BY SHRESHTHA SETHI

[Link] LL.B (HONS)

8th SEMESTER
 INTRODUCTION
Copyright is one category of intellectual property
applied specifically to “works of authorship.” India’s
copyright law applies to any work as soon as it’s created
and fixed in a tangible form, whether registered or not.
It grants a set of exclusive rights to a work’s owner and
protects the owner and work regarding issues of
reproduction, distribution and adaptation. For actual
protection of these rights in court, the creator
must register work with the India Copyright Office,
which requires forms specific to the type of material
being copyrighted and can incur certain fees.
 EXAMPLES OF COPYRIGHT
The Indian copyright office provides six categories
for types of work that can be registered for
copyright:
• Literary works
• Dramatic works
• Musical works
• Artistic works
• Producers of the cinematograph films
• And sound recordings
 COPYRIGHT AND ORIGINALITY
• A person can enjoy the benefits of the Copyright Act, 1957 only if the work is original.
Originality is a basic feature of copyright. When a work is not original but a copy of
some earlier work it is liable to be charged with infringement. The word ‘originality’ is
not explained in the Act. One has to rely on the rulings of the Courts to understand
‘originality’.
• One of the earliest rulings is the case of University of London Press,
Limited vs. University Tutorial Press Limited (1916). The Court held that
‘original’ does not mean that the work must be inventive or a thought
over which no one has expressed anything. It is not concerned with the
idea but the way the idea is expressed. It does not require that the idea
is novel, but the work must not be a copy of another work. The
expression of work should originate from the author. Courts in India
have been following this principle. A work is said to be a copy of
another when after seeing, reading, or hearing both works, one gets a
feeling that the latter appears to be similar to the former.
AUTHOR AND OWNER UNDER COPYRIGHT
The author and owner of a work can be two different people.
• The author is the person who creates the work. The owner may be a different
person or entity. An owner is a person who has bought the rights over the work
from the author.
• The author may be commissioned by the owner for some remuneration. The
person commissioning the work is the owner of the copyright unless there is an
agreement to the contrary. The owner hires the services of the author to create
the work. In such a case the author has a moral right over his work.
• The author has a right to be identified as to be the author and object in case his
work is mutilated, distorted, or modified without his consent and prohibits the
owner of copyright from doing any act that would be to the detriment of the
honour or reputation of the author. This is known as the moral right as laid
down under Section 57 of the Copyright Act, 1957. They are non-transferable.
An author can seek damages or restraining orders even after the author has
sold the rights of his work.
 TERM OF COPYRIGHT
• The term of copyright in literary, dramatic, artistic, or musical work is for a period of
the lifetime of the creator plus a period of sixty years after the death of the creator.
Where there is the presence of multiple authors, the term 60 years is calculated post
the death of the last author. The same has been guaranteed by the Copyright Act,
1957.
• It is necessary to note that for cinematograph films, sound recordings, photographs,
posthumous publications, anonymous and pseudonymous publications, works of
government and works of international organisations, the 60 years period is
calculated from the year of publication. In case these ranges of work remain
unpublished, copyright subsites up to 60 years from the date the original work is said
to have been created.
• Further, when it comes to sound recordings, the period of 60 years is calculated from
the end of the year in which that sound recording is said to have been published for
the first time. When it comes to the rights of the broadcasters, the validity of the right
has been provided with a period of 25 years from the year of broadcast, whereas the
performer’s rights that have been our subject matter of discussion previously last for
a period of 50 years from the year in which the performance was made.
 COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
• Copyright infringement occurs when the violating
party exercises any of the creator’s exclusive rights to
the work without permission. This includes all
manners of distribution (selling, broadcasting,
performing, etc.), adaptation or other copying of the
work. Infringement can occur whether or not the
violating party seeks monetary gain through the use
of the material in question, though any argument
against copyright infringement is usually considered
stronger without a profit motive.
EXAMPLES OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
• Illegally downloading music files
• Uploading someone else’s copyrighted material to an accessible web
page
• Downloading licensed software from an unauthorized site
• Modifying and reproducing someone else’s creative work without
making significant changes
• Recording a movie in a theater
• Distributing a recording of a TV show or radio broadcast
• Including someone else’s photographs on a website without permission
• Publishing or posting a video with a copyrighted song to a company
website
• Selling merchandise that includes copyrighted images, text or logos
 CASE LAW
• YRF vs Sri Sai Ganesh Productions
YRF initiated a copyright infringement lawsuit against Sri
Sai Ganesh Productions, alleging that their movie
‘Jabardasht’ copied essential elements from YRF’s
‘Band Baaja Baaraat.’ The court applied a test of
originality, focusing on foundational aspects,
substance, and kernel to determine if an average
viewer would perceive one work as a copy of the other.
The court found that Sri Sai Ganesh Productions had
blatantly replicated YRF’s film, leading to a verdict of
copyright infringement.
Hawkins Cooker Ltd. vs
Magicook Appliances
• Hawkins Cooker Ltd. filed a Saregama India Ltd Vs. Sanjay Bansal
lawsuit against Magicook • In this case, Saregama India, a
Appliances for unlawfully prominent music company,
utilising their copyrighted label filed a copyright infringement
on the popular pressure cooker suit against Sanjay Bansal, who
line. The court prohibited was selling unauthorized copies
Magicook Appliances from using of copyrighted sound
Hawkins Cooker Ltd’s cookbooks
recordings. The court ruled in
and mandated compensation for
favor of Saregama India,
damages related to the alleged
unauthorised use of books,
ordering Bansal to pay
products, and articles in the damages and cease the
production of the infringing unauthorized distribution of
goods. copyrighted music.