Copyrights Protection in India

A copyright is a bundle of rights conferred on the author (and/or owner) of a work (list of works mentioned below). While copyright is a natural (bundle of) right(s) that comes into existence as soon as a “work” gets created, registration of copyright in India provides an irrefutable title and consequently rights to the work, which ensures effective enforcement and protection of such rights in the copyrighted work.

In relation to copyright, India is a signatory of several conventions including the significant Berne Convention, Universal Copyright Convention, Agreement on Trade-related aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) and the Rome convention and India recognizes copyrighted works from the Convention countries.

The first copyright law introduced in India was the Copyright Act, 1914. As the year clearly suggests, the copyright law was promulgated in India, prior to independence, which also shows that this Act was modelled on the British Act of 1911. Subsequently, the next copyright law to be introduced in India was the Copyright Act, 1957. At present, the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 (the provisions of which are in line with the Berne Convention) and the Copyright Rules 2013 are the current laws in force in India in relation to copyright. The Copyright Act has undergone a series of amendments (in the years 1983, 1984, 1992, 1994, 1999 and 2002) to keep up with the evolving times and several provisions were added/modified accordingly.

Section 9 of the Copyright Act 1999 provides for the establishment of the Copyright Office. The Copyright office under the immediate control of the Registrar of Copyright has also been established under the provisions of the Copyright Act. The Act also provides for the establishment of the Appellate Board which shall have the trappings of a Civil Court.

Types of work under copyright law in India

The following are the types/classes of works that can be registered under Section 13 of the Indian copyright law:

1. Original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works;
2. Cinematograph films, and
3. Sound recordings

Meaning of Copyright

Section 14 of the Act lays down the meaning of copyright within the purview of the Copyright Act. Some of the rights granted to copyright owners under the ambit of the Copyright law are: – In case of literary, dramatic, or musical works, the right to:

• reproduce the copyrighted work;
• Prepare derivative work based upon the copyrighted work;
• Distribute copies of copyrighted work to the public or communicate the work to the public;
• Perform the copyrighted work publicly;
• Display the copyrighted work publicly
• To translate or adapt the work
• To make cinematograph film or sound recording

In case of a computer program, to sell or rent (i.e. license) the program, besides all of the above

In case of a cinematograph film or sound recording, make copies of the film/recording, communicate to the public or sell or rent the film/sound recording.

In case of artistic work, reproduce the work, communicate it or issues copies to the public, make adaptions, include in any cinematograph work.

The entire list of acts that fall within the meaning of copyright can be found here.

Copyright protection subsists in a work the moment the work is created.

Author’s Special Rights & Moral Rights

Author’s Special rights are granted under Section 57 of the Copyright Act. It is significant to note that while an author can assign the copyright fully and absolutely to another consequent to which the latter becomes the owner, there are certain rights called “Moral Rights” which would still remain with the author. These are

1. Right to claim authorship of the work
2. to restrain or claim damages in respect of any distortion, mutilation, modification, or other act in relation to the said work if such distortion, mutilation, modification, or other act would be prejudicial to his honour or reputation.

Similar rights are, noticeably also granted for performers in the name of Moral Rights under Section 38B of the Act. It is known that a performer who appears in any performance shall be entitled to special rights called the “Performer’s rights” in relation to his performance. In this connection, a performer, even after assignment of his right, shall be entitled to be identified as the performer of the said performance and entitled to restrain or claim damage in case of distortion, mutilation or modifications prejudicial to his interest.

Authorship and Ownership of work in India

In simple terms, the creator of the work is the author of the work and shall always be the first owner of the copyright.

However, the author need not necessarily be the owner of the copyright and it is possible that the owner and the author are different entities altogether. Example, in certain cases, where the work is prepared in the course of the employment, under a contract of service or apprenticeship, in the absence of a contract to the contrary, the employer shall be the owner of the work. Where a photograph is taken or portrait or painting is done or film made for valuable consideration at the instance of a person, that person shall be the owner of the copyright.