TORONTO, ON –
Canadian copyright law already favours you as a creator.
The default rule puts ownership in your hands the moment you create the work, and it stays there— unless you sign it away in writing.
The arguments brands use to claim otherwise, physical access, incidental branding, the simple fact of payment, don't override that default. Your job is to know the rule well enough to hold your ground, and to make sure your contracts say in writing what the law already gives you by default.
This guide breaks down the legal principles that support your ownership, debunks the arguments brands use to claim otherwise, and gives you a framework for securing fair terms.
Moral rights
(n.) /ˈmɔr.əl raɪts/
An author’s personal rights to the integrity of their work and to be credited or remain anonymous, which survive a copyright assignment and can only be given up by a separate, explicit waiver, under section 14.1 of Canada’s Copyright Act.
Here’s the scenario: You just wrapped a great shoot for a brand. You brought your characters, your creative vision, and your audience to the table, and the content you made is genuinely good, the kind your audience is going to love.
Then you read the contract’s ownership clause and it isn’t clear at all. It’s your content, so surely you own it. Right?
You ask the brand to confirm, and they tell you they own it outright: they paid for it, and it was filmed at their event.
This is increasingly common for content creators, influencers, and creative entrepreneurs. As the creator economy matures, understanding and defending your intellectual property rights isn’t optional anymore. It’s foundational to building a sustainable career in the digital world.
Who Owns Copyright in Canada?
The starting point is section 13(1) of Canada’s Copyright Act: the author of a work is its first owner. For content creators, the “author” is whoever exercises the skill and judgment to actually create the content, the person filming, performing, writing the script, and editing the final cut.
There’s one major exception. Under section 13(3), work created by an employee in the course of their employment is owned by the employer by default. But most creators aren’t employees. You’re engaged as an independent contractor, and that distinction is the entire foundation of your ownership claim. As an independent contractor, you are both the author and the default owner of your work, unless you explicitly sign that ownership away in writing.
That last part matters more than most creators realize. Section 13(4) of the Act requires that any assignment of copyright be in writing and signed by the copyright owner to be valid. Paying an invoice is not an assignment. Possessing the raw files is not an assignment. Even a verbal agreement or an email saying “obviously this is ours now” doesn’t transfer ownership. If your contract doesn’t contain an explicit, signed assignment clause, or if you never signed one, the brand does not own your copyright, regardless of what they’ve assumed or told you.
Debunking Common Arguments for Brand Ownership
Brands unfamiliar with IP law tend to reach for a handful of arguments that sound intuitive but don't hold up. Here’s how to counter the two you’ll hear most often.
“It was filmed at our event, on our property.” This confuses physical property rights with intellectual property rights. A brand controlling access to a venue does not automatically grant it ownership of the creative work an independent party produces there. A professional photographer shooting in a public park owns the copyright to their photos; the city that owns the park does not. The brand provided a location. You provided the authorship, and authorship is what copyright protects.
“Our branding and logos are in the video.” The incidental appearance of a brand’s logo or trademark in your footage does not transfer copyright in the entire work to them. Your video is a new, original work that you authored. The fact that it was made to promote their event makes the presence of their branding expected and necessary to fulfill the contract’s purpose, but expected doesn’t mean owned. You own the copyright in the video you created. They own the copyright and trademark in their pre-existing branding. One does not absorb the other; they’re simply layered in the same piece of content.
The Power of Your Pre-Existing IP
Brands frequently hire creators specifically because of an established voice, format, or set of characters that already belongs to that creator. When a brand expressly asks you to feature your own characters or format in a campaign, that request itself undercuts any later claim to owning the final product. They wanted your IP precisely because it was already valuable and already yours. A brand can’t simultaneously argue that your creative identity is what made the deal worth doing and that the resulting work is entirely theirs.
Follow the Money: Price Reflects the Rights Granted
The commercial terms of a deal are strong supporting evidence for how much was actually being sold. A full assignment, where you permanently transfer your copyright, commands a fee reflecting the fair market value of that asset changing hands forever. A license, by contrast, is priced for the use, not the asset, and is typically far less expensive because you’re retaining the underlying ownership.
If your fee looked more like payment for a day of creative services and a specific use than a permanent buyout, that commercial reality is a genuinely persuasive point in negotiation. Brands rarely pay outright purchase rates while expecting outright purchase rights, and that mismatch is worth naming directly when an ownership dispute comes up.
Licensing Is the Win-Win
Instead of an outright transfer, the industry standard, and the fairer solution for both sides, is licensing. A license is permission, not a sale. As the copyright owner, you grant the brand the right to use your content in specific ways, for a specific term, and in specific territories, while you keep the underlying asset.
This structure works for everyone. The brand gets a clear, enforceable license to run its campaign and hit its marketing goals. You retain ownership of your work, which means you can keep it in your portfolio, license it elsewhere later where it doesn’t conflict with the brand’s exclusivity, and stay in control of an asset that keeps producing value long after the campaign ends.
A well-drafted license should specify, at minimum: the exact platforms and formats where the brand can use the content, how long the license runs, whether it’s exclusive or non-exclusive, what territories it covers, and whether paid media or third-party distribution is included or requires separate payment. Vague licensing language is where most disputes start, so precision here protects both parties, not just you.
The Clause Most Creators Miss: Moral Rights
Even when a contract does contain a valid, signed copyright assignment, one thing survives it: your moral rights. Under section 14.1 of the Copyright Act, every author has the right to the integrity of their work (protection against distortion or modification that harms their reputation) and the right to be associated with the work as its author, or to remain anonymous, if they choose.
Critically, section 14.1(3) confirms that assigning your copyright does not, by itself, waive your moral rights. Those rights are personal to you and cannot be sold or transferred, only waived, and only in writing. This means that even in a deal where you’ve agreed to a full copyright buyout, a brand that wants to re-edit your content beyond recognition, strip your creator credit, or use it in a context that damages your reputation may still need a separate, explicit moral rights waiver to do so cleanly. If a contract asks you to waive moral rights, read that clause as carefully as the ownership clause itself.
It's giving up something different, and once waived, moral rights cannot be reacquired.
Building This Into Your Contracts
Understanding the legal default is the first step. Making sure your actual contracts reflect it is the second, and it’s the one that prevents disputes instead of just winning them after the fact.
A few provisions worth insisting on in every brand deal:
An explicit ownership statement. Don’t let the contract stay silent on copyright and rely on default rules to bail you out later. State plainly that you retain ownership and that the brand receives a license, not an assignment, unless you’ve specifically agreed and been paid for a buyout.
A defined scope of use. Name the platforms, the duration, the territory, and whether paid amplification is included.
A moral rights clause that matches your intent. If you’re comfortable being edited or want to control how your name appears, say so specifically rather than leaving it to a broad, generic waiver.
A rate that reflects the rights. If a brand wants a full buyout, that’s a legitimate ask, but the fee should reflect the value of a permanent asset transfer, not a standard production day rate.
As a content creator, your intellectual property is your most valuable asset.
The work you create is the foundation of your business and your career. Never assume that payment from a brand automatically means you have given up your rights.
By understanding the principles of copyright ownership and advocating for a licensing model, you can confidently enter into brand partnerships that are both creatively fulfilling and commercially sound.
Diverge Legal is ready to help you protect your creative work. Contact us today.
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More about DIVERGE
Diverge is not just a legal service provider. We’re your partner in building a legally sound and sustainable content creation business. We understand the unique challenges creators face and offer tailored solutions to protect your intellectual property, ensure regulatory compliance, and minimize legal risks.
Whether you’re an established influencer or an emerging creator, Diverge is here to help you focus on what you do best, while we take care of the legal complexities.
Reach out to Diverge today to learn more about how we can support your content creation journey.
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Important Notice: The information in this article is provided for general informational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. Reading this content does not create a lawyer-client relationship. Always seek professional legal counsel tailored to your specific situation. No part of this article may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature, without the express written permission of Diverge Legal.
