of security. The point readers get wrong is the credential: the credential that opens the copyright e-filing application is a My Canada Business Account reached through GCKey or Sign-In Partner, with 2-step verification. No CIPO page mentions a CRA credential for this service, so do not go looking for a CRA sign-in. If you hold an existing ISED account, the login page describes a one-time account migration to the new sign-in platform, in three steps: select the new login credentials, link the existing CIPO client profile to the My Canada Business Account, and set up 2-step verification.
Before filing, review the system requirements and information summary linked from the filing page, to ensure your system meets the software and browser requirements, as Registration of copyright—filing online directs. A failed session at the payment step costs more time than the check does. If you hold a CIPO deposit account and want it linked to your login username, the filing page states you must contact the Finance and Administration Directorate by email or by phone at 819-994-2269; that link is not made inside the application itself.
Open the copyright e-filing application from Registration of copyright—filing online and work through the form with the details gathered in step 3: owner name and address, author name, the title of the single work, the category, the date and place of first publication if applicable, and the declaration of the applicant's status as author, owner, assignee, or licensee. For subject-matter other than works, use the second e-form named in step 1. Check the title character by character before submitting: the certificate evidences the record as filed, and CIPO does not examine the claim for accuracy.
Pay at submission. The fee for accepting an application for registration of a copyright where the request and fee are submitted online is $63, and through any other means it is $81, according to Complete list of fees for copyrights. Standard fees for copyright states the same $63 figure, with an additional $18 if the application and fee are not submitted online. You may pay using a credit card or by deposit account, according to the filing page. All amounts are in Canadian dollars. The $18 difference is the whole price of filing on paper or by fax instead of online, so there is no reason to file any other way unless you cannot use the online service. Filing by mail or by fax remains possible: the guide's frequently asked questions state that you can file your application electronically, by mail or by fax, but this guide covers the e-filing route, and the non-online fee is $81 either way.
Submit once, then stop. Because CIPO does not examine applications, there is no back-and-forth to wait for and no examiner's report to answer; the next thing you receive is the certificate, covered in step 6. If the session times out after 30 minutes of inactivity, sign in again and check whether the application went through before starting over, so you do not file and pay twice for the same work.
CIPO will send a certificate of registration of copyright within 7 business days upon receipt of a compliant application submitted online and payment of the prescribed fee, according to Client service standards. The same standard applies to subject-matter other than works filed online. A compliant paper application carries a 1-month standard on the same page. These standards are effective for services requested on or after April 1, 2026. The clock runs from a compliant application with the fee paid: if something in the application is not compliant, the standard does not promise the same turnaround, and the remedy is to fix the filing, not to chase the standard.
Read the certificate against the application the day it arrives. The certificate is evidence that the copyright subsists and that the person registered is the owner, but that evidence may be challenged in a court proceeding, as A guide to copyright states. Check the title, the names, and the category now, while the filing is fresh: a clerical error found later is a separate correction request with its own fee, covered in step 7. Keep the certificate with the records of the work. Once you obtain a copyright registration, no further fees are required to maintain it, according to Copyright – Learn the basics. There is no renewal to diary and no maintenance fee to pay; the registration stands until a correction, a transfer, or a court proceeding changes the record.
A registration is not frozen forever, but every later change is its own request. For information on how to correct errors with a copyright application or registration, the guide points to CIPO's certificate of correction request page, and Online services and forms lists a request for certificate of correction among the copyright online services. Correcting a clerical error not committed by CIPO costs $63 online or $81 through any other means, according to Complete list of fees for copyrights, and CIPO's service standard is a corrected certificate within 7 business days for a compliant online request. Use it for clerical errors only; substantial changes to the record are a different matter and are not covered by this step.
Assignments and licences can be registered too. For Canadian copyright, you may register any assignment or licence of your work with CIPO, submitting the original agreement or a photocopy of it online or by mail along with the prescribed fee for each work affected, according to Copyright – Learn the basics. The fee is $81, and the service standard is a certificate of registration of assignment or licence within 1 month of a compliant request with the fee paid. To register an assignment, the guide's frequently asked questions state that a copy of the original transfer agreement or a photocopy signed by both parties must be filed with CIPO along with the prescribed fee, including the names or registration numbers of the affected works. Registering the transfer creates the public record; whether the transfer itself is valid is a matter for the agreement and, if disputed, a court, not for CIPO's examination.
Two further items sit outside registration entirely. First, a request for accelerated action on an application for registration of a copyright exists, at a fee of $81, processed within 7 business days of a compliant request with the fee paid, according to the complete fee list and the service standards pages. The grounds on which accelerated action is granted were not stated on the official pages, so do not assume urgency alone qualifies: check CIPO's accelerated-action information before paying that fee. Second, infringement is not a CIPO service at all. CIPO does not offer advice as to whether a particular act constitutes infringement, and only a court can rule whether infringement occurred, according to the guide and the learn-the-basics module. If you suspect infringement, discuss it with an IP professional knowledgeable in IP law; registration gives you the certificate to take into that conversation, and nothing more. Finally, keep the publisher's legal-deposit duty separate in your records: sending copies to Library and Archives Canada does not register copyright, and registering copyright does not satisfy legal deposit.
No. [A guide to copyright](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/node/228) states that a work is protected by copyright law the moment it is created and fixed in a material form, and that registering with CIPO is voluntary. Registration adds a certificate of registration, which the Copyright Act states is evidence that the copyright subsists and that the person registered is the owner, although that evidence may be challenged in a court proceeding. CIPO does not verify or examine the claims made in applications, and it cannot guarantee the legitimacy, ownership, authorship or originality of a work, on the same page. Registration is a public record and court evidence, not the source of the protection itself.
A My Canada Business Account. [Registration of copyright—filing online](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/copyright/registration-copyright-filing-online) states plainly: you need a My Canada Business Account to use the copyright e-filing application, and if you do not have an account, visit the login page and follow the steps to create one. [Online services and forms](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/online-services-and-forms) states the same requirement for all of CIPO's online services. Behind that account, [Login process for CIPO online services](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/login-process-cipo-online-services) states that each individual must have their own unique GCKey or Sign-In Partner credentials for connecting to CIPO online services, and that a mandatory 2-step verification step has been added. No CRA credential is mentioned on any of these pages: do not expect a CRA sign-in to open the e-filing application. If you hold an older ISED account, the same login page describes a one-time migration to the new sign-in platform.
$63 online. [Standard fees for copyright](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/copyright/standard-fees-copyright) lists $63 for accepting an application for registration of a copyright, with an additional $18 required if the application and fee are not submitted online, making $81 through any other means. [Complete list of fees for copyrights](https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/wr04196.html) confirms both figures and adds that accepting an assignment or licence for registration costs $81. All amounts are in Canadian dollars. [Registration of copyright—filing online](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/copyright/registration-copyright-filing-online) states you may pay using a credit card or by deposit account. Once you obtain a copyright registration, no further fees are required to maintain it, according to [Copyright – Learn the basics](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/copyright-learn-basics/copyright-learn-basics-protect-your-original-works-learn-why-copyright-matters).
CIPO's service standard for a compliant online application is 7 business days. [Client service standards](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/corporate-information/performance-targets/client-service-standards) states that CIPO will send a certificate of registration of copyright within 7 business days upon receipt of a compliant application submitted online and payment of the prescribed fee, for both a work and subject-matter other than works. A compliant paper application carries a 1-month standard on the same page. The standard runs from a compliant application with the fee paid, so an incomplete application does not start the same clock. This is a service standard, not a guarantee for any individual file, and the standards on the page are effective for services requested on or after April 1, 2026.
No, and CIPO will not accept one. [A guide to copyright](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/node/228) states that CIPO does not require a copy of the work for registration, does not accept copies of works submitted with copyright application forms at the time of filing or after registration, does not verify or examine the claims made in applications, and cannot guarantee the legitimacy, ownership, authorship or originality of a work. Do not attach the work to the e-form. A separate duty exists for publishers: under the Library and Archives of Canada Act and the Legal Deposit of Publications Regulations, Canadian publishers are obliged to send copies of their publications to Library and Archives Canada generally within 1 week of publication, and depositing with Library and Archives Canada does not constitute copyright registration or protection, on the same page.
No. They are different intellectual property rights under different Acts, handled through different CIPO services with different applications. [A guide to copyright](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/node/228) notes that people sometimes confuse copyright with patents, trademarks, industrial designs and integrated circuit topographies, and that like copyright these are forms of IP covered in their own legislative acts. Copyright protects original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and certain other subject-matter, and protection is automatic on creation and fixation, while a patent or trademark application goes through its own CIPO service and its own steps. This guide covers only the copyright registration service: if you need patent or trademark protection, start from CIPO's patent and trademark pages, not from this application. A single work can attract more than one kind of protection, for example software as a literary work for copyright purposes, but each registration is a separate filing.
No figure in this guide was carried from a secondary source. The following are not stated in this guide because they could not be verified on an official page: the screen order and field labels inside the login-gated e-filing application, since the application screens sit behind sign-in; how the certificate is delivered, since the service standards state only that CIPO will send it; the grounds or criteria for granting accelerated action, since no official page states them; any refund policy for the application fee; the detailed steps for a certificate of correction request beyond its fee and service standard; the mailing address and fax numbers for paper or fax filing, since no official page gave a current address; and the promotional wording about registering in 7 days, since the verified figure used instead is the 7-business-day service standard for a compliant online application. Check the CIPO pages linked above, or CIPO's Client Service Centre, before relying on any of those points.