Copyright Registration
Copyright registration is required to protect your original artistic, literary work, music, video, jingles, website, mobile app and software from infringement and being copied. Copyright registration provides protection to the intellectual work of owner & ensures that originality is honored. Now, become a legal owner of your creative work.
Copyright provides protection to the original works of the author. Copyright is basically an intellectual property right confers upon its owner. Any other individual or entity can use original work (like books, scripts, even software, artistic, cinematography, recordings, computer programming etc.) of the creator with his/ her permission only. Companies often copyright instruction manuals, Website content, product literature, brochure, and user guides. Copyrights are also transferable.
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Things are protected under Copyright
Cinematography film
Sound recording
Musical work & Sound recording
Artistic work like paintings, photographs
Original literary others
Books
Computer programs
Website
Broadcasts on Radio and Television
Published editions
Basic Requirements for Copyright Registration
Registration guarantees legal protection guards goodwill and restricts unlawful reproduction of the work of the inventor. Global protection as the copyright in India is known virtually worldwide.
A copyright registration benefits in the creation of assets i.e. and intangible assets and can be traded, franchised or commercially contracted.
Documents Required for Copyright Registration
Name, Address & Nationality of the Candidate – ID proof
NOC from the publisher if work published and publisher is different from the applicant.
Search Certificate from Trade Mark Office (TM -60) if any
NOC from a person whose photograph appears on the work.
Power of Attorney
2 Copies of work
KYC of author
DD/IPO of Rs. per work ((as applicable)
NOC from the author if the candidate is different from the author.
Advantages of Copyright Registration
Legal Protection
Copyright registration serves as prima facie evidence in the court of law over ownership of the work. Therefore, copyright registration gives the owner legal protection for his/her work.
Restricts Unauthorized Reproduction
Copyright registration will establish that you are serious about copyright infringement. This will help impede unauthorized reproduction of the work as it provides the owner with a host of legal remedies.
Branding and Goodwill
Registered copyright can be used for marketing and creating a sense of goodwill and quality in the minds of your customer. Registered copyright show others that you care about your work.
Global Protection
Works that are copyrighted in many other countries are accorded similar privileges here in India. Likewise, works copyright registered in India are accorded protection in many foreign countries.
Creation of Asset
Copyright registration creates an intellectual property, an intangible asset. Registered copyrights are an intellectual property and the rights can be sold, franchised or commercially contracted.
Procedure for Copyright Registration
Legal Rights in Copyright
1. Rights of the copyright owner
Under the Indian Copyright Act 1957, copyright preserves the social, economic and legal interests of the author. The copyright owner is allowed to retain the following exclusive rights.
- The owner may ask for authorship for published work under the right of paternity.
- The owner may reproduce the work in any tangible form and keeping it in any medium by electronic means as well.
- The owner may determine where to publish and where not under the right of publication.
- The owner may perform in public or talk about it to the public or he/she may make any translation or adaptation of the work.
- The owner may take certain defensive actions in case of image or reputation loss.
- The owner has a right to sell and transfer his or her work.
2. Rights of Reproduction
The Copyright Act says that no 3rd party can reproduce or make copies of the original work or part of the work unless the copyright owner has authorized to do so. It limits reproduction in the form of printing an edition of a work and recording sound and films.
3. Rights of Adaptation
The copyright creator can choose to use his work whichever way he needs. That is, he/she can build derivatives from the existing work or make new work in the same form or another form based on the original work. The following actions outline the term adaptation as per the Copyright Act:
- Transforming plays, movies, choreographic shows, and other dramatic works into non-dramatic or literary works like poems, novels, and books
- Transforming bookish works and artistic works like sculpture, photography, paintings, drawings, etc into dramatic work
- Change or modification of dramatic and non-dramatic work
- Pictorial depiction of the work
- Transcription of musical work
- Right of communication to the public
Copyright owners can make their work open to the public using broadcast or wireless distribution whether in any or more of the forms of symbols or visual images.
- Right of public performance
The owners of musical work and artistic work can do their works publicly. For example, a musician can play his part or an actor can perform in his play for the crowds. The artists can also choose to advertise their performance on digital platforms.
- Right of paternity and integrity
The Copyright Law grants the moral rights of paternity and integrity to the creators. The right of paternity or attribution indicates that the creator can maintain authorship over his work and have it attached to him. That is, whoever wants to reproduce or change the original work has to provide due credit to the author or else the author has the right to take the actions against the maker. For example, if a person needs to make a movie out of a book, he/she must properly acknowledge the author. The right of integrity preserves the right of the holder and lets him/her claim damages when someone changes, damages or alters his work creating disputation to his name and work.
- Right of Distribution
The copyright holder may distribute his work in any form by reproducing, selling, renting, leasing or lending. He/she can also assign particular rights to a person to either copyright the work partly, entirely or subject to some limitations.
Difference between Trademark, Patent, and Copyright
| Basis | Copyright | Trademark | Patent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meaning | It preserves the expression of ideas like artistic work. Artistic work involves work related to books, paintings, music and computer Programme. Copyright protection benefits in excluding others from using the work. | Trademark preserves any word, symbol, a design that recognizes business and differentiate the brand from others. | The patent guards the invention of the inventor and provides an exclusive right to the inventor over his/her invention and it also eliminates others from using the invention. |
| Column 1 Value | Column 2 Value | Column 3 Value | Column 4 Value |
| Protection given for | Novel works of authorship like books, articles, songs, photographs, paintings, choreography, sound recordings, motion pictures, etc. | Any word, logo, symbol, mark, phrase that differentiates goods of one party from another. | Features of shape, configuration, pattern, and ornament, the form of lines, colour or blend thereof applied to each article. |
| Column 1 Value | Column 2 Value | Column 3 Value | Column 4 Value |
| Significance | Expression of Ideas | Identification of brand | Invention |
| Govern by | Indian Copyright Act, 1957 | Trade Marks Act, 1999 | Indian Patent Act, 1970 |
| Requirements of Registration | The work must be original, creative and must be able of fixing in the tangible form. | The marks needs to be unique. | The design needs to be original and must be referred to the article by any industrial process. |
| Exclusions | Others are not permitted copy the work without the permission of the creator. | Stop others from using the same logo/symbol. | Stop others from using the invention without the permission |
| Validity Term | The validity time in copyright is 60 years. | The validity time in trademark is 10 years. | The validity time in patent is 20 years. |
| Rights provided | Right to control the reproduction, creating of copied works, distribution and public performance and shows of the copyrighted works. | Rights to apply the mark and stop any 3rd person from using the deceptively same mark. | Right to stop others from producing, selling using or importing the patented invention. |
Frequently Asked Questions
The Copyright Act, 1957 gives protection to the literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works of the creator from the unauthorized use. Copyright offers protection to the expressions and not to the ideas.
No, one cannot apply for Copyright registration in respect of ideas or mathematical concepts. Copyright does not provide protection to the ideas or concepts.
Yes, Copyright registration application can be submitted physically at Plot no. 32, Boudhik Sampada Bhawan, Sector 14, Dwarka, New Delhi – 110075. However physical submission of Copyright registration application is a cumbersome process.
Copyright protection cannot be given to a website as a whole. For this, an applicant has to submit a separate application in respect of each component appearing on a website.
You can search for copyrights by visiting the official websites of copyright office.
The main difference between copyright and trademark is that they protect different types of assets and have different registration requirements.
Can you claim copyright without registering?
Copyright acquisition is voluntary and copyright comes into existence as soon as the work is created however, certificate of registration may serve as evidence in the court for dispute relating to ownership of copyright.
Use of the copyright symbol is similar to that of trademark symbol as work does not need to be registered in order to use it.
You can conduct an online search to know if a name is copyrighted. You can check by author’s name if the work is copyrighted.
You can check for a logo online by visiting the official website of the copyright office
Works without originality or creativity to merit copyright protection such as titles, names etc. cannot be copyrighted.
Copyright is valid for the lifetime of the author and for 60 years after the death of the author.
Works that are not in some tangible form of expression, titles, names, slogans, phrases etc cannot be copyrighted.
Yes it may still be a copyright infringement if you use the protected material but don’t make money of it.
It may take about 2 to 3 months to register a copyright in the normal course. The cooperation of the applicant is critical for speedy disposal of the matter.
The copyright of a material is denoted by the symbol “©” or by the word “Copyright”.
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