COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION PROCESS | HOW TO REGISTER A COPYRIGHT IN INDIA

WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?

Copyright’s main goal is to encourage and reward writers who create new works by giving them property rights and making them available for public consumption. According to the theory, giving creators exclusive rights to protect their creative works from piracy allows them to profit financially while the public benefits from original pieces of work that would not otherwise be created or distributed.

Although law governing copyright is envisioned to benefit the general public by allowing access to creative works, authors are under no obligation to allow the public to access their copyrighted works.

Copyright owners’ privileges are subject to certain limitations. Under certain circumstances, such as fair use of copyrighted material, anyone may use a work without the prior permission of the copyright holder.

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REGISTRATION OF COPYRIGHT

The right of ownership over literature, drama, poetry, artwork, sound recordings, and other works is known as copyright. Registering a Copyright guarantees that the writers’ rights of possession and enjoyment of their works are protected and rewarded, which preserves and rewards originality and imagination.

Copyright registration is required because it allows you to collaborate with the public, reproduce the rights, modify, and translate the works.

In India, the registration grants the owner sole, individual rights to publish, replicate, and recreate the function, as well as to give permission to any person to do so. It grants a slew of rights, including public communication, reproduction, adaptation, and translation of the work. Ideas, processes, methods of operation, and scientific principles, on the other hand, are not copyrighted.

As understanding of intellectual property laws has grown, there has been a significant rise in the amount of IP being registered in India. One of the most important forms of intellectual property rights is copyright registration.

A person abides by the provisions of the Copyright Act of 1957 while registering for a copyright. The author’s artistic work cannot be reproduced, and no one is permitted to use it without the author’s or creator’s permission. The author has the right to charge for the use or alteration of his work. In most cases, copyright protection lasts for 60 years.

WHAT CATEGORIES OF WORK CAN BE PROTECTED BY A COPYRIGHT?

Original works in the following categories are eligible for copyright protection in India: music, literary works, movies, designs of the fashion industry, artistic works, performances, software, and other computer programmes and compilations, and so on. Keep in mind that copyright law only governs the expression and not the idea itself.

WHO HAS THE AUTHORITY TO REGISTER A WORK WITH THE REGISTRAR OF COPYRIGHTS?

THE AUTHOR: The creator is known as the author. In cases wherein the work was created as part of a job, the employer shall be considered as the author. This is referred to as “work made for hire”. 

THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS HOLDER

An individual may possess exclusive rights to control, use, and distribute an original work under copyright laws. An individual who has possession of such exclusive rights may apply to have his or her claim in work registered.

THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER

A copyright holder is either the novelist or an individual or an organization that has secured ownership rights from the novelist through a written contract, will, or other means. 

THE AUTHORISED REPRESENTATIVE

This refers to somebody who has been given the authority to act on behalf of the author, or the owner of an exclusive right, or the copyright claimant.

There is no specified age limit for obtaining copyright. Under copyright law, even minors can apply for copyright as well. The reason being that copyright law recognizes innovation. It further recognizes that age should not restrict it. Also, unless the creators have decided differently if the work was made by more than two people, such creators are co-owners.

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COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION’S SCOPE AND EXTENT

An individual can register his/her published as well as unpublished work. If you have published work before the enactment of the Copyright Act of 1957, i.e., January 21, 1958, your work can still be registered. An application for the registration of copyright must accompany with three copies of previously published work.

In the case of unpublished work, an individual must file an application with a copy of the manuscript for affixing the Copyright Office’s stamp as proof of registration. If the person has sent two copies of the manuscript, one copy will be duly stamped and returned, while the other will be kept in the Copyright Office for record purposes and kept as confidential as possible. The applicant has the option to send only snippets from the unpublished work rather than the entire manuscript and ask for the extracts to be returned after being duly stamped with the official seal. The applicant may submit a Form V request for changes to the particulars entered in the Register of Copyright, along with the required fee, when a work is first registered as unpublished and then published.

Copyright protects variety of literary and artistic works, as well as your website and other computer programmes. A literary work can be defined as a computer programme or software. Section 2 (o) of the Copyright Act of 1957 stipulates that “literary work” includes computer programmes, tables, and compilations, including computer databases. The source code for software products must be supplied with the application for copyright registration. Copyright protection prevents the overly extensive distribution of private items and works and guarantees that the creator retains considerable control over his work.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS FOR COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION

PERSONAL INFORMATION

  • The name, address, and nationality of the person applying for the registration
  • Name of the author of work, address, and nationality 
  • Whether the person applying for the registration is the author of the work or a representative of the author, the nature of the applicant’s copyright interest
  • Identifiable copies of the original work 
  • If it’s for business, you’ll need proof of ownership and a certificate of incorporation.

THE NATURE OF THE WORK

  • The Work’s Classification and Description
  • The Work’s Title and the Work’s Language
  • Date of Publication – Internal publications, such as a company magazine or a research paper submitted to a professor, are not considered publications.

THE PROCEDURE FOR REGISTERING A COPYRIGHT 

Now, as we have gained knowledge about who is qualified to register for copyright and what documents does that person require to initiate the proceedings, let’s dive further into the procedure enshrined under Chapter X of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, and Rule 70 of the Copyright Rules 2013 regarding how an author can file his published/unpublished work with the Registrar. The following are the steps involved in the registration process:

STEP 1: SUBMIT AN APPLICATION

The person applying for the registration must file an application in person at the copyrights office, via speed or registered mail, or via the official website’s e-filing service (copyright.gov.in).

For each work, a separate application must be filed with the registrar, along with the work’s characteristics. Aside from that, the required fee must be paid. The cost of work varies based on the type of work. It can be paid by demand draft (DD) or Indian postal order (IPO) to the Registrar of Copyright Payable in New Delhi, or it may be paid online. This application, together with the relevant paperwork, must be submitted. The registrar will give the applicant a dairy number at the conclusion of this process.

STEP 2: EVALUATION

The copyright application is then examined in the following process.

There is a minimum 30-day waiting period after the dairy number is issued. The copyright examiner reviews the submission during this period. This time frame is in place to allow for objections to be raised and examined. The procedure is split into two parts here:

If no questions are raised, the reviewer reviews and scrutinizes the submission for any inconsistencies.

It is a case of nil inconsistencies if there is no error and the necessary documentation and records are included with the application. The claimant is permitted to proceed to the next stage in this scenario.

A letter of inconsistency is sent to the claimant if any anomalies are discovered. The registrar conducts a hearing based on his response. The claimant is entitled to proceed to the next level once the discrepancy has been settled.

If someone objects to the claimant, letters are addressed to both sides, and they are summoned to the registrar’s office for a hearing.

If the objection is dismissed at the hearing, the application is sent for review, and the above-mentioned inconsistency process is used.

The application is denied, and a rejection letter is submitted to the respondent if the objection is not addressed or the discrepancy is not overcome. The copyright licensing process for such a claimant comes to an end here.

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STEP 3: REGISTRATION

The registration phase is the last step in this procedure. The registrar can request additional documents at this stage. The Registrar of Copyrights must enter the particulars of the copyright into the registry of copyrights and grant a certificate of registration until he or she was fully pleased with the applicant’s copyright assertion.

When the claimant receives the Extracts of the Register of Copyrights, the copyright registration process is complete (ROC).

RIGHTS OF A REGISTERED COPYRIGHT AUTHOR

The Indian Copyright Act of 1957 governs copyright issues in India. It safeguards the copyright owner’s commercial, legal, and social interests. The Act gives the owner special rights in the following areas:

REPRODUCTION RIGHTS

The Copyright Act stipulates that no one can make copies or replicate a protected work in whole or in part without the permission of the copyright owner. As a result, copying an album, any sound, or any kind of video recording in a recording device is prohibited.

ADAPTATION RIGHTS

The Copyright Act grants the artist exclusive freedom to use his art in whatever manner he sees fit. He is free to make some variations on his original work. He may also create a new job based on an existing one in a different style. 

RIGHT OF COMMUNICATION TO THE PUBLIC

The Act grants copyright owners exclusive freedom to broadcast their original production to the general public. They will achieve this by disseminating visual symbols or signals wirelessly.

RIGHT TO PERFORM IN PUBLIC

Owners of artistic and musical works have special access to perform their works in public under the Act. In any of his plays, an actor will give a public appearance. An artist will perform his original music for a large audience. Artists, likewise, are free to broadcast their performances in public on whatever medium they choose.

PATERNITY AND INTEGRITY RIGHTS

The Copyright Act grants original work authors the moral protection to dignity and morality. The right of attribution, also known as paternity, states that the owner/creator is the primary author of his job. To put it another way, he should have it credited to him. Anyone who wishes to translate or repeat the original work must give credit to the author. Otherwise, the author would be free to sue the ‘unauthorized’ creator in court. For instance, before making a film based on a novel, the director must accept or credit the author.

The copyright holder is covered in a different way by the right to dignity. If anyone mutilates, modifies, or distorts the copyright holder’s original work, the copyright holder may sue for damages. This is achieved in the guise that doing otherwise will jeopardize the creator’s and his original creation’s credibility.

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS

The Copyright Act grants the copyright owner exclusive freedom to publish his art in whatever format he desires (through selling, reproducing, leasing, lending, or renting). He may also grant those rights to another party to use the copyright in part or in full, subject to subject-specific restrictions if he so desires.

CONCLUSION

Creativity is the most important prerequisite for societal development. Encouragement of innovation promotes a society’s economic and social growth. Copyright preserves people’s imagination and serves as a source of inspiration for artists, writers, and others. You have the right to clone, adapt, paternity, and distribute your work. If you register it with the Registrar of Copyrights.

While it appears to be easy, copyright registration is a lengthy but crucial process that can take anywhere from 10 to 12 months. It is always a good idea to register your copyright. This is because it will help defend your rights for years, even after you pass away.

It will be considerably simpler to take your case to court and have the individual who unlawfully copied your work penalized if you have licensed your copyright. The Copyright Act, 1957, provides for imprisonment ranging from six months to three years, as well as a fine of not less than INR 50,000, if your copyright is infringed upon.

For more information, please contact us on info@trijuris.com or call us Mb. No. 85100 58386 or 9310 717274.