What is copyright?

The word copyright is a mixture of two words – ‘copy’ and ‘right’. To be more precise
copyright means ‘right to copy’, wherein only the creator or his authorised person has a right
to reproduce a work. In simple words, a legal right which is possessed by the owner of
Intellectual property is a copyright.
In order to better understand the concept of copyright the elaboration must be taken into
consideration. With the help of a significant mental or intellectual ability, when a person creates
a unique product that product is viewed to be original. The unique creations including websites,
computer software, musical lyrics, art, literature, poetry, graphic designs, musical
compositions, novels, original architectural design, films, etc. Further, a copyright is a
safeguard which protects an original work from getting duplicated.
Anyone who is the original creator of any work he automatically has a right over it and also
can prevent anyone else to use it or copy it or replicate it for his own use. The creator may
voluntarily register for copyright if the creator wants to be secured end and have an upper hand
in the legal system. By registering this the creator can file a suit against a person replicating his
work.
Concepts such as discoveries, slogans, brand names, logos, concepts, domain name, theories,
and tiles are all excluded from the purview of copyright and falls under the category of
trademarks and patents. For any speech, idea, discovery etc. to a copyright needs to be written
down in a physical form.
This concept helps the creators and the artist to work fearlessly and create original products,
which are not subjected to replication by any other person.
Copyright in different fields
I. Copyright in Literary work
Literary works are protected by copyright as they are present in physical form. Literary works
include books, magazines, newspapers, journals, anthologies, novels, computer software and
programmes, letters, e-mails, poetry, lyrics of songs, tables and compilations. Literary works
are not only confined to the above mentioned things but also abstracts, encyclopedia entries,
dictionary meanings and individual poems are protected within the shield of copyright laws.
Ownership
The author or the creator of a work is generally regarded as an owner of a work in case of
literary works.
II. Copyright in dramatics
Dramatics includes within itself dance, mime covering screenplays, ballets, operas etc.
Copyright in the field of dramatic safeguards the creators, composers, choreographers,
dramatists, poets, author and other from replication of their work.
The different types of published and unpublished work may be submitted for registration
including pantomimes, treatments, plays, choreography and scripts prepared for radio, cinema
and television. They may be with music or without music. Usually, dramatic scripts are
intended to be performed including spoken text, plot and direction of action etc. It however
needs to be understood that all dramatic work cannot get a copyright. A few dramatic works
are exception to it namely:
• Manuscript
• Printed copy
• Film recording
• Video recording
• Phonorecord
Are treated as a physical script. The registration of the work gets effect on the day when all the
above-mentioned material is submitted in the Copyright Office in the prescribed format.
III. Copyright in Musical Work
Musical work means a work which consists of music and for a work to be musical it requires a
combination of graphical notations. However, it excludes any actions or words which are
intended to be sung/ spoken with the music.
Composer
The author of the musical work is known as a composer. Composer is a person who composes
the music irrespective of the fact that the music is recorded in any form of graphical notations
or not.
IV. Copyright in sound recordings
Sound recordings which comprises of any person’s speech, song sung by any person with or
without music, any audio or any podcast. The sound recordings are subjected to copyright.
Producer
The author of sound recording is known as producer. The producer of any sound has a right to
register himself as the owner of that sound recording which is created by his intellect.
V. Copyright in cinematograph films
Cinematograph films includes a plethora of activities namely:
• Any work of visual recording displayed on any medium from which any moving object
can be visualised.
• Work involving sound recordings.
• Stages of protection of cinematography under copyright
Another interesting fact in this topic is related with piaracy which is called as ‘copyleft’. The
owner has the right to avoid it and sue the person who does the work of piaracy.
Copyright in ownership
Copyright is considered to be a sui-generis right which means that a person who is a creator of
a thing using his intellect is the prime owner of that thing and has an immediate right over it.
Moreover, in accordance with Section 17 of the Copyright Act, 1957 is concerned with the 1st
owner of any work.
In which cases an author is considered the 1st owner?
1. In the case of literary works such as content published online, books, computer
software, public speeches etc. in these cases the author is considered to be the first
owner of the work.
2. In the case of dramatic, artistic or any musical work the author is the 1st owner of that
piece of work
3. The cases pertaining to art which includes sculptures, paintings, drawings (envisaging,
architectural drawing and planning) the creator is the 1st owner of that work.
4. In the cases pertaining to cinematography, the producer is the 1st owner of the work.
As we all know cinematography involves plethora of activities such as lyrics of songs,
scripts, artistic and dramatic work, for this purpose the respective authors shall be the
owners. However, in the case of sound recording the producer will be the owner.
5. If in case any of the above work is done by any person under a contract then the owner
of the work will be according to the terms of the contract.
6. For all that work which is created by the employee during the course of employment
then the employer shall be the 1st owner of that work. Similarly any work created by a
partner in the course of business the work will be counted under partnership. For
instance, if any advocate draft something while working in a law firm that creation of
draft will be owned by that law firm.
7. Lastly, any speech delivered publically, the speaker is the only owner of that speech,
irrespective of the fact that it was arranged by someone else or it was given under the
employer.
Infringement of copyright
Copyright right is considered to be infringed when someone uses the copyright protected work
of the original owner of any work which may include a theme of a book, an article, the lyrics
of a song, etc. without the owner’s permission. Moreover, if something is protected by
copyright, it cannot be generally legally made available to the public in any manner, whether
digital or otherwise, without the permission of the person having copyright or body such as
publication house or firm who holds it.
Remedies for the infringement of copyright
There are basically 3 types of remedies available in the case of infringement of copyright:
• Civil remedies - Civil remedies include injunction, return of account of profit, and
deliver the infringing copies of copyright work and conversion damages.
• Criminal remedy- Criminal remedy includes imprisonment of the accused or fine or
both.
• Administrative remedies- Administrative remedies include moving to the Registrar of
copyrights office to ask him to ban the import of infringing copies into India in case the
infringement is through such importation and the infringing copies must be delivered
to the owner of the copyright.
 How is copyright regulated?
The copyright societies which are collective licensing bodies are regulated by the
following:
• The owners and authors - The owners and authors have collective control over the
copyright societies. The societies have to be approved by the registrars appointed
by the central [Link] society is registered then the authors in that society
has the right to collect the registration fee and fulfill the formalities of copyright.

• The registrars- Copyright societies ought to submit the returns to the registrar of
copyright in the prescribed manner. The officer who has been delegated the work
pertaining to copyright by the central government has the right to call for regular
reports and records from the copyright societies. This is to make sure that the fee
which is deposited is utilised in the appropriate manner.

• Central government- The main task of central government is to register the

copyright societies and appoint an official for registration. In case the copyright
societies work in a way which is detrimental to the collective interest the central
government has a right to cancel the registration of a copyright society.
Process to obtain copyright
The person applying for copyright has to follow the following steps:
1. The person has to file the application along with the fee either in the form of DD/ IPO
2. Then the diary number will be issued.
3. The person has to compulsorily wait for 30 days for objections.
4. If in case no objection is filed then:
• Application will be accepted.
• It will go to the examiner for scrutinization
• If in case there is no discrepancy found, the application will be sent for approval.
• If discrepancies are found then the discrepancy letter will be issued to the
applicant. The applicant will have a right to reply which will be heard by the
registrar. In case the registrar is satisfied by the reply he may approve the
application and send extracts from the register to the applicant.
• However, if not satisfied then he may reject the application and send the
rejection letter to the applicant.
5. If in case objection is filed:
• The letter will be sent to both parties i.e. party filing objections and the party
against whom the objection is filed.
• Reply will be awaited from both the parties.
• Reply by both the parties will be heard by the registrars.
• If in case objections are rejected the application will be accepted and if objection
will be accepted then the application will be rejected.
This procedure applies in the case of both the published or unpublished work.
How to avoid copyright infringement?
Copyright laws are a shield to protect the creator or author of original works, which are creative
at the same time intellectual expressions from others using and earning a profit from their work,
without the owner’s permission. The idea behind copyright is that the author or creator owns
the rights to his work and has the complete discretion over how others use his or her work or
creation.
For instance, music copyright would exist with songwriters on their lyrics. When songwriters
allow artists to record their words, there would be an agreement outlining how the right to
record is granted, thus avoiding copyright infringement.
If another artist decided to record the same song without permission, the songwriter would be
able to bring legal action for copyright infringement against the artist. If you believe that the
copyright infringement definition sounds like stealing, you would be correct.
Conclusion
Copyright is the shield given by law in the hands of the original owner or author of any
intellectual property to be protected against the whole world. Therefore, by giving this shield
lawmakers encourage creativity and protect the original work of the creator.