A GIST OF COPYRIGHT LAW Shajeeda Tajdeen BASICS OF LAW Thu, Feb 25, 2021, at ,02:31 PM COPYRIGHT LAW.Introduction:The fast growing economy and corporate life has made people more aware about their rights and privileges as a result of which people have become more litigious than ever especially over the matters related with intellectual property. This has brought enormous consciousness amongst business owners in India who are keen registering their creative work so as to ensure protection.The recent events in the businesses confirms that people have become more litigious than ever especially over the matters of copyright, trademark and patents. This has brought tremendous awareness wherein small business owners in India are keen on to register their brand, their creativity to ensure protection. These are the “rights” for certain period and in a globalized economic scenario, it has become imperative in a country to protect the rights of innovators and creators.Copyright is a right endowed by the law to creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and producers of cinematograph films and sound recordings. The ambit of copyright is spread over music, artworks, books, sculptures, maps, technical drawing, advertisement, computer programs, films and paintings. Both published and unpublished work are protected by copyright laws.Copyright laws provide exclusive rights to creator of the work to use and dispose of the same. Copyright laws have their own set of limitations and they are time specific. Furthermore, copyrights are territorial in nature and thus, they are bound by jurisdictional limit.The rights provided under copyright laws, include the rights of reproduction, communication to the public, adaptation and translation. The registration of copyright bestows economic and ethical rights on the original creator.· Author’s details:In order to register the work under Copyright laws, some basic details of the author like name, address & nationality are essential.· Power of attorney:A power of attorney is duly required to be signed by the candidate, if one is registering their work through any advocate or legal firm.· Submission of the work sample:The work of the candidate will have to be put into a soft copy format while submitting the same for registration. Whereas, while registering computer programs, databases, 4 CDs/DVDs of the same are required.· Certificate for artistic work:Where the candidate wishes to copyright his/her artistic work, the applicant will have to get a clear copyright certificate from the trademark office on a prior basis. Documents required for registration:ü Name, Address & Nationality of the Candidate – ID proofü NOC from the publisher if work published and publisher is different from the applicant.ü Search Certificate from Trade Mark Office (TM -60) if anyü NOC from a person whose photograph appears on the work.ü Power of Attorneyü 2 Copies of workü KYC of authorü DD/IPO of the required amount as per work ((as applicable)ü NOC from the author if the candidate is different from the author. Steps involved:An application (including all the particulars and the statement of the particulars) in the format of FORM IV has to be sent to the registrar along with the prescribed fees as mentioned in the Schedule 2 of the act.A separate application has to be made for separate works.The applicant and the Advocate in whose favour the a Vakalatnama or POA has been executed will have to sign the application.A Dairy No. is issued by the Registrar, after which there is mandatory waiting period of 30 days for any objections to be raised.After the completion of 30 days if there are no objections, then the investigator shall check for any discrepancy and if there are none, the registration shall be done and extract will be sent to the Registrar for entering the same in the Register of copyright.In situations where objections are received, the examiner will send a letter to both the parties and both the parties will be given an opportunity of being heard.If after hearing, the objections are settled the examiner will peruse the application and take a final call of approving or rejecting the application as the case may be. Duration until completion and submission:After filing of the application with the Registrar, the Government processing will start and it will take 2-3 months for the entire registration process to be completed. Important points:ü Copyright registration is mainly a legal formality, the intention of which is to make a record of the essential facts about a specific copyright available in the public domainü The owner/author of a particular copyright can transfer his/her exclusive rights or part of the rights to another. The transfer shall be valid only if it is in writing and carries the signature of the owner or his/her authorised agent.ü The copyrighted work can be licensed. After a person copyrights his/her work he/she can allow a third person to use the respective work by way of a license and exploit the same for monetary benefits as well.ü Registration of copyright is not mandatory in India, because registration only as a record of the fact.ü The registration neither creates nor confers any new right and is not a prerequisite for initiating action against infringement.ü Copyright does not ordinarily protect titles by themselves or names, short word combinations, slogans, short phrases, methods, plots or factual information. Copyright does not protect ideas or concepts. To get the protection of copyright a work must be original.