COVA or Copyright Visual Art, previously called CARCC, is a not-for-profit copyright management society providing Author’s Rights administration for professional Canadian and Québécois visual and media artists. It provides Users with a comprehensive access to the artworks and professional services of its members. Its corporate name is Canadian Artists’ Representation Copyright Collective and it operates under the business names Copyright Visual Arts and Droit d’auteur Arts visuels.
Copyright in Canada is automatic upon creation of a work and usually lasts for the artist’s lifetime plus fifty years. Through its licensing services, COVA can help an artist to protect copyright and to benefit from it.
Copyright fees are a necessary and prime source of income for visual artists. Even after the original work is sold, the copyrights remain with the artist (unless specifically assigned or separately sold). Thus, an artist can continue to generate revenue from a work that has been sold. Sold or not, a work may generate income through copyright use in exhibition, reproduction (in books or magazines & etc), digital reproduction on CD, publication on the internet, use in film or video, etc. The possibilities are endless.
Copyright Visual Arts represents nearly one thousand visual and media Artists. More and more artists are becoming members of Copyright Visual Arts because they understand that the best way to increase the level of payments of copyright royalties for the use of their art works is to gather within a copyright management society such as Copyright Visual Arts.
COVA’s members are called affiliates, because being with COVA means that the artist is part of a collective rather than a member of another sort of organization. Affiliation means that the artist assigns his or her copyrights to COVA for the purpose of administration. Collective administration of copyright means that there is strength in numbers. Affiliation with COVA is separate from membership in CARFAC – one may be a COVA Affiliate without being a member of CARFAC. Please note that communicating with CARFAC does not necessarily mean that COVA will be informed, so, for example, a change of address should be sent to both organizations.
Copyright Visual Arts responds to a shifting Art economy in the digital age by providing effective tools to enable visual and media artists to achieve sustainable careers. Copyright Visual Arts facilitates broad access to the finest works by Canadian and Québecois artists through simple and effective online or person-to-person licensing.
On becoming an affiliate, the artist assigns copyright to COVA for the purpose of administration, that is, for authorizing and licensing uses of the artist’s works. Anytime an affiliate’s copyright is used, COVA must issue a licence to the party using the copyright (the user). This licence is a written “permission to use” required by the user in order to hold the exhibition, make the reproduction, etc. The licence specifies the terms of use – where and when an exhibition is to take place, for example, or the number of copies a user may make. The licence specifies the fees to be paid for the use. COVA negotiates the fees based on the CARFAC Minimum Fee Schedule. The copyright fees due (plus administration fees and GST) are paid to COVA by the user; COVA pays the artist.
Brief History
In 2014 CARCC restructured as a not for profit copyright management society which now operates under the business name Copyright Visual Arts – Droits d’auteur Arts Visuels. CARCC, was founded by CARFAC in 1990 to assist artists in administering their copyrights. In 2015 RAAV became a partner in the governance of the society. Both artists associations and their copyright society work together to improve socio-economic conditions of artists through the fair payment of royalties for the uses of their artworks.