Copyright Notices on Paper Money?

Factual Questions
1

Here in Canada, we just got a new ten-dollar note. I got my paws on two today, bought a hamburger with one note (startling the staff at Dairy Queen), and took a close look at the other.

To my surprise, buried in the fine print on the back of the note was “(c) 2001 Bank of Canada”. I looked at the other paper money in my wallet. Canadian 1986-series 20-dollar note: no copyright notice. German 1999-series 10-mark note: copyright notice. Swedish 50-kronor note: no copyright notice. Finnish 20-mark note: no copyright notice.

Does there need to be a copyright notice? It’s not as though there aren’t laws against unauthorised copying of banknotes already… :slight_smile: And if there is a copyright notice, are we still allowed to use the design as long as the reproduction confirms to the currency-reproduction restrictions)?

Lastly, how espensive is it to design, set up, and manufacture banknotes? After all, it’s one hell of a printing job I’m carrying around in my wallet: special paper, complex designs with six or seven colours, overprints, intaglio, iridescent inks, stuff that glows under UV…

The cost per note must be less than the value of the banknote (in Canada’s case, less than five dollars, because they are issuing a new five-dollar note in the fall…) but how much less?

2

Haven’t seen it yet myself, but one reason for the copyright notice may be to secure protection under international copyright treaties to prevent unauthorised reproductions by outside Canada, since the Criminal Code of Canada wouldn’t apply outside Canada. Just a guess, though.

3

There has been a lot of back and forth internationally over the last two-hundred years as to whether copyright protection should require special notice.

In Canada there is no need for the © symbol. Copyright protection is automatic when the work is created.

Internationally, the Berne Convention provides copyright protection between member states, and does not require the © symbol. This granddaddy of international copyright agreements was created in 1886, has been amended about eight times since then, and has led to spinoffs such as the 1996 WIPA Convention.

The USA used to insist on special notice requirements, of which the © symbol was one option, and did not want to sign onto the Berne Convention. Instead, it set up UNESCO and ratified the Universal Copyright Convention in 1954, which also has been amended since then. Article III (1) of the Universal Copyright Convention mandates the © symbol.

Eventually the United States learned the error of its ways, signed on to the Berne Convention, and pulled out of the Universal Copyright Convention. Since 1989, the © symbol has not been required in the U.S. (China and Russia were even slower in signing up for Berne.)

There are now three types of states: those under the Berne Convention and which do not require the © symbol; those not under the Berne Convention but instead under the Universal Copyright Convention which do require the © symbol; and those which are not under either convention and may or may not require the © symbol.

When Canadian works use the © symbol, it is for protection in nations which are not under the Berne Convention but are under the Universal Copyright Convention, or it is for protection in nations which require the © symbol and are not party to either convention.