Copyright is a legal right that enables creators to control the use of their original works, encompassing both economic and moral rights. The Indian Copyright Act of 1957 governs copyright law in India, providing rights for various forms of creative works and aligning with international treaties. Key provisions include the automatic nature of copyright, the distinction between copyright ownership and physical ownership, and specific rules regarding assignment and duration of copyright protection.

1. What is copyright?

2. • Copyright is the means by which a
person or a business makes a living
from creativity.
• Copyright springs from a simple
notion: the person/persons who
create, produce or invest in a creative
work should be the ones who decide
how that work should be reproduced
and made available to the public.

3. • Copyright is a type of property that is
founded on a person's creative skill and
labour.
• It is designed to prevent the
unauthorised use by others of a work,
that is, the original form in which an idea
or information has been expressed by
the creator.

4. • Copyright is not a tangible thing. It is
made up of a bundle of exclusive
economic rights to do certain acts with
an original work or other copyright
subject-matter.
• These rights include the right to copy,
publish, communicate (eg. broadcast,
make available online) and publicly
perform the copyright material.

5. Non-Economic rights
• Copyright creators also have a number of
non-economic rights. These are known as
moral rights. This term derives from the
French droit moral.
• An author is said to have the "moral right" to
control her work.
• Moral rights recognised in many parts of the
world are the right of integrity of authorship,
the right of attribution of authorship and the
right against false attribution of authorship.

6. Copyright is distinct from physical property
• A clear distinction exists between the copyright in
a work and the ownership of the physical article
in which the work exists.
• For example, an author may own the copyright in
the text in a book even though the physical copy
of the book will be owned by the person who
purchases it.
• Similarly, the purchaser of an original painting
does not have the right to make copies of it
without the permission of the owner of
copyright: the right of reproduction remains with
the copyright owner who is generally the artist.

7. Copyright is Automatic – but still needs to be asserted.
• Copyright protection is automatic. The act of
creating the work also creates the Copyright.
There is no requirement to Register for
Copyright, although in the US and most other
countries it is important to show (assert) that
copyright is claimed in a particular work.
• This is easily enough done by clearly marking
any original work with the symbol © followed
by the date from which copyright is claimed
and the owner of the copyright.

8. • Like all personal property, copyright
which is the intellectual property of the
creator, can be assigned, licensed, given
away, sold, left by will, or passed on
according to the laws relating to
intestacy or bankruptcy.
• This does not apply to moral rights which
are personal and which creators cannot
transfer or assign.

9. A general definition
• Copyright is a right given by the law to
creators of literary, dramatic, musical and
artistic works and producers of cinematograph
films and sound recordings.
• In fact, it is a bundle of rights including, inter
alia, rights of reproduction, communication to
the public, adaptation and translation of the
work.
• There could be slight variations in the
composition of the rights depending on the
work.

10. Indian Copyright Act
• The Indian Copyright Act, 1957 governs the
system of copyrights in India.
• Copyright Law in the country governed by the
Copyright Act of 1914, was essentially the
extension of the British Copyright Act, 1911 to
India.
• It later borrowed extensively from the
new Copyright Act of the United Kingdom of
1956.
• Now Indian Copyright is governed by the Indian
Copyright Act, 1957.

11. Indian work
• "Indian work" means a literary, dramatic
or musical work,
• The author of which is a citizen of India;
or
• Which is first published in India; or
• The author of which, in the case of an
unpublished work is, at the time of the
making of the work, a citizen of India.

12. Compliance with International Treaties
• The Indian Copyright Act today is compliant
with most international conventions and
treaties in the field of copyrights. India is a
member of the Berne Convention of 1886 (as
modified at Paris in 1971), the Universal
Copyright Convention of 1951 and the
Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement
of 1995.

13. • Though India is not a member of
the Rome Convention of
1961, WIPO Copyrights
Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO
Performances and Phonograms
Treaty (WPPT),the Copyright Act
is compliant with it.

14. Descriptions of work
• Artistic work - An artistic work means A
painting, a sculpture, a drawing
(including a diagram, map, chart or plan),
an engraving or a photograph, whether
or not any such work possesses artistic
quality;
• A work of architecture; and
• Any other work of artistic craftsmanship.

15. Musical work
• "Musical work" means a work consisting
of music and includes any graphical
notation of such work but does not
include any words or any action intended
to be sung, spoken or performed with
the music. A musical work need not be
written down to enjoy copyright
protection.

16. Sound recording
• "Sound recording" means a recording
of sounds from which sounds may be
produced regardless of the medium
on which such recording is made or
the method by which the sounds are
produced. A phonogram and a CD-
ROM are sound recordings.

17. Cinematograph film
• "Cinematograph film" means any work of
visual recording on any medium produced
through a process from which a moving image
may be produced by any means and includes a
sound recording accompanying such visual
recording and "cinematograph" shall be
construed as including any work produced by
any process analogous to cinematography
including video films.

18. Government work
• "Government work" means a work which
is made or published by or under the
direction or control of the government or
any department of the government
• Any legislature in India, and
• Any court, tribunal or other judicial
authority in India.

19. An Author
• In the case of a literary or dramatic work the
author, i.e., the person who creates the work
• In the case of a musical work, the composer.
• In the case of a cinematograph film, the
producer.
• In the case of a sound recording, the producer.
• In the case of a photograph, the
photographer.
• In the case of a computer generated work, the
person who causes the work to be created.

20. Duration of copyright
In the case of
• Literary
• dramatic,
• musical and
• artistic works (other than a photograph)
Sixty years from the beginning of the
calendar year next following the
year in which the author dies.

21. • Anonymous and pseudonymous works
• Posthumous work
• Photographs
• Cinematograph films
• Sound records
• Government work
• Public undertakings work
• International organisations work

22. Contd.---
•Sixty years from the
beginning of the calendar
year next following the
year in which the work is
first published.

23. Assignment of copyright
• The author of a work is the first
owner of the copyright( Section
17).
• However, for works made in the
course of an author's employment
under a contract of service, the
employer is the first owner of the
copyright.

24. • The owner of the copyright in an existing work
or the prospective owner of the copyright in a
future work may assign to any person the
copyright either wholly or partially and either
generally or subject to limitations and either
for the whole term of the copyright or any
part thereof:

25. • Provided that in the case of the assignment of
copyright in any future work, the assignment
shall take effect only when the work comes into
existence. (Section 18)
• Section 19 lays down the modes of assignment-
assignment can only be in writing and must
specify the work, the period of assignment and
the territory.
• Section 19(5) provides that if period of
assignment is not specified it shall be deemed to
be 5 years
• and section 19(6) provides that if the territorial
extent of assignment is not specified it shall be
presumed to extend within India.

26. • In a recent judgement, a division bench of the
Delhi High Court in Pine Labs Private Limited vs
Gemalto Terminals India Limited the Court has
held that in case the duration of assignment is
not specified, the duration shall be deemed to be
five years and after five years the copyright shall
revert to the author.
• In this case, Pine Labs had written some software
for Gemalto under a Master Service
Agreement(MSA).
• Though in the MSA Pine Labs had assigned the
copyright in the works to Gemalto, the period of
assignment was not specified.

27. • The Court held that though Gemalto may have
paid for the software, Pine Labs, being the
author was the first owner of the copyright
and after five years, the copyright reverted to
Pine Labs. It made no difference whether the
MSA was treated as an assignment or an
agreement to assign.
• Full text of the judgement can be viewed
at Pine Labs Vs Gemalto and others