Concept of copyright

Copyright is a legal term describing ownership of control of the rights to the use and
distribution of certain works of creative expression, including books, video, motion pictures,
musical compositions and computer programs.
The Copyright Act provides an economic right to the author to reproduce the work, to
issue copies, to perform or communicate it to the public, to make any cinematograph film or
sound recording or to make any adaptation or translation of the work.
The Rights of Copyright Owners: Economic rights that are given to rightholders includes rights
of reproduction, rights of communication to public, rights to perform, showing or playing to the
public, rights of distribution and rights of commercial rental.
Principles of Copyright
1. The Copyright law in India is applicable on all original and innovative creation. Materials
ranging from journals, books, photographs, music, sound recordings, art, websites and
more are safeguarded under the copyright law. In addition, dance, architecture,
choreography are fortified as well. When an individual can view, examine, listen to a
content, it is probable that the content is secured by the principles of copyright.
2. In order to protect a creation, no copyright notice or registration is required. It can be
done without those as well. Original works of authors are protected by the copyright law.
Once a work is created via any medium, the work receives an automatic copyright safety.
3. An author in case of a literary or dramatic content refers to the individual who develops
the content. The composer is the author of a musical work. The producer is the author
when a cinematograph film is taken into consideration. The producer is the rightful owner
of a sound recording. The photographer is the author and holds the ownership in case of a
photograph. An individual who is responsible for creating a computer generated content
is the author.
4. Copyright security on an original content is valid for many years. A work of an author
can be protected throughout the existence of the author, and after their demise, it is
protected for another seventy years.
5. However, when a few content lacks copyright protection, it is plausible to use such
content with no legal bindings and restrictions of the copyright law. Nonetheless,
copyrights do
 have an expiration date, and those works may enter the public arena and are available
without any constraint.
Thereafter, the “basic principles of Copyright” give us a comprehensive knowledge of the
ownership of a copyright in an original content. This ownership is safeguarded by the legal
system in India. Moreover, this Act secures the ownership of unpublished work as well.
History of Copyright Law in the UK
The history of Copyright Law starts to appear with printing machine invention, which
made it likely to copy literary work by a mechanical procedure. The printing press was created in
the year 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany.
In the year 1483, the invention of Gutenberg reached the UK, and then Monarch King
Richard III lifted the ban on the import of books & manuscripts. As a consequence, authors
commenced sending their books to the UK for printing. They liked a royal license & due to the
proliferation of books, England soon became the Centre of Printing across Europe.
In the year 1533, King Henry banned the imports of stationery & books under the pretext
of the improvement & growth of printers and publishers in England. In 1557, the stationery
company received a royal charter and was issued the privilege of regulating the book trade. The
company was essential for three reasons:
 Safeguard trade quality;
 Limit Competition;
 Lessen unprofessionally.
History of Copyright Law in India
History of Copyright Law in India begins in 1847 via an enactment at the time of the
regime of East India Company. As per the 1847 enactment, the word Copyright was for the
author’s lifetime. However, in no case could the total term of Copyright exceed a time of 42
years.
In 1914, then the Indian Legislature enacted a new Copyright Act. Further, this extended
most portions of the UK Copyright Act, 1911 to India. It did, but make a few minor
modifications. First, it stated criminal sanctions for Copyright Infringement from Section 7 to
Section 12. Second, it changed the Copyright term scope, under Section 4 of the Right of the
author to produce, publish, or reproduce perform a translation of the work shall subsist only for a
time of ten years from the date of the first publication of the work. The author but retained their
sole rights if within the time of ten years they published.
Development of Copyright in India
The development of Copyright in India; before the Act, 1957, Copyright protection was
regulated by the Copyright Act, 1914, which was the addition of the British Copyright Act, 1911.
The Act changes after 1957 in 1983, 1984, 1992, 1994, & 1999. In 2012, both Indian Parliament
houses generally passed the Copyright Amendment Bill 2012.
Some of the crucial amendments to the Copyright Act, 2012 are: getting the Act 1957 in
conventionality with WPPT and WCT. Further, widespread Copyright protection in the digital
surroundings.
THE COPYRIGHT ACT, 1911
Before the act of 1911, the books and literary works were protectedunder the statute of
Anne and other art such as music, painting or photographs were protected under legislation such
as the Engraving Copyright Act 1734 and the Fine Arts Copyright Act 1862
The 1911 act consolidated all the acts into one and implemented the Berne Convention. Major
features of this act are:
 Extension of term of copyright to life and 50 years.
 No need for prior registry in ‘Register of Stationers’ to receive protection under the act.
 Unpublished work is also entitled to protection
 Summary remedies in suits of infringement
 The act to include all form of arts such as literature, painting, music, photography etc.
EVOLUTION OF COPYRIGHT LAW IN INDIA
Pre-Independence Copyright law in India
The Copyright Law of India was enacted by the British colony and like most of the acts
of that time; it was an imitation of the English law.
The first copyright act of India was enacted in 1847, during the regime of East India
Company. As per the act, the term of copyright was either, for the lifetime of author plus 7 years
or 42 years. The government had the power to grant the publishing license after the death of the
author if the owner of the copyright refused permission. All suits and infringement related to
copyright came under the jurisdiction of the highest local civil court. The act was replaced by the
copyright act of 1914.
 The act of 1914 was the first ‘modern’ copyright law of India. It was the first law to
include all works of art and literature under the ambit of copyright. It was a replica of the English
law of 1911.
Post-Independence History of Copyright Law in India
The Copyright Act, 1957, came into action on 21 st January 1958, replacing the 1911
Copyright Act. The Act, besides changing the Copyright Law, has also announced milestones
changes such as provisions for establishing Copyright Office under the Copyright Registrar
control for the registration of books & other artworks. It is also set up a Copyright Board to deal
with the disputes concerning Copyright.
Following are some amendments made in the Copyright Laws (Amendment) Act, 2012
comes under the significant classified into:
 WPPT and WCT Concerning Amendment to Rights;
 Amendments Providing Access to Works;
 Reform of Copyright Board and other Minor Amendments;
 Author-friendly Amendments on the Assignment and Licenses Mode;
 Amendments to Rights in Cinematograph Films, Artistic Works, and Sound Recordings;
 Strengthening Enforcement & Protecting against Internet Piracy.
UniversalCopyrightConvention
In India, Copyrights are protected under the Indian Copyright Act, 1957. To ensure the
protection of the work across the international borders, India has entered into various treaties for
securing global protection of Indian across different countries.
India’s Need for International Protection
The Indian Copyright Act of 1957 regulates and governs the protection of creative works within
India. In a similar manner, most national copyright laws are territorial and don’t apply to works that are
beyond the national jurisdiction.
International Treaties
To mitigate this basic issue, India has entered into a number of international treaties to ensure
that Indian works are protected internationally. While there are a number of treaties that India is a part
of, the most significant ones include:
 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
 The Universal Copyright Convention (UCC)
History of the UCC
Adopted in 1952, the Universal Copyright Convention today stands as one of the principal
international conventions for protecting copyrights around the world. It was initiated as a project by
the UNESCO as an alternative to the Berne Convention.
The Berne Convention, which was first adopted in 1886, was starting to lose momentum, and
there were several people around the world who were disagreeing with the norms of the convention.
The adoption of the UCC was seen as an alternative multilateral copyright protection treaty that
counties could enter into if they happened to disagree with the Berne Convention.
Purpose of the UCC
The Universal Copyright Convention was set up as an alternative to the Berne Convention, to
meet the following purposes:
 Ensure that more countries are part of the international copyright community
 More flexible and easier to comply with compared to the Berne Convention
 Ease in compliance for developing countries.
Features of the UCC
There are the main distinguishing features of the UCC.
1. National Treatment: The UCC follows the principle of national treatment as opposed to automatic
protection.
This essentially means that the contracting countries do not have to give foreign work automatic
protection if the national provisions are not being complied with.
2. The term of the Work: The UCC gives protection for original literary, artistic and scientific
works. A copyright notice is to be placed alongside the work to give reasonable notice of the copyright
claim. Under the provisions of the UCC, a work is protected for a period of the lifetime of the author
and 25 years after the death of the author.
3. Minimum Rights: Under the provisions of the UCC, the contracting countries have to provide a set
of ‘minimum rights’ to the rightful owner of the work, as long as they do not create a conflict with
‘the spirit’ of the convention.
International copyright
It allows creators and content owners around the world and citizens of many countries to
enjoy copyright protection in countries other than their own.
Salient features of the Copyright Act, 1957
The salient features of the Copyright Act, 1957 are herein mentioned below:
Scope of rights conferred to the author
Literary works, musical works, theatrical works, creative works, sound recordings, and
cinematographic films are all protected by copyright under Section 13 of the Copyright Act of
1957. Literary works, for instance, books, manuscripts, poetry, and theses are safeguarded by the
Act. Original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works as well as cinematographic and
sound recordings are shielded from illegal access under the Copyright Act of 1957. In contrast to
patents, copyright safeguards expressions rather than ideas.
Provisions to assert the ownership
The original owner of the copyright is the creator of the work itself, as stated in Section
17 of the Copyrights Act of 1957. The one exception to this rule is when an employee creates
work while performing duties as part of their employment, in which case the employer assumes
ownership of the copyright.
Civil and criminal remedies
Section 55 of the Copyright Act of 1957 addresses civil remedies for copyright
infringement. These civil remedies encompass restitution, injunctions, account interpretation,
deletion and surrender of copies made infringing, as well as conversion damages. Section 63 of
the Copyright Act of 1957 specifies criminal penalties for copyright infringement. These
criminal penalties can take the form of jail time, fines, searches, the seizure of contraband, etc.
The maximum sentence for imprisonment is 3 years, but it cannot be less than 6, and the
maximum fine is between 50,000 and 2,00,000 rupees.
Establishment of copyright boards and offices
The Copyright Act of 1957 also makes provisions for the establishment of a copyright
board to assist in resolving copyright-related issues and a copyright office, which comes under
the jurisdiction of the Registrar of the Copyright, for the registration of books and other “works”
of art. The establishment of an office to be known as the Copyright Office for Act purposes is
provided for under Section 9 of the Copyright Act, 1957. The Copyright Board was established
under Section 11 of the Copyright Act of 1957.
Important sections of the Copyright Act, 1957
The following are the important sections of the Copyright Act of 1957:
 1. Section 2 deals with various definitions of the work which can be covered under the
definition of copyright. For example, Section 2(o) deals with literary works, Section 2(h)
includes all dramatic works under the definition of copyright protection, and Section (p)
deals with musical and graphical works.
2. Section 13 of the Copyright Act, 1957, is the most requisite Section as it deals with the
subject matter of copyright protection. According to Section 13(1), all of India is under
the purview of the Copyright, and the following classifications of works are protected by
the Copyright:
Original artistic, musical, dramatic, and literary works
Sound recording
Cinematograph
films
The published and unpublished works of architecture are discussed in Section 13(2). If
the work is published, it must be published in India. If the work is published outside of India, the
author must be an Indian citizen at the time of publication or at the time of his death. Except for
works of architecture, the authors of unpublished works must be Indian citizens or have a place
of residence in India. When it comes to architectural works, only the work itself must be from
India and not the architect, because architectural works can also be done in written form. The
copyright in an architectural work shall only apply to the creative character and design and shall
not include the construction process or processes.
A few rights are protected under copyright legislation. These three types of rights are
common or economic, moral, and neighbouring. According to Section 14, moral rights are
granted under Section 57, economic rights are granted under Section 14 and neighbouring rights
are granted under Sections 37A and 378.
Subject matter of copyright
All subject matters protected by copyright are called ‘works’. Thus according to Section 13 of
The Copyright Act 1957, it may be subjected for the following works:
 Original Literary Work,
 Original Dramatic work,
 Original Musical work,
 Original Artistic Work,
 Cinematography films, and
  Sound recordings.
Copyright Protection
Copyright protection confers on work soon after its creation and remains in existence
until after sixty years after the author’s or creator’s death. With high competition engulfing the
world, there are possibilities of your original work being copied or stolen. Therefore it is
important to register your copyright for full protection under the Copyright Act. A copyright
symbol © is included in the copyright notice printed on a copyrighted work. This notice serves
as a deterrent to infringers.
Benefits of Registered Copyright
Copyright registration is not a necessity as per Indian law. But registering your copyright
could bring you benefits and exclusive rights over your work. With registered copyright, you can
 Sell, rent, or distribute your original work
 Reproduce your original work, or create derivatives
 Communicate your copyright to the public
 Publish the origins work online or offline
 Authorise someone to use your work
 Make variations of your work
 File a suit for copyright infringement
 Use your copyright registration certificate as prima facie evidence in court to prove
ownership over your work
 Acquire back the damages caused, along with the attorney’s fee in case of an
infringement. Therefore, registering your copyright is important so you can benefit from its
various rights and perks. You will also grab economic benefits, given the exclusive rights of
registered
copyrights.
Kinds of Work Can the Copyright Office Grant Copyright Registration
As per the Copyright Act, you can apply for copyright registration, if your work belongs to
any of the following fields:
 Musical works (Copyright for Synchronization License)
 Cinematographic films
 Sound Recordings (Copyright for music in india)
 Architectural works (Cinematograph films copyright)
  Computer software or program
 Dramatic works
 Artistic works (Copyright for artistic work)
Copyright for Reproduction Right
You can apply for copyright registration to the Copyright Office if your works cater to
the need of any of the above fields. However, your copyrights must meet some conditions for
copyright registration in India.
Conditions for the Grant of Copyright Registration
1. The Work Should Be Tangible
Copyright registration is granted to an original creator only for their tangible work. In
other words, you cannot obtain copyright registration for ideas, thoughts, or concepts.
Copyrights come into existence after the concept or idea is materialised or fixed into something
that can be read, or heard.
However, it can be a draft or a completed work, published or unpublished work. So you
need to arrange your ideas and fix them into tangible form to obtain copyright registration.
2. The Work Should Be Original
Only original work can be copyrighted. However, for this, neither uniqueness nor quality
is required. Even if the work is bad, it is still subject to copyright protection. Similar works
independently created are also individually subject to copyright protection. However, the work
should be created by inspiration rather than borrowing from other sources.
3. The Work Should Be Creative
The mere hard work of the creator is not enough to gain copyright protection. The work
should be at least minimally creative. For example, A simple list of cooking ingredients is
probably not subject to copyright. However, a detailed recipe of food that can be made with the
ingredients may be subject to copyright protection.
4. Other Miscellaneous Criteria for Copyright
 The original work should not have been published before
 For the work of an author who has passed by, the author should have been a citizen of
India, at the time of death
 If the work is published in India, the author has to be a citizen of India during the
publication.
Kinds of Work Are Not Protected by Copyright Registration
 Works that are not in tangible form
 Works that are already in the public domain, and whose original creator remains
untraceable
 Copyright works that have already lapsed their expiration
 Names, slogans, methods, facts, designs, and symbols come under the purview of
Trademark law and are hence not covered under copyright protection
 Ideas, procedures, concepts, discoveries, and guidelines come under the purview of
patent or trade secret and are hence not covered under copyright protection.