Backlog Internal Assessment

Copyright Law

Submitted by:
Arindam Arav Prakash
18010126013
6th Semester , Division : A
2018-23
1. Subject matter of Copyright
All subject matters protected by copyright are called protected works. Thus,
according to Section 13 of the Copyright Act 1957, it may be subjected for the
following works: Original Musical work, Original Literary Work, Original Dramatic
work, Cinematography films, Original Artistic work and Sound recordings.
Original Musical work –
Musical work was defined as “a work consisting of music and includes any graphical
notation of such work but does not include any work or any action intended to be
sung, spoken or performed with the music”. In 2012 Amendment, there was a grant of
statutory license for cover versions.  A song typically contains both literary and
musical work. Therefore, the tune and lyrics together forms the song. Lyric of a song
is the literary part and it is protected as a literary work and the writer of the lyrics is
the author of the work. Music accompanying the song is treated as a musical work
and the author of the musical work is the composer of the musical work. So, in the
song there can be two rights that are set of rights in the literary work and rights in the
musical work and they are owned by different people. The author of this right is
different people.   
Original literary work –
Literary work refers to works that are in writing. The Act does not classify literary
work, but we understand that as work that are captured in writing. The act says that
literary work includes computer programmes, tables, and compilations including
computer databases. The literary work need not have any literary merit and it is not
the job of the courts to look into the literary merit of copyright work.
So, courts have found that football fixture lists, mathematical tables, tombola tickets,
etc. are capable of copyright protection. The number of words in a copyrighted
material is not an indicator of quality and the author of copyrighted work is the author
who makes the work or who creates the work. There are certain things that cannot be
protected under a copyright. For instance, phrases, names, invented words and
slogans cannot form a part of copyright protections. The names especially used in
commerce or in trade are protected by trademarks and invented work and slogans, for
example the slogan which Pepsi used a while ago “Yeh Dill Mange more”, which is
an advertising slogan was held something that can not protected under the copyright
Act.
Original dramatic work –
It defined as “including any piece of recitation, choreographic work or entertainment
in dumb show, the scenic arrangement or acting, form of which is fixed in writing or
otherwise but does not include a cinematograph film”. The terms literary and
dramatic are used together and the principle applicable to literary work will be
applicable to dramatic work as well. The author of a dramatic work is the person who
authors the work. 
Cinematography films –
It means any work of visual recording and includes a sound recording accompanying
such visual recording and sound recording accompanying such visual recording and
“cinematograph” shall be construed as including any work produced by any process
analogous to cinematography including video films. The author of cinematography
films is the producer of the films.
Original artistic work –
An artistic work as mentioned in the Act, a painting, a sculpture, a drawing includes a
diagram, map, chart or plan, an engraving or a photograph, and whether or not any
such work possesses artistic quality. A work of architecture is included as an artistic
work and any work of artistic craftsmanship can also come under the ambit of an
artistic work. The author of an artistic work is the artist of the artistic work other than
photograph. The photograph is a person who takes the photograph, who is regarded as
the author. Recently there was an issue with regard to a selfie taken by a monkey. The
Court has held that, the person has to be a human being and so far intellectual
property rights have only covered Intellectual work of humans.
Sound recordings –
It means a recording of sound from which such sounds may be produced regardless of
the medium on which such recording is made or the method by which the sounds are
produced. The author of sound recording is the producer of the sound recording. The
sound recording may involve musicians, it may involve singers, but the author is the
producer.
The term of copyright varies depending on the kind of work that is protected.
Literary, musical, dramatic and artistic works are protected for the life of the author
and after the death for a period of 60 years. For posthumous work published after the
death of the author. It is 60 years from the time the work is first published.  Therefore,
cinematograph films sound recording, government works, works of international
organizations all are prospected for 60 years from the work first published.
The principle of conditional grants to proprietary rights in any intellectual property is
to promote public interest. This is universally recognized and incorporated in
intellectual property system. Protection and enforcement of intellectual property
rights must:
 be conducive to social and economic welfare;
 safeguard an individual’s fundamental rights; and
 Promote commerce, competition and innovation.
In Copyright Laws exceptions and limitations are provisions which in public interest
permit the use of copyrighted works without prior authorization or a license from its
owner.
Generally, exceptions and limitations to copyright are subject to a three-step test set
out in the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. Briefly
stated, the Berne Convention provides that an exception or limitation to copyright is
permissible only if:
 it covers special cases
 it does not conflict with the normal exploitation of the work; and
 it does not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author.
Standard exceptions and limitations vary from country to country in their number and
scope. 
In India the provisions of Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957  provide for  certain
acts, which would not constitute  an infringement of copyright namely  fair dealing
with a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work not being a computer program for
the purposes of-
 private use, including research;
 criticism or  review ,
 reporting current events in  any print media or
 by broadcast or in a cinematographic film or by means of photographs,
 reproduction for the purpose of a judicial proceeding or of a report of a
judicial proceeding.
2. a.) Copyright(Amendment) Act,2012 - The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012
(2012 Amendment) came into force with the primary objective of establishing an
equitable and just framework for administration of copyright and sharing of revenue
to protect the rights of owners and authors incorporated in cinematography and audio
recordings.
The amendment of 2012 added to the burden with respect to "issuing or granting
licence" in respect to the above mentioned works. Previously, the Copyright
(Amendment) Act, 1994 added Section 33 to the Act which made it mandatory that
only copyright societies can grant licence or issue copyright licence. As a part of the
2012 Amendment, section 33(3A) was added, which laid down a new guideline that
any copyright society carrying out the business of granting or issuing copyright
licence must register itself again within the period of 12 months from the date of the
amendment. Therefore, any copyright society which existed prior to the amendment
has to re-register itself within the given time frame. Also, there was no punishment
prescribed in case any copyright society fails to do so.
Though the attempt of government in the amendments was genuine, there are certain
ambiguities that jeopardise the interest of non-author owners of a copyright in case of
creative works. Section 33 which was inserted by the 1994 Amendment mandated
only the copyright societies to carry in the business of "issuing or granting licence"
for creative works. But, it does not say anything about the copyrightable work. Also,
it has to be taken into consideration that Section 18 of the Act says that the owner of
creative work can assign the copyright to any "person".
Therefore, an owner or author has the right to assign his copyright to a production
company and also has the right to assign it to any other person at the same time. So, in
such a process, forming a copyright society is not necessary. However, a specific bar
is created by Section 33 on any other person or entity who may be assigned any such
right as stated in Section 18 to issue these licence as a copyright author or owner of a
copyrightable work. The ambiguity is that only a copyright society has the right to get
involved in business of issue of licence by virtue of Section 33, even when under
Section 30 the copyright owner has the valid right licence a work. Section 30 and 18
are provisions of the act since it came into existence. The impact on these sections by
Section 33 which was added later has not been clarified either by the statue or any of
the amendments. It is still ambiguous as to whether Section 18 and 30 will prevail
over Section 33 or not, this ultimately leads to high legal ambiguity while deciding
the matters by the courts. It is a mandatory for the production companies in the music
and film industries to engage third parties for collecting and licencing and for
collecting public performance licences as well for collection of fees in that respect.
Alternatively, there is an option to assign, in terms of Section 18, public performance
rights to third-party collecting and licencing bodies who can monitor such right so as
to ensure that no infringement of any copyright is done by the non-owners. The third
party due to their specialization in such activities make sure that no infringement in
any form is done in country like India with such a massive population

c.) Idea- expression dichotomy - The idea-expression dichotomy was formulated to

ensure that the manifestation of an idea (i.e. an expression) is protected rather than the
idea itself. The doctrine has been widely used in the United States and is not really
alien to Indian jurisprudence. Courts have repeatedly opined that ideas per se are not
copyrightable; only the expression of an idea is copyrightable. An idea is the
formulation of thought on a particular subject whereas an expression constitutes the
implementation of the said idea. While many persons may individually arrive at the
same idea, they can claim copyright only in the form of an expression to this idea.
Such expression must be a specific, particular arrangement of words, designs or other
forms. Thus, such a doctrine allows for several expressions to be available for the
same idea. The earliest case regarding the idea-expression dichotomy is the U.S.
Supreme Court decision of Baker v. Selden, which concerned the copyright over an
account book. Selden had written a book which described an improved system of
book keeping by a particular arrangement of columns and headings which made the
ledger book easier to read. Baker accomplished a similar result, but using a different
means of arrangement of columns and headings. The court held that while a copyright
may exist over the publishing and sale of a book, it does not extend to the ideas and
“art” illustrated in the book. The U.S. Supreme Court created a clear description
between an idea and its expression, the primary reason being that otherwise, it would
result in providing an undue scope of monopoly to the copyright holder and would
amount to anti-competitive practice.