What can be Registered as Copyright

According to the provisions of the Act, a copyright subsists in following types of works:

0. Literary;
1. Dramatic;
2. Musical and
3. Artistic
- Works

Labels used in respect of products marketed by the Company qualify for registration under Copyright Act as Artistic Work.

However to qualify for copyright protection the artistic work must be original. It means it should not have been prior to the date of publication, published in India.

The term of copyright where the author is a company is 50 years from the years of publication. Here publication means issue of copies of the work either in whole or in part to the public in a manner sufficient to satisfy the reasonable requirements of the public having regard to the nature of the work.

The first publication of a work is important for determining the subsistence of copyright. Thus copyright subsists in any work only if the work is first published in India.

There are two situations of ownership of copyright. One, any employee may be author and in the other case, an independent contractor like advertising agency may be author. In both the cases since the work under copyright is done at the instance of the employer/Company, for the purposes of this Act, the employer/Company shall be deemed to the author of the unless any understanding contrary to this practice.

The first and foremost right is the right to reproduce the work in any material form.

Other rights are :

1. To publish the work,
2. To include the work in any cinematograph film, like in an Television advertisement.
3. To make any adaptation of the work.

The owner of a copyright has exclusive right to do the above acts in respect of the work. If any person does any of these acts without authority he will be committing an infringement of the copyright in the work. Reproduction of the work in any material form and communication of the work to the public in certain forms are the usual methods by which the copyright in any work is commercially exploited for profit.

There are three types of remedies against infringement of Copyright; namely, Civil, criminal and Administrative.

Under civil remedies, the owner of a copyright can apply for injunction and damages. Whereas under criminal remedies he can make a complaint to the concerned police authorities about the infringement of copyright. The punishment under criminal remedy is six months imprisonment, with or without fine of Rs.50,000.

The administrative remedies provide, inter alia, for the removal of infringed copyright from the register.

There would always a question as to why a label also should be registered in the Copyright Act, when the same label is registered under the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act. What additional benefits are available if the label is registered under the Copyright Act, would be another usually asked question. Additional benefits are as under:

1. Registration under the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act is restricted to goods covered under the registration, whereas registration under the Copyright Act is not connected with the trade of goods in respect of which it is proposed or being used. Thus, if a person uses the same colour scheme or get up in respect of any goods different from the trade mark of the Company, proceedings under the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act cannot be invoked. However, if he gets a registration under the Copyright Act, the Company can proceed under the Act, as it would be publication of the artistic work in the label without the permission of the Company. The right under the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act will be further weakened if the accused does not use the trade mark associated with the label under dispute. In such case the Company cannot proceed against the person for infringement of the trademark under Section 29.