By Navanshu Mishra (Associate)

INTRODUCTION

Intellectual property is the individual work or intellectual effort done or produced by a certain human brain or human being, person. Only the individual who invents or creates the intellectual work has intellectual property rights over it.

Intellectual property comes in numerous forms, including inventions, discoveries, works of art, and writings. Intellectual property rights will play a role if someone steals any ideas that belong to someone else. For instance, copy right legislation safeguards the original creations of writers, musicians, etc. The innovation of the inventors is protected by the patent law. The law governing trademarks safeguards trademarks used in the course of business by merchants or business people to identify their products or services. The first thing that comes to mind when we discuss copyright protection is that it is often awarded to original literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic works.

Intellectual property rights are extremely important in everyday societal activities. It is a complete right granted to the originator to enjoy the intellectual property. It preserves the inventor’s dignity and safeguards the creator’s work.

Today’s civilization is not constrained by a narrow range of technologies. The introduction of several rights, including the intellectual property right, is due to the fact that society’s needs are growing more and more every day. The value of intellectual property has grown with the development of new technology. Any original work of the human mind, such as a work of art, a book, or a scientific discovery, is considered to be an expression of intellectual property.

One of the most crucial aspects of intellectual property is copyright. The term “copy right” simply means “right to copy”. This implies that the original authors of the work, as well as anybody to whom they grant permission, are the only owners of the exclusive right to duplicate the work. When someone makes his or her own work using his or her own efforts, that person’s efforts must be protected by law from replication.

The creator of any literary work, theatrical work, musical work, artistic effort, cinematograph film, or sound recording is granted the copy right. It offers the original owner protection for their effort in the afore-mentioned sector. The Copyright Act of 1957 governs matters of copyright in India. Not all kinds of works are protected by copyright. Thoughts, discoveries, conceptions, and hypotheses are not protected by a copyright, Titles, brand names, and logos are not covered by copyright laws.

An original work must be of an intangible form to qualify as a creation. This means that in order to protect any speech, discovery, musical composition, or idea by copyright, it must be physically recorded.

INTERNATIONAL HISTORY OF COPYRIGHT

In England, the first copyright law was enacted in 1710. The idea of granting an author exclusive ownership right over a piece they made with their creative genius was first presented by this statute. This statute was adhered to, and all writers were required to register with the stationer’s business that had been founded in London. The Stationaries Company was only a licensing business used to safeguard customers’ copyrights against unauthorized use.

Berne Convention

The Berne Convention was set up in 1886 to support the creation of global standards for copyright protection and to provide for the mutual recognition of copyright across states. The Berne Convention is still in effect today and serves as the cornerstone of global copyright law. The Berne Convention’s adoption resulted in significant modifications, one of which is that it now grants rights to both registered and unregistered writers. According to the Berne Convention, a person owns the copyright to any work they create as soon as it is recorded, whether by writing, painting, filmmaking, or another method. The only purpose of the Berne Convention is to safeguard both published and unpublished works.

The Berne Convention for the protection of literary and artistic works, the first international copyright agreement, was enacted in 1886. To adapt to the demands of the modern technological environment, this convention underwent various revisions. Berlin had the first significant redesign in 1908, which was followed by those in Rome in 1928, Brussels in 1948, Stockholm in 1967, and Paris in 1971. The protection of writers’ rights in their creative and literary works is the primary goal of this treaty.

Basic Elements of the Berne Convention

The Berne Convention was built on two tenets: Automatic protection and National treatment.

(i) National Treatment

According to the Berne Convention, works created in one of the Berne Union member states must enjoy the same level of protection in all other member states that those other members accord to the works created by their own citizens.

(ii) Automatic Protection

The Berne Convention is also founded on the automatic protection principles, which states that the enjoyment and exercise of rights under the national treatment principle shall not be subject to any formality and shall be independent of the existence of protection in the country of original of the work. This indicates that protection is automatically given and is not dependent on any kind of formal publication-related notification, deposit, or registration.

Convention on Universal Copyright, 1952

In 1952, the Universal Copyright Convention (UCC) was formed, and it was updated in 1971. It safeguards written works as well as musical, theatrical, and cinematic productions as well as aesthetic creations like sculpture.

These privileges include the rights to reproduction, broadcasting, and public performance. Since they include works “either in their original form or in any form obviously derived from the original,” these three rights should be widely construed. The author therefore has the exclusive authority to provide permission for translations, adaptations, or arrangements of his work. Every contracting state is required to grant the writers at least these baseline rights.

India has ratified both the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention, making all of their provisions applicable to it. Regarding this, all nations that have ratified these above-mentioned conventions are required to abide by their terms, and their copyright laws will always be the same.

COPYRIGHT IN INDIA

Digital technology has had a significant impact on Indian society, when we discuss the situation of today’s India, it is not confined to a certain area. In India technology has opened up opportunities for society in a number of different sectors, including media, entertainment, communication, advertising, and education. The Copyright Act of 1957 provides protection for copyright in India’s digital age. The more comprehensive Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012, which was passed, is said to be more recent. 

The primary reason for passing this legislation is to bring it into compliance with the 1996 World Copyright Treaty. The legislation governing copyright in India is governed by the Copyright Act, 1957. This copyright law’s two main objectives are to first ensure that writers, musicians, artists, designers, and other creative people have the freedom to express their creativity, and second to give others the opportunity to freely build on the ideas and information made accessible by a work. India’s history with copyright regulations extends back to the colonial authority of the British Empire. 

The Indian Copyright Act of 1957 was approved, and it became operative in January 1958. The rules are also outlined, along with the punishments to be meted out to violators, management information rights, internet service providers’ liabilities, and the establishment of statutory licenses for cover versions and broadcasting organizers.

KEY FEATURES OF THE COPYRIGHT ACT, 1957

The many definitions of the work that might fall within the concept of copyright are described under Section 2, for instance, Section 2(o) deals with literary works, Section 2(h) covers all theatrical works, and Section (p) deals with musical and visual works.

Formation of copyright offices and boards

The Copyright Act of 1957 also established a copyright office, which reports to the Registrar of the Copyright, for the registration of books and other “works of art,” as well as a copyright board to aid in resolving copyright-related disputes. Section 9 of the Copyright Act, 1957 allows for the establishment of an office to be known as the Copyright Office for Act purposes. Section 11 of the Copyright Act of 1957 authorized the establishment of the Copyright Board.

The scope of the author’s rights

The most important section of the Copyright Act of 1957 is Section 13, which addresses copyright protection. According to Section 13(1), the Copyright applies to all of India, and the following types of works are covered by the Copyright: original literary, musical, and dramatic works, an audio recording, Cinematograph movies.

Under Section 13 of the Copyright Act of 1957, all creative works, including books, music, plays, visual arts, sound recordings, and motion pictures, are protected by copyright. The Act protects literary creations including books, manuscripts, poetry, and theses. The Copyright Act of 1957 protects original literary, theatrical, musical, and creative works as well as motion pictures and sound recordings against unauthorized access. Copyright protects expressions rather than ideas, in contrast to patents.

Section 13 (2) talks about the published and unpublished architectural works. If the work is published, India must be the country of publication. The author must be an Indian citizen at the time of publishing or at the time of his death if the work is published outside of India. The writers of unpublished works, with the exception of works of architecture, must be Indian nationals or have a place of abode in India. Only the work itself, not the architect, must be from India when it comes to architectural works because they may also be completed in writing. An architectural work’s copyright must only cover the creative character and design; it cannot cover any aspects of the building process.

Provisions for claiming ownership

According to Section 17 of the Copyrights Act of 1957, the person who first created the work is the owner of the copyright. The only situation in which this rule does not apply is when an employee produces content while carrying out tasks related to their employment, in which case the employer will become the owner of the copyright.

RIGHTS OF A COPYRIGHT HOLDER

According to the Copyright Act of 1957, the owner has the negative rights, which include the ability to forbid others from using his works in specific ways and the right to sue for damages if that right is usurped. There are two categories of rights granted to the owner by this Act: Moral rights; economic rights.

Economic rights

This privilege is also known as the Copyright Holder’s Exclusive Rights under Section 14. Different categories of work under this Act are associated with various sorts of rights. like as Regarding unique literary, musical, and theatrical works: Reproduction, issuance of copies, public performance, recording of sound and motion pictures, creation of any translation or adaptation, and other actions associated with them are all protected rights.

Moral rights

A literary or creative work reflects the temperament of the author, just as the economic rights reflect the author’s need to protect the body and soul of his work from commercial exploitation and infringement. As a result, the Copyright Act, 1957 also protects ethical rights in addition to economic rights. The Berne Agreement of 1886, officially known as a global convention for the protection of literary and creative works, supports these rights through Article 6, whose main clause is based on the concept of national treatment, or treating the opposing good as one’s own.

The Copyright Act of 1957’s Section 57 recognizes two categories of moral rights, namely: Right to paternity, which includes the ability to claim authorship of a work and the ability to prevent others from doing the same; and Right to integrity, which includes the right to prevent and the right to sue for damages if the claimed honor or reputation will be harmed by any distortion, multiplication, or other act related to the mentioned work.

INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT

Copy right infringement is the violation of the original owner’s copyright and it discourages the author from generating new works. as a result of someone stealing or copying his work. The Indian Copyright Act of 1957 offers both civil and criminal redress for copyright infringement. Civil remedies are included in Section 55 and include damages, restraining orders, and material seizure. Infringement of copyright is penalized in nature with imprisonment for a duration that shall not be less than six months, but which may extend to three years, and with a fine that ranges from 50,000 to two lakh rupees, according to Section 63, which deals with criminal remedies.

For second and subsequent violations, Section 63A lays forth severe penalties. The minimum sentence for a second offence is one year, but it may be up to three years, and the minimum fine is one lakh rupees, but it may be up to two lakhs.

ISSUES RELATED TO COPYRIGHT

The first thing that comes to mind when we discuss copyright protection is that it is often awarded to original literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic works. However, as new technology has developed, new ideas and creations have emerged, including computer programs, software, databases, numerous web-based works, etc. Therefore, understanding copyright in relation to computer programs and other items connected to cutting-edge technology is crucial. In the digital age, copyright is a growing problem for intellectual property rights. As is common knowledge, there are differences across the nations in terms of how they utilize and improve technology. 

The importance of technology is growing daily in the modern period. Computer technologies are a need for using and accessing information, and technology promotes increased productivity. Among all product types, computer software is arguably the most rigorously protected. Computer programs are now eligible for copyright protection, just like any other literary work, under the TRIPS Agreement, as well as other types of IP protection.

The Copyright Law in India protects computer software’s intellectual property rights. As a result, the provisions of the Indian Copyright Act 1957 provide protection for computer program copyright. The Indian Copyright Law underwent significant modifications beginning on May 10, 1995, thanks to legislation adopted in 1994. The Copyright Act modifications that were made in June 1994 were a turning point for India’s copyright laws. For the first time in India, the Copyright Law spelled out in detail each of the following: the rights of a copyright holder; the position on software rentals; and the user’s rights to create backup copies.

COPYRIGHT AND THE INTERNET

The requirement for copyright protection on the Internet has grown as its use has increased. Just as it has been modified over the years to cover many other new media, copyright law has now been adjusted to protect content found on the Internet. It safeguards original work as well as work that has been permanently affixed to a tangible media, such as writing, typing, or recording. However, some aspects of copyright law on the Internet can be as murky as mud because it wasn’t created expressly for the Internet.

In India, the use of the Internet is rapidly expanding. Internet-related problems are numerous. But the protection of intellectual property, or works of the mind, is one of the major challenges with the internet. Literary works, images, sound recordings, and other creative works are prohibited from being duplicated without the copyright holder’s consent, according to Sections 13 and 63 of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957.

Copyright owners have faced threats from all forms of copying technologies. The copyright of writers and book dealers is consistently violated by photocopiers. Additionally, this type of copying technique lowers the original owner’s or author’s profit. Because the cost of a reproduction of the original work is lower than that of the original, the advanced use of digital technology in the form of the internet poses an immediate danger to the core economic model of copyright holders.

CONCLUSION

The copyright law is regarded as an important legislation of protection for a country since it strengthens the country’s national cultural heritage. However, the greater the amount of protection afforded to literary, theatrical, musical, or creative activity in any nation, the greater the quantity of clever creations, and therefore the greater its reputation. In the end, we may claim that it is the essential prerequisite for economic, cultural, and social progress.