Copyright is a type of Intellectual Property (IP) that gives its owner the exclusive right to make copies of a creative work, usually for a limited time. In India, Copyright Act, 1957 and Copyright Rules 2013 cooperatively deal with the subject of Copyright.
Section 13 of the Copyright Act, 1957 allows Copyright protection for the following works:
- Original literary, dramatic, musical works
- Artistic work including photographs, sculptures, architectural work, painting, drawing, engravings or any such work of artistic craftsmanship;
- Cinematograph films
- Sound recordings
- Software, Computer programs and allied compilations (as part of literary work)
Registration of copyright is not mandatory as copyright is inherent and automatic right. When any of the abovementioned works takes birth, along with it comes copyright into the picture. Therefore, it isn’t mandatory to register copyright. However, registering copyright gives an extra layer of protection to such works. By having an existing record, the evidence of such an existing work is created. This makes legally proving the existence of copyright in a court of law, very easy. Matters of assignment, transfer of ownership, creating an authorized agent etc. is generally made easier when you have a registered copyright. With a registered copyright, the risks involved are less.
Authors have prima facie copyright protection. Section 2(d) of the Act lays down authors of works:
| Literary work | Author of the work |
| Dramatic work | Author of the script |
| Musical work | Composer |
| Artistic work other than photographs | Artist |
| Photograph | Photographer |
| Computer-generated literary, musical, dramatic work, artistic work | Person causing the creation of the work
|
| Cinematograph films | Producer |
| Sound recording | Producer |
Other than authors, owners or any authorized agent of the author, or any person/organization with exclusive rights over the work, obtained through a contract, can also enforce the copyright.
Copyright registration process
Chapter X of the Copyright Act, 1957 and Chapter XII of Copyright Rules, 2013 elucidate upon Copyright Registration. Registration involves the procedure of entering the particulars of a work in the Register of Copyrights. Copyright Register has 6 parts to it, each part pertaining to each type of work. The Register is arranged alphabetically, following Indexes and each part is maintained both physically and electronically. The work seeking copyright will be entered into the appropriate part of the Register, if it is deemed worthy of copyright protection.
To register a Copyright, the Registrar of Copyrights should receive an application for the same with prescribed fees. Form-XIV should be used for the Copyright registration application. If changes are to be made to an already existing copyright, then Form XV should be used. After receiving an application, the Registrar of Copyrights will then conduct an inquiry and decide accordingly.
Rule 70 of Copyright Rules 2013 lays down the particulars for Application for Copyright Registration.
- The Application should be made with Application Form (Form XIV), Statement of Particulars (SoP) and Statement of Further Particulars (SoFP).
- The Application is to be signed either by the author or the owner of the work. In case of owners, a NOC duly signed by the author shall be attached along with the application.
- The Application should be filed in the Copyright Office in person, by post or using the online filing facility available on the official website of the Copyright Office. The link for the same is provided here. https://copyright.gov.in/Default.aspx
- The Applicant has a duty to give notice (including such statements, particulars or enclosures used for the application) of making such an application to every person claiming or having an interest in the subject-matter of the copyright or contesting the applicant’s rights over such work.
- An inquiry will be conducted in case any objection is received by the Registrar within a period of 1 month, or if the Registrar is not convinced about the correctness of that application and/or details attached with it.
- An opportunity for a hearing will be given to the Applicant before rejecting the application.
- In case no objection is received within 30 days from the date of receipt of the application and if the Registrar is satisfied with the application and the particulars in it, the same will be entered in the Register.
- The Registration process comes to an end only when the work entered in the Register of Copyrights and the copy of such entry is made, signed and issued by the Registrar, Deputy Registrar or such authorised person. Such a copy will be sent to the concerned parties within a reasonable time.
- Application to register unpublished work shall be accompanied by 2 copies of the work
- Object code and source to be included in case of Computer programs
- In case of registering an artistic work capable of being used as a good, a statement indicating the same, along with a Certificate from the Registrar of Trade Marks proving that there is no registered Trade Mark that is identical or deceptively similar to such artistic work, or that no Trade Mark application for registration has been made by any person other than the applicant.
- For artistic works capable of being a registered Design, applications for copyright registration shall be accompanied by affidavits stating if such an item has been registered under the Designs Act, 2000, if there has been an application of the work to any article under industrial process and if it has been reproduced more than 50 times.
Statement of Particulars (SoP)
Statement of particulars to be attached with Application form shall include the following details:
- Name, Address and Nationality of the Applicant
- Name, address and nationality of the Author. In case the author is deceased, the date of his demise
- Names, address and nationalities of the owners of the various rights comprising the copyright in the work and the extent of rights held by each, together with particulars of assignment and licenses, if any
- Names, addresses and nationalities of other persons, if any, authorized to assign or license the rights comprising the copyright
- Nature of the applicant’s interest in the copyright
- Class, description, title of the work
- Language of the work
- Whether work is Published or Unpublished
- In case of a published work, Year and country of first publication with name, address and nationality of the publishers. Additionally, Years and countries of subsequent publications with details of publishers.
- In case of an “artistic work”, the location of the original work, including name, address and nationality of the person in possession of the work. (Year of completion to be included in the case of an architectural work)
- Certificate from Registrar of Trade Marks for artistic work capable of being used as goods
- For an artistic work that could potentially be registered as a Design, details showing if it has been registered under Designs Act, if it has been applied to any article by an industrial process, and the number of times it has been reproduced.
- Other remarks
- Registration number (entered by Copyright Office).
Statement of further particulars (SoFP)
SoFP is to be included with the application for registering literary (including computer programs and software), dramatic, musical and artistic works only. It contains details such as:
- If the work is original / If work is the translation of a work is available in the public domain, or translation of a copyrighted work / If it is an adaptation of a work in the public domain or of a work in which copyright subsists
- In case the work is a translation or adaptation of a copyrighted work-
(a)Title, Language of the work, (b) Name, address, nationality of the author of the original work and date of death in case of a deceased author (c) Name, address, nationality of the publisher, if any, of the original work (d) Documents proving authorization for a translation or adaptation including the name, address and nationality of the party authorizing.
Fees
Rule 83 of the Copyright Rule, 2013 lays down that Schedule Two contains the specificities of the registration fees.
| Work | Fee per work | In case of changes in particulars |
| Literary, Dramatic, Musical or Artistic Work | Rs. 500 | Rs. 200 |
| Literary or Artistic work, capable of being used in relation to any goods | Rs. 2000 | Rs. 1000 |
| Cinematograph Film | Rs. 5000 | Rs. 2000 |
| Sound Recording | Rs. 2000 | Rs. 1000 |
Payment of such prescribed fee can be done in various ways. By postal orders or bank drafts issued by a Scheduled Bank under Reserve bank of India Act, 1934, as a deposit into a Government Treasury, through payment gateway provided with the online-filing facility of the Copyright Office Website etc. are some of the ways prescribed under Rule 83.
Few examples of registered copyrights
| Title of the work | Type of Work | Issued on | Applicant |
| To hell with Corona | Literary/ Dramatic | 5/1/2021 | Bhanu Arora |
| Andy | Artistic | 9/12/2020 | Aum international Studios Pvt. Ltd. |
| Lead Management Distribution Methodology | Computer Software | 8/6/2019 | R Varadarajan |
| Bachpan Theher Jaa | Sound Recording | 6/9/2018 | Vrinda Parwal |
| Tere Ishq ki Aadat | Cinematograph film | 30/10/2017 | Mohd. Farman |
Author: Bhavana B, School of Law, CHRIST (Deemed to be) UNIVERSITY, Bangalore
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