COPYRIGHT LAW

By - Mansi Oberoi

B.A.LLB 3rd Year

New Law College

Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be university)

Pune , Maharashtra     

 

Intellectual property can be classified into two main components-

• Industrial property
• Copyrights

Industrial property can further be classified as

• Patents
• Industrial designs
• Trademarks
• Geographical indications

While copyright in itself is a different and vast portion under Intellectual Property Rights.

Copyright is an essential element under Intellectual Property Rights which aims to grants exclusive rights to various creators in order to control someone from copying of a particular creation and it also prevents from exploiting any sort of copyright material. Copyright is basically provided to a creator for their creation such as copyright on a particular music, book, novel, or any work of creativity.

The aim to provide copyright is that the benefits provided by a creation are solely enjoyed by the creator.

There are two doctrines to test copyright protection, which are as follows -

 

THE DOCTRINE OF SWEAT OF THE BROW

According to this doctrine one gains rights through simple diligence during a particular creation under this doctrine substantial creativity or originality is not required under sweat of the brow doctrine. It is not important for the creation to be completely original. The example of such doctrine is a telephone directory. This doctrine basically recognizes hard work to provide copyright. It takes a lot of hard work in the making of a telephone directory, the addresses and phone numbers need to be compiled alphabetically, numerically and proper formatting is required so copyright is not only limited to creativity, but it also gives emphasis to hard work.

 

THE DOCTRINE OF MODICUM OF CREATIVITY

This doctrine aims at providing copyright by not judging the amount of creativity put into a certain work. The standard of creativity must not be judged for providing copyright under this doctrine.

Copyright aims not only protects the idea but also aims at protecting the expression of the idea. This was given under the case law R.G. Anand v. Delux Films, (AIR 1978 SC 1613) this can be understood with an example of reality shows. The other essential is that the idea needs to be tangible, it can either be written or printed on a paper, CD, DVD etc.

 

PROTECTION OF COPYRIGHT

There are various categories in which protection to

 copyright is provided such as-

• Typographic works
• Works of literature
• Dramatical works
• Works of music, art and films
• Sound recordings etc.

 

LEGISLATION

In India the legislation governing copyright is Copyright Act,1957 while the latest amendment took place in 2012. The Copyright Act came into force in January 1958, and it has been amended 6 times till now. The 2012 amendment makes the Copyright Act compliant to WCT and WPPT. (WCT and WPPT are internet treaties under WIPO which aim at providing copyright protection against todays modern world of internet.) this Act also includes the definition of Computer Software within its ambit. The meaning of copyright in given under Section 14 of the act. The authorities which are provided under this act are-

• The Copyright Office Authority- meant to register copyrights
• The Copyright Board Authority- meant for dispute revelation
• The Copyright Societies Authority-meant for collaboration of copyright owners.  

NEIGHBOURING RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT

In copyright law, related rights or neighbouring rights are those rights belonging to a creative work which are not connected with the actual author of the work. This is used in opposition to the term “authors’ rights.”

The convention dealing with neighbouring rights is The Rome Convention, this convention aims for providing protection of Performers, Producers and for Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations. This convention provides protection to Performers, Producers etc. which includes Actors, Singers, Musicians, Dancers and those who perform or produce literary or artistic work.

On ethical basis there are two types of copyrights-

• Economic right- these rights deal with the right to earn income from the creative work to which copyright has been provided.
• Moral right- this right provides the right to be identified as the creator and the right to prohibit destruction or degradation of the work. (Even after the economic rights have been transferred, moral rights still belong to the author of the work)

The general rule regarding ownership of the property shall have the ownership of the property, but if the work has been created under the scope of employment, then the copyright is usually held by the employer and not by the employee. (This has stated under Article 17)

 

REGISTRATION OF COPYRIGHT

Copyright protection is given to a work as it comes into existence and registration of a copyright is not a compulsion. Under section 44, it is directed to the copyright office to maintain a proper register of all the registrations including the title of the work inclusive of the authors details. The registration process of copyright is mentioned under section 45, rule 16 of copyright rules. As an extra layer of protection, section 48 states that the registration of copyright is admissible in the court as evidence.

 

TERM OF COPYRIGHT

According to the TRIPS agreement the minimum protection of copyright protection is 50 years and to identify the term the time of publication needs to be determined. Publication can be defined as from when a work is made available to the public. There are different terms provided to different works such as-

Original literary, dramatic, music and artistic works have the time for copyright during the authors life, inclusive of sixty years from the next year to the year in which the author dies.

Earlier photographs were provided copyright for sixty years from publication but after the 2012 amendment, it changed to sixty years from the death of the photographer.

 

LICENSES AND ASSIGNMENTS OF COPYRIGHT

License can be classified into two types-

• Voluntary license- this can be used for granting interest voluntarily in the right by license.
• Compulsory license- this is for orphan works (works with no copyright owners) or if the work is withheld from public.

Assignment under copyright can be transferred to a party on contractual basis. Different transfers can be made for a particular work as the author may provide permission for the work to be made into a play, theme park etc. The best example for this can be Harry Potter.

Both assignment and license can be for an existing or a future work.

 

INFRINGEMENT AND EXCEPTIONS

Infringement of copyright can be refed to the unauthorized use of someone's work or the unauthorized reproduction of income from the work without prior permission of the copyright holder. Infringement can also be of moral rights for example defamation of someone’s creation. Damages can be claimed by the copyright owner for the infringement of copyright.

There are certain exceptions or situations where copyright work may be used such as public domain work, the works which do not have protection, or which have an expired copyright.

Works with fair use doctrine are works used for educational purposes and non-commercial purposes inclusive of certain restrictions such as review, research, teaching etc.

When permission has been granted by the copyright owner then also it is an exception.