INTRODUCTION TO COPYRIGHT ACT

The Indian Copyright Act, 1957 has been

enacted which came into effect from January,
1958 and was modified five times i.e., in 1983,
1984, 1992, 1994 and 1999.

The Indian Copyright Act, 1957 as amended

from time to time and the Indian Copyright
Rules, 1958 (Rules), governs the system of
copyrights in India. Copyright is a right given by
the law to creators of literary, dramatic, musical
and artistic works and producers of
cinematographic 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.

The provisions of the The Indian Copyright Act,

1957and the Copyright Rules, 1958 as amended
from time to time and as applicable as on today
are explained hereunder.
 APPLICABILITY OF COPYRIGHT

Copyright subsists throughout India in the

following classes of works:

 Original literary,
 Dramatic,
 Musical work (consists of music and also
graphic notation of such works but excludes
any words or action intended to be sung,
spoken or performed with music)
 Artistic works (painting, sculpture, drawing,
engraving, photograph, architecture or any
other work of artistic craftsmanship
(whether or not any such work poses artistic
work)
 Cinematograph films (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
  Sound recordings (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).

PROTECTION UNDER
COPYRIGHT

Copyright protects the rights of authors, i.e.,

creators of intellectual property in the form of
literary, musical, dramatic and artistic works and
cinematograph films and sound recordings.

The following rights are protected:

 reproduce the work

 issue copies of the work to the public
 perform the work in public
 communicate the work to the public.
 make cinematograph film or sound
recording in respect of the work
 make any translation of the work
  make any adaptation of the work
( conversion of dramatic work into non
dramatic work, literary work into dramatic
work, re-arrangement of literary or dramatic
work, depiction in comic form or through
pictures of a literary or dramatic work,
transcription of musical work or any act
involving rearrangement or alteration of an
existing work and the making of a
cinematograph film of literary or dramatic
or musical work)

INFRINGEMENT OF
COPYRIGHT

Copyright in a work is considered as infringed only if

a substantial part is made use of unauthorizedly.
What is ‘substantial’ varies from case to case. More
often than not, it is a matter of quality rather than
quantity.
For example, if a lyricist copy a very catching phrase
from another lyricist’s song, there is likely to be
infringement even if that phrase is very short.

The following are some of the commonly known acts

involving infringement of copyright:

 Making infringing copies for sale or hire or selling

or letting them for hire;
 Permitting any place for the performance of
works in public where such performance
constitutes infringement of copyright;
 Distributing infringing copies for the purpose of
trade or to such an extent so as to affect
prejudicially the interest of the owner of
copyright ;
 Public exhibition of infringing copies by way of
trade; and
 Importation of infringing copies into India.

A copyright owner can take legal action against any

person who infringes the copyright and is entitled to
remedies by way of injunctions, damages and
accounts.

COPYRIGHT SOCIETY
A 'copyright society' is a registered collective
administration society for the management and
protection of copyright in works by authors and other
owners of such works. A copyright society can issue or
grant licences in respect of any work in which copyright
subsists or in respect of any other right given by the
Copyright Act, 1957 (Copyright Act).

In India, copyright protection is granted for original

works of authorship in classes of work such as literary
works (including computer programs, tables and
compilations including computer databases which may
be expressed in words, codes, schemes or in any other
form, including a machine readable medium), dramatic,
musical and artistic works, cinematographic films and
sound recordings. Ordinarily, only one society is
registered to do business in respect of the same class of
work.
 Copyright societies in India

A copyright society is are glistered collective administration

society under Section 33 of the Copyright Act , 1957 . Such
as society is formed by authors and other owners. The
minimum membership required for registration of a society is
seven. Ordinarily, only one society is registered to do
business in respect of the same class of work. A copyright
society can issue or grant licences in respect of any work in
which copyright subsists or inrespect of any other right given
by the Copyright Act.

The business of issuing or granting license in respect of

literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works incorporated in a
cinematographfilms or sound recordings shall be carried out
only through a copyright society duly registered under this
Act.
This is a kind of compulsory collective licensing for managing
of performing rights.

The registration granted to a copyright society shall be for a

period of five years and may be renewed from time to time
before the end of every five years on a request in the
prescribed form and the Central Government may renew the
registration after considering the report of Registrar of
Copyrights on the working of the copyright society under
section36.
 FUNCTIONS OF COPYRIGHT
SOCIETY
(1) A copyright society may issue licences
and collect fees in accordance with its
Scheme of Tariff in relation to only such
works as it has been authorised to
administer in writing by the authors and
other owners of rights and for the period
for which it has been so authorised.

(2) The distribution of fees collected shall

be subject to a deduction not exceeding
fifteen percent of the collection on
account of administrative expenses
incurred by the copyright society.