Copyright & its Features – Law Notes – Law Tribune
Introduction
**The word ‘Copyright’ is derived from the expression ‘copier of words’.
**Word ‘copy’ according to Black’s Law Dictionary means “transcript(rewrite), imitation, reproduction, of an original writing, painting, instrument or the like”…
**Copyright according to Black’s law Dictionary is the right in literary property as recognised and sanctioned by law.
**Copyright as defined in the Oxford English Dictionary :
Copyright (in/on something) if a person or an organization holds the copyright on a piece of writing, music, etc., they are the only people who have the legal right to publish, broadcast, perform it, etc., and other people must ask their permission to use it or any part of it.
**Concise Law Dictionary defines as “The exclusive right given by law for a certain term of years to an author, composer, etc (or his assignee or heirs) to print, publish and sell copies of his original work or translation thereof.
**The statutory definition of copyright means the exclusive right to do or authorise other(s) to do certain acts in relation to :
1. Literary, dramatic or musical works;
2. Artistic work;
3. Cinematograph film; and
4. Sound Recording.
Characterisitcs (Features) Of Copyright
Creation of Statute
Copyright is creation of a specific statute under the present law (Copyright Act, 1957) No copyright can exist except as provided in Copyright Act.
Form of Intellectual Property
A copyright is a form of intellectual property as it involves the utilisation and investment of intellect.
Monopoly right
It restrains the others from exercising that right which has been conferred on the owner of copyright under the provisions of the Act.
Negative right
It is prohibitory in nature. It is a right to prevent others from copying or reproducing the work.
Object of copyright
Protecting, recognising, and encouraging the labour, skill, and capital of another is the object of a copyright.
Multiple rights
It’s not a single right. It consist of a bundle of different rights in the same work.
Neighbouring rights
Copyright not only consist right to reproduction but it also consists of the right to works derived from the original works like public performance, recording, broadcasting which are as important as or even more than the right of reproduction.
Salient Features of Copyright Act, 1957
The first effective Copyright Act was passed in 1911. It was a small Act having only 15 sections and one Schedule. The comprehensive law on copyright was enacted by Indian Parliament in 1957.
Salient Features :
1. Definition of various categories of work and the scope of the rights on the author.
2. Determination of first ownership of copyright in various categories of works.
3. Terms of copyright for different categories of works.
4. Assignment of ownership and licensing of copyright including compulsory licencing in certain circumstances.
5. Performing rights of or by societies.
6. Broadcasting rights.
7. International Copyright.
8. Definition of infringement of copyright.
9. Exception to the exclusive right conferred on the author or acts which do not constitute infringement.
10. Author’s special rights.
11. Civil and criminal remedies against infringement.
12. Remedies against groundless threat of legal proceedings.
13. Creation of Copyright Societies and Copyright Board.
The Act of 1957 was enacted in conformity with provisions of Berne Convention and Universal Copyright Convention. The Act of 1957 was further amended in 1983, 1984, 1992, 1994, 1999, 2005 The most recent amendment was in the year 2012, through the Copyright (Amendment) Act 2012.
The Copyright Act, 1957
Section 13 of the Act specifies the “Works in which copyright subsists”.
It states as, Subject to the provisions of this section and the other provisions of this Act, copyright shall subsist throughout India in the following classes of works, that is to say-
a. original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works,
b. cinematograph films, and
c. sound recording.
Originality for the purpose of copyright law means the work must not be copied from another work but must originate from the author.
Who is author ? As specified in the Act, “author” means –
(i) in relation to a literary or dramatic work the author of the work;
(ii) in relation to a musical work the composer;
(iii) in relation to an artistic work other than a photograph, the artist;
(iv) in relation to a photograph the person taking the photograph;
(v) in relation to a cinematograph film or sound recording the producer; (vi) in relation to any literary dramatic musical or artistic work which is computer-generated the person who causes the work to be created;
The word ‘Literary’ in copyright law is to be used in a sense somewhat similar to the use of the word literature.
A literary work must be expressed in some material form, i.e. writing or print or in some form of notation or symbols.
A literary work is intended to afford either information, or instruction, or pleasure in the form of literary enjoyment.
As provided by the Act, literary work also includes, computer programmes, tables and compilations including computer database.
What is protected in a literary work is the product of the labour, skill and capital expended by an author on his work that is protected and not the elements or raw material used in the work.
Further a literary work need not have any literary quality.
In determining whether a work is entitled to copyright protection, a rough practical test is ,
“What is worth copying is prima facie worth protecting”.
Dramatic Work : “dramatic work” includes any piece for recitation, choreographic work or entertainment in dumb show the scenic arrangement or acting form of which is fixed in writing or otherwise but does not include a cinematograph film;
Copyright subsists in original dramatic work and its adaptation. Although cinematograph film is not a dramatic work, the script or scenario for a cinematograph film is a dramatic work.
“adaptation” (version) means –
(i) in relation to a dramatic work, the conversion of the work into a non-dramatic work;
(ii) in relation to a literary work or an artistic work the conversion of the work into a dramatic work by way of performance in public or otherwise;
(iii) in relation to a literary or dramatic work any abridgement (summary/briefs) of the work or any version of the work in which the story or action is conveyed wholly or mainly by means of pictures in a form suitable for reproduction in a book or in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical;
(iv) in relation to a musical work any arrangement or transcription(duplication) of the work; and
(v) in relation to any work ‘any use of such work involving its re-arrangement or alteration’;
Choreography is the art of arranging or designing of ballet or stage dance in symbolic language. It is a form of dramatic work.
The elements of a ballet are music, the story, the choreography, the scenery, and the costumes. It is a composite work and could be the subject-matter of copyright.
Musical Work : “musical work” means a work consisting of music and includes any graphical notation of such work but does not include any works or any action intended to be sung or spoken or performed with the music;
In relation to musical work, as in literary and dramatic work, the answer to the question; “is this an original work ?” must depend on whether sufficient skill or labour or talent has gone into it to merit protection.
Songs :
There is no copyright in songs as such because song is not one of the types of work in which copyright subsists. A song has its words written by one man and its music by another; its words have a literary copyright; and so has its music. But these two copyrights are entirely different, and cannot be merged. It follows that the song itself has no copyright. But if words and music are by the same person, the copyright exists in song. But no third and separate copyright in the combination of words and music subsists and song is not a collective work.
Remix songs :
The remix songs are within the definition of adaptation of a musical work, and such adaptations are not infringement of copyright.
Artistic Work : “artistic work” means –
(i) a painting, a sculpture, a drawing (including a diagram map, chart or plan), an engraving or a photograph whether or not any such work possesses artistic quality;
(ii) an architectural work of art; and
(iii) any other work of artistic craftsmanship;
As in the case of other works, to qualify for copyright protection an artistic work must be original, i.e. it must originate from the author.
In case of painting, sculpture, drawing, engraving or photograph the work need not possess any artistic quality but the artist must have bestowed skill, judgement and effort upon the work.
Cinematograph Film :
“Cinematograph film” means any work of visual recording on any medium produced through a process from which a moving image may be produced by any means and includes a sound recording accompanying such visual recording and “cinematograph” shall be construed as including any work produced by any process analogous to cinematography including video films;
For the purpose of copyright, the producer is considered to be the author of cinematograph film.
The sound track associated with the film is part of the cinematograph film which is the subject of copyright.
Sound Recording : “sound recording” means a recording of sounds from which such sounds may be produced regardless of the medium on which such recording is made or the method by which the sounds are produced;
The author of sound recording is the producer.. Musical works and sound recordings are separate subject matter for copyright.
‘Monkey selfie’ case
Naruto the macaque monkey had originally snapped selfies of itself after picking up Mr. Slater’s camera in an Indonesian national park. After the photos went viral and were published far and wide.
A debate erupted over whether Mr. Slater actually owned the copyright to the photos, since Naruto was technically the one who triggered the shutter.
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) sued Mr. Slater on Naruto’s behalf in order to have the copyright officially assigned to the 6-year-old monkey
The US Copyright Office stated it couldn’t register the works of monkeys and a judge ruled that the monkey couldn’t own a copyright.
A settlement reached in the lawsuit. Under the deal, the photographer whose camera was used agreed to donate 25% of any future revenue from the images to charities dedicated to protecting crested macaques in Indonesia,
XYZ Films v. UTV Motion Pictures
The case essentially involves two films, The Raid: Redemption and Baaghi. The Plaintiffs (XYZ and two others) contended that the whole of the movie, The Raid: Redemption has been copied and compressed into the last twenty minutes of Baaghi. The Plaintiffs contended that once they saw the trailer of Baaghi, they were alarmed by the similarities between their film and Baaghi and filed a case for copyright infringement.
It was held that it is the expression of an idea and not the idea alone that is copyrightable. The Plaintiff could not claim copyright over a ‘central theme’ or ‘concept’.
So, we can say that, there is no copyright in ideas. Copyright subsists only in the material form in which the ideas are expressed. It is not an infringement of copyright to adopt the ideas of another.