Copyright is a form of intellectual property right that is granted to creators of original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work as well as cinematographic films and sound recordings. It encompasses bundle of exclusive rights such as the right of an author to copy, recreate, publish, telecast, exhibit and perform his own original work. Copyright vests in original author/creator the moment the work is created but registration is always advisable from a legal and professional point of view in order to avoid any kind of complexities during enforcement.  A copyright is granted for the expression in the idea and not the idea itself. Copyright being an intangible property has two major goals: first, to guarantee authors, musicians, painters, designers, and other creative individuals the right to their creative work and second, to enable others to openly develop upon the concepts and knowledge made available by a work. At Knowledgentia Consultants which is the best corporate international law firm in India, our experts support our clients in all facets relating to copyright registration services in India.

As per the Indian Copyright Act 1957, copyright protection confers:-

1. ECONOMIC RIGHTS

• As per section 14 of the Copyright Act, 1957, the owner/ author of the original literary, musical, and dramatic work has:

1. Right to reproduce;
2. Right to issue copies;
3. Right to perform at public;
4. Right to make cinematography and  sound recording;
5. Right to make any translation;
6. Right to adaptation; and
7. Right to do any other activities related to the translation or adaptation.

In the case, of computer program work:

1. Right to do any act aforesaid mentioned; and
2. Right to sell, rent, offer for sale of the copyrighted work.

In the case of artistic work

1. Right to reproduce;
2. Right to communicate;
3. Right to issue copies;
4. Right to make any cinematography and sound recording;
5. Right to make an adaptation; and
6. Right to do any other activities related to the translation or adaptation.

In case of a cinematograph film work:

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

In the case of a sound recording work:

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

2. MORAL RIGHTS

In addition to the protection of economic rights, the copyright act, 1957 conjointly protects ethical rights, that is due to the actual fact that a literary or inventive work reflects the temperament of the creator, just as much as the economic rights reflect the author’s need to keep the body and the soul of his work out from commercial exploitation and infringement

• Section 57 of the copyright act,1957 recognize two types of moral rights which are:

1. Right to paternity– which incorporates the right to assert the authorship of the work and
2. Right to integrity- which incorporates right to restrain, or claim of damages in respect of any distortion, modification, mutilation, or any other act relating to a work

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
Copyright infringement refers to the unauthorized use of someone’s copyrighted work. Thus, it is the use of someone’s copyrighted work without permission thereby infringing certain rights of the copyright holder, such as the right to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the protected work.

Section 51 of the Copyright Act specifies when a copyright is infringed. According to Section 51 of the Act, Copyright is deemed to be infringed if:

1. A person without obtaining the permission of the copyright holder does any act which only the copyright holder is authorised to do.
2. A person permits the place to be used for communication, selling, distribution or exhibition of an infringing work unless he was not aware or has no reason to believe that such permission will result in the violation of copyright.
3. A person imports infringing copies of a work
4. A person without obtaining the authority from the copyright holder reproduces his work in any form.

CIVIL AND CRIMINAL REMEDIES 
CIVIL REMEDIES
Section 55 of the copyright act of 1957 addresses civil remedies for copyright infringement. These civil remedies encompass restitution, injunctions, account interpretation, deletion and surrender of copies made infringing, as well as conversion damages.

• Copyright infringer who is threatening to invade or has invaded the legal or equitable rights of another is restrained from commencing or continuing such act, or is commanded to restore matters to the position in which they stood previous to the relation.
• To take into possession of the infringed documents, copies and other relevant material back from the infringer.
• Restrain the infringer from disposing of assets that may be required to satisfy the author’s claim
• Pecuniary remedies

There are 3 types of pecuniary remedies provided:

1. An account of profit, lets the owner seek the sum of money made, equal to the profit made through unlawful conduct.
2. Compensatory damages, which let the copyright owner seek the damages he suffered.
3. Conversational damages are assessed to the value of the article.

CRIMINAL REMEDIES
Section 63 of the copyright act of 1957 specifies criminal penalties for copyright infringement. These criminal penalties can take the form of jail time, fines, searches, the seizure of contraband, etc. The maximum sentence for imprisonment is 3 years, but it cannot be less than 6, and the maximum fine is between 50,000 and 2,00,000 rupees.

• EXCEPTIONS TO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT

The law provides that an act shall not constitute copyright infringement in cases of:

• Fair dealing, which is the statutory limitation on the exclusive right of the copyright owner which permits reproduction or use of copyrighted work in a manner that otherwise would have constituted infringement. As per Section-52 of the copyright act,1957 according to which a work can be freely used except computer program for the purposes:

1. For private and personal use including research,
2. For criticism and review,
3. For reporting of current events or issues including lectures in public,
4. For broadcasting in cinematographic films or by posting photographs,
5. For reproduction and reporting of any judicial proceeding,
6. For reproduction, or publication of any kind of work prepared by the secretariat of a legislature,
7. For reproduction of any kind of work in a certified copy made or supplied accordance with any law,
8. For reading and recitation of any literary or dramatic work in the public domain,
9. For publication of any non-copyright matter bonafide intended for the use of educational institutes, and
10. For recording any sound by the owner of the right in the work.

COPYRIGHT FILING PROCESS IN INDIA
The first step in filing copyright is to submit an application after filing of which a diary number is generated by copyright office. Further atleast period of 30 days are taken to record any objections that might occur in relation to copyright application. The application is examined and in case of no discrepancies, registration certificate is granted within a span of 4-5 months but in case of objections, the same needs to be clarified in an official hearing granted by copyright office.

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR FILING COPYRIGHT APPLICATION:-
(i)  Name and Address of the Applicant;

(ii) Title of the Work;

(iii) 3 copies of work

(iv) Name and Address of the Author/Creator – Individual if different from applicant;

(v) No objection from author/creator in favour of the Applicant;

(vi) Power of attorney

(vii) Signature in jpeg format.

CASE LAWS AND LEGAL PERSPECTIVE

1. TARUN WADHWA V. SAREGAMA INDIA LTD & ANR, INTERIM APPLICATION (L) NO. 4371 OF 2021 IN COMM IP SUIT (L) NO. 4366 OF 2021

In this case, an independent filmmaker claimed that Saregama had illicitly used his material to make a Marathi film on zombies. The Court while dismissing the application states that copyright exists only in the particular expression of an idea – that is, the particular arrangement of elements that in their individual capacity would not be susceptible to copyright. The Court further observed that breaches of confidentiality and copyright infringement are closely tied and, in most cases, the former can be claimed for matters that cannot be the subject of copyright. The Court reiterated that an idea, in particular, cannot be the subject of a copyright action,but may be the subject of a breach of confidentiality.

2. SANJAY SOYA PVT. LTD. V. NARAYANI TRADING COMPANY, IA(L) 5011/2020 IN COMIP(L) 2/2020 (SUIT)

The court held that copyright registration is not mandatory to claim reliefs under the Copyright act.

3. STAR INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED V 7MOVIERULZ.TC & ORS, CS(COMM) 604/2022.

The Delhi High Court restrained 18 websites from illegally streaming the upcoming Ranbri Kapoor starrer movie Brahmastra after Star India filed a suit for ex-parte ad-interim injunction . This was a suit filed by a leading Producer and Distributor of movies and television shows, Start India Private Limited, who is a co-producer of the movie in question ‘Brahmastra Part One: Shiva’. It argued that being the co-producer of the film, it is an author under Section 2(d) of the Copyright Act, 1957, thus, an owner as per the provisions of Section 17 of the said Act. Court ordered the defendants No. 1 to 18 and all others acting for and/or on their behalf are restrained from in any manner hosting, streaming, retransmitting, exhibiting, making available for viewing and downloading, providing access to and/or communicating to the public, displaying, uploading, modifying, publishing, updating and/or sharing on their websites through the internet or any other platform, the film ‘Brahmastra Part One: Shiva’ and contents related thereto, to infringe the Plaintiff’s copyright therein, till the next date of hearing.

4. WARNER BROTHERS ENTERTAINMENT V. HTTP.OTORRENTS.COM & ORS CIVIL SUIT(COMMERCIAL) CASE NO.367 OF 2019)

The Delhi High Court recently granted a permanent injunction in favour of global entertainment company Warner Brothers while restraining “rogue” torrent websites from distributing, broadcasting, transmitting and streaming its content.

CONCLUSION
Copyright protection extends to original works of authorship which are fixed in a tangible medium of expression.  Furthermore, the copyright only extends to the expression of the idea behind that work of authorship – not the idea itself. But unfortunately things become much more complex when applying when we think of Fair Use and Works for Hire. Moreover, copyrights as applied to software can be even more troublesome, especially when placed in the context of the internet. The fact of the matter is that copyrights make a great deal of sense when discussing tangible items like books, artwork, or sheet music (i.e. things that were around when the copyright laws were drafted). They become much more complicated when applied to the newer digital mediums. India does not have proper laws to cater to the digital revolution that we as a country are venturing into. It will require a combination of laws within IP field as well as civil and criminal law to fully protect one’s IP . At Knowledgentia, we not only provide global IPR protection services but also contract drafting services so our clients are rest assured they will be protected against all odds in this dynamic scenario. For hassle free copyright filings and registrations, kindly reach out to us at info@knowledgentia.com.