What is a Copyright?
The legal right of the owner of intellectual property is referred to as copyright. The right to copy is the simplest definition of copyright. The only people who have the sole right to reproduce a work are the original authors of that work and anyone to whom they grant permission. Copyright is a legal word used to describe who owns and controls the rights to the use and distribution of specific creative works, such as songs, videos, books, and computer programs. Copyright law was historically created to strike a balance between the rights of authors of art, literature, music, and similar genres to monetize their works by regulating who can make and sell copies of their creations and the desire of cultures to use and reuse creative works, creating "derivative work.
Who is a Copyright owner?
The original owner of the copyright is typically the person who produces the creative work. You are the owner of the copyright if you wrote the book or shot the photo. The law grants owners a set of specific rights, including the ability to reproduce, distribute, create derivative works, perform, and exhibit their works in public. Some pieces of art have "moral rights" that protect them from being destroyed or from having the artist's identity removed. Additionally, owners might have the authority to stop people from getting beyond technological security measures that restrict access to the works.
Term of Copyright in India
The legal rights to protect a person's original, imaginative, or creative works are known as intellectual property rights, or IPR (s). Copyright is one of these rights. Short-term copyright protection is available. The duration of economic rights varies depending on the country's law. In the countries that have signed the Berne Convention, the time restriction must be at least fifty years after the creator's passing. In the US and Europe, protection lasts for 70 years.
The duration of copyright protection is listed in Chapter V of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957. According to Section 22 of the Act, the term of copyright in published literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works published during the author's lifetime must continue for sixty years following the beginning of the calendar year following the author's death. When a work has more than one author, the reference to the author in this section refers to the author who passes away last. 4 By the 1992 Amendment, this term was raised from fifty to sixty years.
The sixty-year period is measured from the date of publication in circumstances where the work is a cinematograph film, sound recording, photograph, posthumous publication5, or anonymous organization.
Copyright Registration in India
Additionally, copyright registration benefits the general public. By making it possible to discover copyright ownership details, it facilitates the licensing market and alerts the general public when someone is claiming copyright protection. It also serves as a record of the inventiveness of this country.
The procedure for copyright registration is as follows:
Step 1. Filling of applications for copyright
Step 2. Diary numbers in 2-3 weeks.
Step 3. Substantive examinations of applications in about 6 weeks' time.
Step 4. Communication of objection (s).
A. If non-compliance of objection(s), the application will be abandoned;
B. If not filed within the timeline, the application will be rejected
Step 5. Compliance of objection (s) within 30 days of receiving the report.
Step 6. Accepted.
Step 7. Issue of certification of Registration.
Is copyright registration mandatory?
Whether or not copyright must be registered has been the subject of much debate. Courts have ruled that to use any criminal or civil remedy provided for under the Copyright Act, an owner must first register their copyright. To contest a copyright infringement, the same must be registered with the copyright office, in other words. The court made it clear that copyright protection does not require registration because it is automatically provided once the work is completed.
The purpose of registration is to establish a person's ownership of the original work and their only right to it. Having your copyright registered makes it easier to protect your work from being copied or duplicated by others. Additionally, when a piece of work is not registered, the risk of copying it rises, making copyright registration necessary.
Conclusion
Any form of intellectual property, including copyright, is crucial to the economic growth of any nation. The owner is granted the freedom to develop the concepts presented by the Work in any way they see fit thanks to copyright. There is undoubtedly a cost associated with copyright registration in the form of a registration fee. As a result, the owner should always think about how marketable their work is because he already possesses the copyright to it. Particularly when the Work is international or is used in multiple countries, registration is advised.
eStartIndia will help you with Copyright Registration from the comfort of your home.
Get a free consultation for Copyright Registration with Our Top Rated Experts with simple Registration.
Author:
Leave a Comment
Previous Comments