Relinquishment of Copyright in India

Section 21 of the Act provides the owner of a work the right to relinquish all or any of the rights in a work. Relinquishment, as the word means, refers to surrendering or abandoning of the rights in the copyright work by the author of such work. This usually means that the author would no more have the rights surrendered or abandoned and cannot claim ownership over the same. The author can determine the rights that they want to relinquish, ranging from a single right to a multitude of rights.

Formalities to Relinquish copyrights

An owner can relinquish his right(s) in a work by giving notice to the Registrar of Copyrights under Form I or by public notice. Where notice is given to the Registrar, the latter shall cause the notice to be published in the Official Gazette and further, within fourteen days, post the notice on the website of the Copyright office for a period of not less than three years. The rights shall subsequently cease to exist from the date of the notice.

On the other hand, if the author chooses to relinquish the rights by means of a public notice, then the following information must be included in the notice:

1. Class of the work
2. Title of the work
3. Name (in full), address and nationality of the author.
4. Language of the work.
5. Name (in full), address and nationality of the publisher, if the work has been published, along with the year and country of first publication.
6. If the copyright is registered under Section 45 of the Copyright Act, 1957, the Registration number.
7. The right or rights being relinquished.
8. The date of relinquishment of such right/rights.

The term ‘public notice’ means the following:

1. Mentioning of a notice on the work or cover of the work; or
2. Publication in one issue of a daily newspaper in the English language having circulation in the major part of the country and also in one issue of any daily newspaper in the same language of the work; or
3. Posting the notice on the website of the Copyright Office at the request of the author by giving the details as mentioned above.

It is also to be noted that the author may also forward a copy of the public notice along with his identity to the Registrar and the Registrar shall post the same in the website of the Copyright Office.

Upon receipt of such receipt of the notice, the Registrar of Copyrights shall publish it in the Official Gazette and within 14 days of such publication, the Registrar shall post the notice on the official website of the Copyright Office such that the notice remains in the public domain for a period of not less than three (3) years.