Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act

Marginal note:Copyright and manuscript to revert to author

• 83 (1) Notwithstanding anything in this Act or in any other statute, the author’s manuscripts and any copyright or any interest in a copyright in whole or in part assigned to a publisher, printer, firm or person becoming bankrupt shall,

  • (a) if the work covered by the copyright has not been published and put on the market at the time of the bankruptcy and no expense has been incurred in connection with that work, revert and be delivered to the author or their heirs, and any contract or agreement between the author or their heirs and the bankrupt shall then terminate and be void or, in the Province of Quebec, null;

  • (b) if the work covered by the copyright has in whole or in part been put into type and expenses have been incurred by the bankrupt, revert and be delivered to the author on payment of the expenses so incurred and the product of those expenses shall also be delivered to the author or their heirs and any contract or agreement between the author or their heirs and the bankrupt shall then terminate and be void or, in the Province of Quebec, null, but if the author does not exercise their rights under this paragraph within six months after the date of the bankruptcy, the trustee may carry out the original contract; or

  • (c) if the trustee at the end of the six-month period from the date of the bankruptcy decides not to carry out the contract, revert without expense to the author and any contract or agreement between the author or their heirs and the bankrupt shall then terminate and be void or, in the Province of Quebec, null.

• Marginal note:If copies of the work are on the market

  (2) Where, at the time of the bankruptcy referred to in subsection (1), the work was published and put on the market, the trustee is entitled to sell, or authorize the sale or reproduction of, any copies of the published work, or to perform or authorize the performance of the work, but

  • (a) there shall be paid to the author or his heirs such sums by way of royalties or share of the profits as would have been payable by the bankrupt;

  • (b) the trustee is not, without the written consent of the author or his heirs, entitled to assign the copyright or transfer the interest or to grant any interest therein by licence or otherwise, except on terms that will guarantee to the author or his heirs payment by way of royalties or share of the profits at a rate not less than the rate the bankrupt was liable to pay; and

  • (c) any contract or agreement between the author or their heirs and the bankrupt shall then terminate and be void or, in the Province of Quebec, null, except with respect to the disposal, under this subsection, of copies of the work published and put on the market before the bankruptcy.

• Marginal note:Marketable copies to be first offered for sale to the author

  (3) The trustee shall offer in writing to the author or his heirs the right to purchase the manufactured or marketable copies of the copyright work comprised in the estate of the bankrupt at such price and on such terms and conditions as the trustee may deem fair and proper before disposing of the manufactured and marketable copies in the manner prescribed in this section.