Copyright

Presented By:

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (CSE)

DTU, Delhi

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Copyrights
 Copyright (or author’s right) is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators
have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright range from
books, music, paintings, sculpture, and films, to computer programs, databases,
advertisements, maps, and technical drawings.
 “The exclusive right given by law for a certain term of years to an author, composer
etc. (or his assignee) to print, publish and sell copies of his original work”
 Copyright gives creators the freedom to decide what happens to their creations. You
may use someone else’s work only if you have their permission by the copyright
owner or if the law allows it.
 Copyright belongs to the person who created an original work. If they create
something as part of their job, it belongs to their employer. The owner of copyright
can transfer it to someone else if they want, or they can give someone permission to
use the work without giving away the ownership.
 So if you’re a creator copyright automatically applies to, and protects, all your
creative work. That means you are free to decide how other people can use your
work, and means they need to ask your permission before using your work. It
doesn’t matter whether you’re a “professional” or not, the law’s the same for
everyone.
 In fact, it is a bundle of rights including, inter alia, rights of reproduction,
communication to the Dr. public,
Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE,
adaptation andDTU Delhi)
translation of the work.
 What does copyright protect?
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.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Original Literary Work It is the product of the human mind which may
consist of a series of verbal or numerical statements, not necessarily
possessing aesthetic merit, capable of being expressed in writing, and which
has been arrived at by the exercise of substantial independent skill, creative
labor, or judgment. The Copyright Act,1957 provides an inclusive definition
of literary work, according to which the literary work includes computer
programming, tablets, and compilations including computer database.

 Original Dramatic Work According to the Copyright Act,1957, the

dramatic work includes any piece for recitation, choreographic work or
entertainment in dumb shows, the scenic arrangement or acting form which
is fixed in writing or otherwise but does not include a cinematographic film.
Since the definition is an inclusive one, the other things fall within the
general meaning of dramatic work, and may also be covered by the
definition.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Original Musical Work According to the Copyright Act, 1957, the
musical work means any work consisting of music and includes any
graphical notion of such work, but does not include any words or any action
intended to be sung, spoken or performed with the music. In order to qualify
for copyright protection, a musical work must be original.
 Original Dramatic Work According to the Copyright Act, 1957, the
artistic work includes any painting, sculpture, drawing, engraving
photograph of any work possessing artistic qualities. However, it also
includes the architecture and artistic craftsmanship of such works.
 Cinematographic Films According to the Copyright Act,1957
cinematographic films includes any work of visual recording and a sound
recording accompanying such visual recording and the expression
cinematograph shall be construed as including any work produced by any
process analogous to cinematographic including video films.
 Sound Recording According to The Copyright Act, 1957, sound recording
suggests that a recording of sounds from which that sound may be produced
regardless of the medium on which such recording is made or the method by
which the sounds are produced.
Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)
Foreign Works
 The copyright of foreign works is also protected in India. Copyright of
nationals of countries who are members of the Berne Convention for the
Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, Universal Copyright Convention
and the TRIPS Agreement are protected in India through the International
Copyright Order. To secure protection to Indian works in foreign countries,
India has become a member of the following international conventions on
copyright and neighbouring (related) rights:
 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic works.
 Universal Copyright Convention.
 Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms against
Unauthorised Duplication of their Phonograms.
 Multilateral Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation of Copyright
Royalties.
 Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Rights of the copyright holder
In the Copyright Act, 1957, the owner possesses the negative rights which are
to prevent others from using his works in certain ways and to claim
compensation for the usurpation of that right. In this Act, there are two types of
rights given to the owner:

 Economical rights;
 Moral rights.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Economic rights
This right is also known as the Exclusive Rights of the copyright holder
provided under Section 14. In this Act different types of work come with
different types of rights. Such as:
 In the case of original literary, musical, and dramatic work:
 Right to reproduce;
 Right to issue copies;
 Right to perform at public;
 Right to make cinematography and sound recording;
 Right to make any translation;
 Right to adaptation; and
 Right to do any other activities related to the translation or adaptation.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Economic rights
 In the case, of computer program work:
 Right to do any act aforesaid mentioned; and
 Right to sell, rent, offer for sale of the copyrighted work.
 In the case of artistic work:
 Right to reproduce;
 Right to communicate;
 Right to issue copies;
 Right to make any cinematography and sound recording;
 Right to make an adaptation; and
 Right to do any other activities related to the translation or adaptation.

In case of a cinematograph film work:

 Right to sell, rent, offer for sale of the copyrighted work; and
 Right to communicate.

 In the case of a sound recording work:

 Right to communicate;
 Right to issue copies; and
 Right to sell, rent, offer for sale of the copyrighted work.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Moral rights
In addition to the protection of economic rights, the Copyright Act, 1957
conjointly protects the ethical rights. Section 57 of The Copyright Act,1957
recognize two types of moral rights which are:
Right to paternity– refers to the right of an author to claim authorship of work
and a right to prevent all others from claiming authorship of his work; and
Right to integrity- empowers the author to prevent distortion, mutilation or
other alterations of his work, or any other action in relation to said work,
which would be prejudicial to his honor or reputation..

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Authorship and Ownership in copyright
Section 17 of this Act recognizes the author as the first owner, which states
that subject to the provision of this Act, the author of a work shall be the first
owner of the copyright therein:
 In the case of literary or dramatic composition, the author,
 In the case of musical work, the musician,
 In the case of creative work apart from photography, the artist,
 In the case of photographic work, the artist,
 In the case of cinematographic or recording work, the producer,
 In case of any work generated by any computer virus, the one who created.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Exceptions
 In case of creation is made by the author underemployment of the proprietor
of any newspaper, magazine or any periodic, the said proprietor,
 In the case where a photograph is taken, painting or portrait is drawn,
cinematograph is made for the valuable consideration of any person, such
person,
 In case of a work done in the course of the author’s employment under the
contract of service, such employer,
 In case of address or speech delivered on behalf of another person in
public, such person,
 In the case of government works, the government,
 In the case of work done under direction and control of public undertaking
such public undertaking, and
 In the case of work done in which provision of Section 41 apply, concerned
international organizations.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Registration of Copyright
Copyright is automatic once the original work is created and it does not require
any formality. However, certificate of registration of copyright and the entries
made therein serve as prima facie evidence in a court of law with reference to
dispute relating to ownership of copyright. Benefits of registration:
 Registration establishes a public record of the copyright claim.
 Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary
for works.
 Registration establishes sufficient evidence in court concerning the validity
of the copyright and the facts stated in the copyright certificate.
 If registration is made, statutory damages and attorney's fees will be
available to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise, only an award
of actual damages and profits is available to the copyright owner.
 Registration allows the owner of the copyright to record the registration
with the Indian Customs for protection against the importation of infringing
copies.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

Copyright Registration Procedure

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Ownership
 There may be a situation where a particular final work involves many
copyrightable subdivisions such as film wherein many works such as
music, lyrics, dramatic works etc are copyrightable. The authors in the
creation of such work are many such as:
a. In the case of a musical work, the composer.
b. In the case of a cinematograph film, the producer.
c. In the case of a sound recording, the producer.
d. In the case of a photograph, the photographer.
e. In the case of a computer generated work, the person who causes the
work to be created.
f. In the case of Script, the writer. Etc.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Concept of Originality
 The Copyright Act as such does not define the term “originality” but the
Indian courts have relied on various doctrines laid down by the foreign
courts.
 The Privy Council, in the case Macmillan & Company Ltd. v. Cooper ,
approved the principle laid down in University of London Press v.
University Tutorial Press , which laid down that copyright over a work
arises and subsists in that work due to the skill and labour spent on that
work, rather than due to inventive thought. This is more popularly
known as the ‘sweat of the brow’ theory. It has been held that
originality derives merely from the fact that sufficient labour, skill,
capital and effort (whether physical or otherwise) has been applied in
the work. This “sweat of the brow” theory was adopted in India, as
evidenced from the Delhi High Court judgment in the case of Burlington
Home Shopping v. Rajnish Chibber , wherein it was held that a compilation
may be considered a copyrightable work by virtue of the fact that the there
was devotion of time, labour and skill in creating the said compilation from
many available works.
Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)
 Concept of Originality (Cont.)
 In the case of Feists Publication Vs Rural Telephone Services, the court
introduced another concept for determining originality namely minimum
modicum of creativity wherein it has been held that it must be
independently created by the author and that it possesses at least some
minimal degree of creativity in it to make it eligible for attaining
originality. As per the judgment any independent creation with certain
degree of creativity would be considered as original.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Concept of Originality (Cont.)
 The Indian Supreme Court, in its landmark judgment of Eastern Book
Company v. D.B. Modak, departed from both these approaches and
established the standard of originality that fell midway between ‘sweat
of the brow’ and ‘minimum modicum of creativity’. In doing so, the
Indian Supreme Court was followed the reasoning given by the Canadian
Supreme Court in CCH Canadian Ltd. v. Law Society of Upper Canada .
But in practice, this midway standard is extremely difficult to practice and
implement. According to this midway standard, an ‘original’ must be a
“product of an exercise of skill and judgment”, where ‘skill’ is “the use
of one’s knowledge, developed aptitude or practised ability in
producing the work” and ‘judgment’ is “the use of one's capacity for
discernment or ability to form an opinion or evaluation by comparing
different possible options in producing the work”. As per the Canadian
Supreme Court, this exercise of skill and judgment must not be “so trivial
that it could be characterized as a purely mechanical exercise” and must be
“more than a mere copy of another work.” At the same time, “creativity is
not required” to make the work ‘original’. It is thus evident that a great deal
of ambiguity exists around the practical implementation of this standard.
Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)
Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)
 Licensing & Assignment
 Assignment of copy right and copyright license are two forms of contract
involved in the exploitation of copyright work by a third party.
 License is an authorization of an act without which authorization would be
an infringement. Licensing usually involves licensing of some of the rights
and not the whole. Licenses can be exclusive or non exclusive.
 An assignment involves the disposal of the copyright. The author (assigner)
assigns the copyright to another person (assignee) or transfers the ownership
of the copyright.
 No assignment of the copyright in any work shall be valid unless it is in
writing signed by the assignor or by his duly authorized agent.
 It shall identify the work, specify the rights assigned, duration, territorial
extent of such assignment, amount of royalty payable to the author.
 If the period is not stated it shall be deemed to be five years and territorial
extend shall be presumed to extend within India.
 If the assignee does not exercise such rights within one year from the date
of such assignment it shall be deemed to have lapsed unless otherwise
specified in the assignment.
Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)
 Infringement
 In dealing with copyright, we should bear in the mind that copyright does
not protect novelty but only originality.
 Copyright protects only the expression and not the idea. Therefore, if it is
the only method of expressing the work, it cannot be protected.
 Best example would be the Telephone Directory wherein the Name,
Address, Phone No. are given and also given in alphabetical order.
 There can be no other way of expressing the same. Therefore, this would
not amount to copyright infringement. This is popularly referred to as Idea-
Expression Dicothomy.
 The key factors required for initiating any infringement case are:
 Prove ownership of Copyright
 Infringer has copied (Substantially Similar)

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Infringement
 In the case of Super Cassette Industries Vs Nodules Co. Ltd ., the
defendant played cassette in Hotel amounts to copyright infringement. This
was clearly held to be act of infringement of author’s right over copyright.
 Copying can, therefore, be proved by inference. It can be inferred that the
defendant has in fact copied the plaintiff’s work from the fact that the
defendant had access to the plaintiff’s work and from the similarities
between his work and that of the plaintiff’s. The rationale behind this is that
given the sufficient opportunity that the defendant had to copy the plaintiff’s
work in addition to the striking similarity between the two works, the
evidence in hand is indicative of copyright infringement.
 In the case of Roma Mitra Vs State of Bihar, the Plaintiff, a student gave
the work to the guide. The guide published the work as her own. The
published article was substantially similar and therefore, amounted to
copyright infringement.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Infringement

 In the case of S.K. Dutt vs Law Book Co. And Ors., the court determined
the amount of substantiality should be more than half of the total work. It
has also held that where the half of the work is copied and the remaining
being original work, it does not constitute infringement.
a. “If there are no similarities, no amount of evidence of access will suffice to prove
copying”.
b. “If evidence of access is absent, the similarities must be so striking as to preclude
the possibility that plaintiff and the defendant arrived at the same result.”
 Therefore, to summarise the Condition to prove infringement can be
summarized as follows:
a. Closely Similarity
b. Unlawful
c. Some connection
d. Access to original work

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 When does Copyright infringement occur?
 Copies of copyrighted work are made for sale/hire without permission or
authority, like in the case of online piracy

 A copyrighted work is performed in a public place

 Infringing copies are distributed for the purpose of trade and personal gains

 Public exhibition of infringing copies by way of trade prejudicial to the

owner

 Infringing copies are imported from another country into India

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Test Applied
 The Protected Expression Test: The first test for improper appropriation is to
identify whether the defendant’s work copies any protected expression from
the plaintiff’s work, i.e., exclude those elements from the plaintiff’s work,
which are not protectable under law. Examples of such elements are
expressions which to which the Idea-Expression Doctrine applies or the
doctrine of “Scenes a faire” applies.
 The idea-expression dichotomy was formulated to ensure that the
manifestation of an idea (i.e. an expression) is protected rather than the idea
itself.
 “Elements of an original work those are so trite or common that they are not
captured by copyright.”
 Audience Test: To establish infringement, the plaintiff should demonstrate
that any audience would find the expression in the defendant’s work
substantially similar to the plaintiff’s work. Courts sometimes refer to this
test as an “audience test “ and sometimes as an “ordinary observer” test.
This principle of test is from the prospective of a third person, or a layman,
the two works should be seem so substantially similar that a layman they
would not be able to distinguish between the two.
Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)
 Contributory Infringement

 Contributory infringement is where the copyrighted work is duplicated

by another person without the consent of the owner or existence of any
lawful excuse by another with the aid of another. This may be simply
put a abetment to an offence. For example, a person has a Rs.1000 note
and takes a color Xerox in a shop. The person is an infringer and the
Xerox shop is abettor or the person who commits contributory
infringement.
 Similarly, where a book or compact disc is copyrighted which can be
easily ascertained, any person who helps in the offence of infringement
like making duplicates copies, translation, adaptation, communication
to public etc, would amount t contributory infringement.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Acts which may not amount to Infringement
Subject to certain conditions, a fair deal for research, study, criticism, review and news reporting, as well
as use of works in library and schools and in the legislatures, is permitted without specific permission of
the copyright owners. In order to protect the interests of users, some exemptions have been prescribed in
respect of specific uses of works enjoying copyright. Some of the exemptions are the uses of the work

 for the purpose of research or private study,

 for criticism or review,

 for reporting current events,

 in connection with judicial proceeding,

 performance by an amateur club or society if the performance is given to a non-paying audience, and

 the making of sound recordings of literary, dramatic or musical works under certain conditions.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)

 Actions against Copyright Infringement
Under a civil action against copyright infringement, the court can grant the
following reliefs:
Interlocutory Injunction: It is the most important relief as it prevents the
infringer from doing anything that amounts to copyright infringement.
Financial Relief: Under Section 55 and Section 58 of the Copyright Act, the
copyright owner can claim three remedies- profits which lets the owner get the
profits made through an unlawful act, compensatory damages and conversion
damages calculated according to the value of the infringing article.
Anton Pillar Order: It restrains the infringer from dealing in infringing goods
or destroying them. It also allows the copyright owner and his lawyer to enter
and search the premises of the infringer and take goods into safe custody.
Under this order, the infringer is required to disclose the names of all the
suppliers and customers of infringing goods.
Mareva Injunction: It is an order under which the court gets temporary
custody of infringing goods, thereby preventing any chances of disposal.
Norwich Pharmacal Order: It is passed to discover information from a third
party.
Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)
 Actions against Copyright Infringement
 Under the Copyright Act, 1957, criminal action against
copyright infringement can also be taken.
 The person found guilty of copyright infringement would
be liable for punishment for imprisonment for not less
than 6 months and up to 3 years, or fine of at least Rs.
50,000 to Rs. 2 lakhs.
 Under the criminal action taken against copyright
infringement, a search and seizure of infringing goods may
also be ordered by the court and the infringing goods may
be delivered to the actual copyright owner.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar (Dept. of CSE, DTU Delhi)