8/6/2019 Entrepreneurs Guide to Copyright Registration - Part 1 Introduction About Copyright Law

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Entrepreneur’s Guide to Copyright Registration - Part 1: Introduction

to Concept of Copyright

There is a considerable lack of awareness on various concepts related to copyright amongst

many entrepreneurs and MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises). Most often than not theentrepreneurs and MSMEs are ignorant about the concept of copyright, and filling and registration

procedures related to copyright protection. Prima facie, copyright seems to be a difficult concept to

comprehend and the procedure, just like any other bureaucratic procedure, seems to be onerous.

This article will outline some of the basic facts about copyright law and answer some of the

common questions like ‘What is copyright?’ and ‘What amounts to copyright infringement?’ etc. This

article will thus enlighten some of the core fundamental issues related to copyright law, and help you

understand effective use of copyright for businesses as part of IP strategy. Broadly, the article will cover

the following key issues:

1.  Copyright for Entrepreneurs And Investors

For certain businesses, their core commercial activities include creating, buying and selling of 

copyrighted material. For example, films or publishing industry exclusively involves buying and selling of 

copyrights from lyricists and script writers. But copyright doesn’t solely just covers films and books; it

also covers marketing materials, technical manuals, internal company mails and training handbooks etc.

In some cases, copyright protection also extends to software. Therefore, copyright plays a vital role in

the IP strategy of several businesses.

2.  Copyright issues for bloggers, website owners and other content creators

Since most of the bloggers and website owners are unaware about copyright laws, they

unknowingly use copyrighted material on their websites; oblivious to the fact that they have invited

trouble for themselves. Recent reprimanding of Delhi HC against bloggers for distributing news feeds of 

a well known publishing house is an example of the point we are trying to make. Also, most of the

bloggers don’t understand their rights under copyright law and easily get scared when served with

baseless notices. This guide will give you an overview and help you understand what is allowed and what

isn’t.

Introduction to Copyright Law

1.  What is copyright?

Copyright is a form of intellectual property right that protects original artistic works, including

work of authors, such as literary, dramatic, musical and other artistic works. It protects the interests of 

owners of artistic work against those who ‘copy’. It is important to note that, copyright does not protect

facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are

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expressed. For legal reference read - section 14 of  Copyright Act, 1957, explaining the meaning of 

copyright.

2.  Subject matter of copyright?

Subject matter of copyright can be divided into:

  Literary works  – Poems, short stories, novels, and any other writings; whether fiction or non-

fiction; whether handwritten, printed or typed; whether published or unpublished.

  Musical works  – Serious or light songs, choruses, operas, musicals, operettas; whether one

instrument or more instruments - sonatas, chamber music, bands, orchestras etc.

  Artistic works  – Two –dimensional –(drawings, paintings, etching, lithographs etc) or three –

dimensional (sculptures, architectural works etc); maps or technical drawings.

  Photographic works – Portraits, landscapes, current events etc.

  Motion pictures – Cinematographic works; whether silent or with soundtrack.

  Works of applied art – Artistic jewelry, lamps wallpapers, furniture etc.

  Choreographic works, phonographic records, tapes and broadcasts.

  Software works – Codes etc.

3.  Copyright as a strategic business tool

What many entrepreneurs don’t know is that copyright may be used as an important source of 

income for their businesses. If your business owns a copyright in any piece of work, for instance, let’s say

an advertising jingle, technical manual or a magazine article  – then you can control its commercial use

completely and avoid its misuse by competitors. For example, you can easily charge every time if 

someone uses your jingle for radio show or downloads your manual from the internet or reprints your

magazine article etc. Copyright is a type of intellectual property right and like other property rights it can

be sold or licensed. It can also be transferred and inherited. Today, copyright owners are coming

together to form collective societies that work on their behalf to collect royalties by issuing licenses.

4.  Is copyright assignable?

Yes, copyright is assignable. The owner of the copyright of an existing work or the prospective

owner of the copyright can assign to any person the copyright either wholly or partially.

5.  What amounts to infringement?

There are chances that you might have to face heavy penalty if you infringe a copyright;

whether you use it fully or use its ‘substantial part’, without copyright owner’s permission. Therefore, it

is advisable not to copy a work, sell, rent or lend copies of work to the public, broadcast that work or

make adaptation of the work; all these are strictly forbidden. Some of the common copyright

infringements are – 

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  Putting up infringing copies for sale or hire

  Permitting any performance which constitutes infringement of copyright work in public

  Distributing infringing copies for the purpose of trade

  Public exhibition of infringing copies by way of trade

  And last but not the least, importation of infringing copies into India 

6.  What are the forms of copyright infringement?

Most common form of copyright infringement in businesses is  – Software misuse. Generally,

people easily make illegal copies of software, which also amounts to breach of software license. Another

common form is to play copyrighted music in the public, whether recorded or broadcast, without

obtaining license for it.

7.  Is copyright infringement a criminal offence?

Yes, if any person knowingly commits an act of copyright infringement for any work, he/she

commits a criminal offence under section 63 of the Copyright Act. If you infringe copyright, you could be

taken to court and as well as be asked to pay damages or compensation to the owner of the work. There

are chances, you might also face injunction against you, in order to stop you from using the copyrighted

material.

8.  Infringement Precedents

  Software copyright infringement case -  SAP Aktiengesellschaft & Anr. v. Mr. Sadiq Pasha

[CS(OS) No. 255/2005] - The case was decided by the Delhi High Court, in the favour of the

plaintiffs. The defendant was ordered to pay punitive damages amounting to rupees one lakh to

the plaintiffs. The facts of the case are that first plaintiff is a German company and the second

plaintiff is its Indian subsidiary. The plaintiffs claimed that the first plaintiff had developed

certain programmes- namely SAP R/2 and SAP R/3, which were highly customized and off the

shelf programmes. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendant’s company offered training for the

plaintiffs’ software in Bangalore and claimed that they had no legal right to use their software

and provide the concerned training, as they had not granted the defendant any license to use

their software.

  In Apple Computer Inc v Mackintosh Computers [2 S.C.R. 209, 20643, 20644 (S.C.C. 1990)], the

court held that it was an infringement of the copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical work to

reproduce the work in computer-readable form, such as on magnetic tape.

  In Gramaphone Company of India Ltd v Super cassette industries Ltd [1995 IIAD Delhi 905,

1995 (1) ARBLR 555 Delhi], the defendant launched a version recording of the songs of popular

Hindi film – Hum Apke hain kaun. Plaintiff raised the contention that the defendant by creating

the version recording infringed the copyright of the musical work in the film. High Court granted

an injunction restraining the sale of the version recordings when the owner of copyright

responded to the party proposing to make the sound recording and expressly refused

permission.

  In a recent case from Bollywood, music composer Annu Malik has accused another music

composer, Pritam Chakraborty of plagiarism for the song “Character Dheela Hai”, part of the

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soundtrack of the film Ready, starring Salman Khan. Anu Malik claims that the song is a copy of 

his composition of “Mohabbat naam hai kiska” from the 2001 Akshaye Kumar, Kareena Kapoor

starrer Ajnabee. This accusation, if proved, will be a gross violation of the Copyright Act 1957,

which protects the composer from such plagiarism.

Please Note: The following information on copyright is intended as general guide only. This material isnot intended to constitute any legal advice whatsoever and should not be relied on as such.

For more details regarding copyright registration, please feel free to contact me at

kshitij.malhotra@inohelp.com 

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 About UsWe are an emerging Intellectual Property (IP) service company that specializes in serving the IP needs of 

inventors, technology entrepreneurs and business owners by protecting inventions, designs,

trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and other valuable intellectual property assets. We also work

closely in association with foreign IP attorneys, who help us in securing our client’s IP in their respective

 jurisdictions at an affordable cost. We strongly believe in providing service to all, irrespective of theirsize. We encourage academics, individual scientists and entrepreneurs who are starting from scratch, to

approach us. We understand the constraint and limitations of each client and customize our fee

structure accordingly.

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Dwarka, New Delhi - 110075, IndiaPhone: +91-11-43614903

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