COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION
Copyright is the most pervasive, inclusive and freely accessible intellectual property right. One may go so far as to call it the ‘people’s right’, for the contemporaneous and automatic protection it affords to all original creations. The Indian Copyright Act protects original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, cinematograph films, sound recordings and much more besides. Copyright registration is not mandatory for protection, but is recommended for certain kinds of works for their better enforcement. India is a signatory to several international treaties including the Berne Convention; copyright protections are thus equally available to works created by foreign nationals in Convention countries.
Lately, copyright legislation and copyright common law have appeared to tug at divergent trends with legislation seeking to secure greater rights for the right holder and courts interpreting a less onerous and restrictive exclusivity arising from copyright. Regardless, protecting and enforcing copyright in this digital century is presenting, and will continue to pose, ever more complex challenges for rights holders and will require a rethink of business models. In India, under the Copyright Act, 1957, copyright is automatically conferred upon creation of an original work (literary, artistic, musical, dramatic, cinematograph film, sound recording). Registration is not mandatory for ownership, but it serves as prima facie evidence in court (Section 48 of the Act) and enables the registrar to issue a certificate that helps in infringement suits, licensing, and customs recordal.
