This article has been written by Mr. Devesh Singh Chauhan, a 2nd year student of Manickchand Pahade Law College, Sambhaji Nagar, Maharashtra. 

Introduction

Copyright Act is a crucial part of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). IPR safeguards the intellectual work of creators and protects the expression of idea and thought but not the idea per se. Copyright operates differently not like the patent act or any other IPR act, it is assumed that the “work” is copyright protected from the moment it is expressed, therefore publishing and registration are not required for copyright protection. This means authors or creators originally have the right to their works not to be copied or used by someone else as their work, if it is then it amounts to the infringement of copyright act. Copyright act recognize the rights of the authors, musicians, painters, designers, and creators. Copyright not only protect the literary work but also musical, cinematographic films, artworks, and code or in any other form.

Evolution of Copyright Act in India

It all started when the movable metal printing press was invented in the year 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany, although printing was already started in China with the use of wood, ink, and stone [1]. From now onwards the printing got recognition and the first complete extant book in the West was the bible in the year 1445 [2]. It is not like photocopy never happened before the invention of the printing press, copies available in handwritten by copyists for either goodwill or were paid. But after the printing press was invented, numerous copies of the book were available in the short term, which also questioned the copyright of authors over their works. Then the Statute of Anne was passed in 1709 and came into effect in 1710 in England, it is also known as the Copyright Act of 1709 or Copyright Act of 1710, which is even the first copyright law in the world [3]. The act’s goals are to safeguard authors against piracy and to encourage learning. 

UK copyright act has great relevance to the Indian copyright act because the first copyright act in India came in 1847, greatly influenced by the British Copyright Act of 1842 which did not sufficiently address the rights of Indian authors [4]. To strengthen copyright laws in India, the British government introduced the Indian Copyright Act in 1914, which was borrowed heavily from the British Copyright Act of 1912 [5]. After the independence, the Indian government passed the Copyright Act, 1957 which repealed the previous and gave a more comprehensive framework. This act was greatly impacted by the international copyright treaty known as the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. There are five revisions in 1983, 1984, 1992, 1994, and 1999 and the president of India granted assent to the most recent revolutionary modification to the Copyright Act, 2012 on June 7, 2012, and it was notified on June 8, 2012, after it was ratified by the parliament on May 22, 2012. The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 became operative on June 21, 2012, following its publication in the official gazette. [6]. The Act is divided into 15 chapters with 79 sections. The Copyright Act, of 1957 has been amended primarily for the following reasons: to bring the Act into compliance with the two WIPO internet treaties signed in 1996, the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (“WPPT”) and the WIPO Copyright Treaty (“WCT”); to safeguard and address the concerns of the music and film industry; to address the concerns of the physically disabled and to safeguard the interests of the author of any work; incidental changes; to remove operational facilities; and to enforce rights[7].

Meaning of copyright 

Section 14 of the Copyright Act, 1957 explains the meaning of Copyright,” which provides an exclusive right to the owner subject to the provisions of this act, to do or authorize the doing of any of the following acts in respect of a work or any substantial part thereof, namely [7]:-

• Literary, dramatic, or musical work: The literary work means which was in the form of writing or print, the quality of literature has no impact on it.

Dramatic works show the choreography of dance and the performance of drama in the form of acting.

Musical work is present in the form of audio, someone speaks the words in rhyming. In this kind of work creators reproduce their work in any medium irrespective of its original medium, copying rights are also reserved with the creator and it is all up to the author or creator to issue copies, even if the author or creator communicates and performs in public like during the book launch the author of the book read it to public and communicate with them, translation and adaptation rights are also reserved with the creator [8].

• Artistic work: Artistic works include works of art, sculpture, drawing, photography, or any other artistic work. Artist has the right to reproduce their work in any medium, even depiction in three dimensions of a two dimensional work, vis a versa. Communication rights are also reserved with the artist, including their work in any cinematograph film [9].
• Cinematograph film: Cinematographic works is a kind of virtual representation, actor performs their acting art which is recorded and later used to show in the form of video. Work in the cinematographic field is also not be used by others without the consent of the producer, a copy of the work is possible by the producer itself like when any film releases copies of the film in the form of reels shared in the theatres and movie halls where the producers earn goodwill and money [10]. 

Amendments to the Copyright Act: 

1. 1. 1983 Amendment: Effected to benefit from Paris Revision Act 1971 of the Berne Convention; orphaned unpublished works; Compulsory license and copyright for broadcast.
   2. 1984 Amendment: provisions to discourage piracy of video films & records and other minor incidental changes.
   3. 1992 Amendment: The term of protection increased from life plus 50 to 60 years.
   4. 1994 Amendment: Major amendments; definitions eg. Adaptation, communication to the public, infringement, reprography; Harmonized with Rome Convention; Broadcasting right, Performer’s rights and sound recording rights and collective administration by copyright societies were introduced. Amendments to moral rights.
   5. 1999 Amendment: Harmonized with TRIPS Agreement.

• 2012 Amendment: Ensuring that writers and composers of music have the right to receive royalties; that performers have exclusive economic and moral rights; that authors and other right owners have equal membership rights in copyright societies; that writers and other right owners have equal access to copyright societies; and that physically disabled people are exempt from copyright protections. These measures are part of the process of bringing Indian copyright law into compliance with the World Intellectual Property Organization Treaties, specifically the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT), 1996, and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), 1996 [12].

Indian perspective on copyright protection

• Economic rights of the author: The fund raised by the author from their work holds economic benefit. The funds generated from their work should exclusively benefit the author, and no one else should be able to profit from piracy or unauthorized duplication. The economic right safeguards the author’s interests and ensures that they are the sole beneficiaries of their work’s economic benefits.

Economic rights are enjoyed under Article 14 of the Copyright Act, 1957. Authors and creators had economic rights to their cinematographic film, artistic, literary, dramatic, and musical work. They can make copies, distribute, adapt their work, communicate the with public, transform their work into different mediums and store it in any form.

• Moral Rights of the author: The Moral rights of an author were not introduced by the British implemented 1914 Copyright Act in India. However, it was introduced internationally during the Rome Revision Conference in 1928 under the Berne Convention. There was a French legal doctrine that talks about moral rights. Moral rights are not provided directly to the author but rather provided in the form of special rights, under the Indian Copyright Act. Under this right author can claim authorship of the work and refrain from claiming damages in respect of any distortion, mutilation, modification, or other act concerning the said work if such distortion, mutilation, modification, or other act would be prejudicial to his honor or reputation [13].

Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Right recognizes moral rights and ensure the protection of authorship of scientific, literary, or artistic productions.

Section 57 of the Act defines the two basic ‘moral rights of an author. These are:

1. Right of paternity: The right of paternity allows the author to claim ownership of their work.
2. Right of integrity: The right of integrity ensures that the work is not distorted, mutilated, or modified in any way that could harm the author’s reputation.

Doctrine of merger 

We all know that copying other works and representing them as our own violates copyright law as well as the creator’s rights. There are numerous ways of expressing the same thought as a lecture on a topic by different person have the same information but their way of expression and representation are different. It is important to express our thoughts in our own unique way even if the information is the same. Where the idea and expression are intrinsically connected, and the expression is indistinguishable from the idea, copyright protection cannot be granted, this is where the Doctrine of Merger comes into play[14]. The Doctrine of Merger is a key feature of copyright law in India. Merger is also used as a defense because there are several different ways to express idea but we can’t forget that the number of ways also have limitation.

The concept of the Doctrine of Merger first emerged from the US Supreme Court on the judgment in Baker v Selden, 101 U.S. 99 (1880). In India, the Delhi High Court explained the Doctrine of Merger in the case of MATTEL, INC. and ORS. Vs. Jayant Agarwalla and others pronounced on 17/09/2008. In which the Delhi High Court explained the doctrine of merger in the following words:

“In the realm of copyright law the doctrine of merger postulates that were the idea and expression are inextricably connected, it would not be possible to distinguish between two. In other words, the expression should be such that it is the idea, and vice-versa, resulting in an inseparable merger of the two. Applying this doctrine courts have refused to protect (through copyright) the expression of an idea, which can be expressed only in a very limited manner, because doing so would confer monopoly on the idea itself “ [15].

Conclusion 

India’s first copyright act was introduced by the British in 1857, which was later modified by them in 1914 and most of the part was drawn from the UK Copyright Act 1912 but the rights of Indian authors and creators were not recognized under these acts. After India gained independence, it passed its own copyright law in 1957, to ensure the recognition of the rights of Indian authors and creators. Since then, India has participated internationally in recognizing copyright law by taking part in international conferences, agreements, and treaties like the TRIPS agreement, the World Intellectual Property Organization Treaties, the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), and 1996 the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) 1996. Considering these treaties and agreements India’s recent amendment passed in 2012. With these steps, India makes sure to aegis the rights of the authors or creator and recognize them internationally.

The National Intellectual Property Right Policy, 2016 was adopted in May 2016, with a motto of ‘Creative India and Innovative India’, aims to advance the IPR regime during the ‘Amrit Kaal” with a strategy that will promote entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation in India and also contribute to economic growth [16]. It aims to bring all IPRs into a single platform and also aims to synergies between all forms of IPRs.

Hence, it is important to have such laws that regulate and provide protection against piracy and duplicity to safeguard artistic and creative ideas. This will encourage people to express their ideas freely and ensure that the rights of creators are protected.

References 

1. This article was originally written by Thomas Moore Devlin, published on Babbel magazine. The link for the same herein. https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/who-created-the-first-printing-press
2. This article was originally written and fact checked by the Editors of the encyclopaedia Britannica, published on Britannica. The link for the same herein. https://www.britannica.com/technology/printing-press
3. Book: Intellectual property: law and practice(2015), by Elizabeth Verkey, ISBN No. 9351452336, (1st ed., Vol. 1).
4. This article was originally written by Suvrashis Sarkar, published on worldwide journals. The link for the same herein. https://www.worldwidejournals.com/paripex/recent_issues_pdf/2016/November/history-and-evolution-of-copyright-in-india_November_2016_8201054601_2910081.pdf
5. Ibid
6. This article was originally written by Sneha Mahawar, published on Ipleaders. The link for the same herein. https://blog.ipleaders.in/an-overview-of-the-copyright-act-1957/
7. This article was originally written by Government of India, published on copyright.gov. The link for the same herein. https://copyright.gov.in/
8. Section 14 of Copyright act, 1957 (w.e.f. 10-5-1995)
9. Section 14 (a) of Copyright act, 1957 
10. Section 14 (c) of Copyright act, 1957 
11. Section 14 (d) of Copyright act, 1957 
12. This article was originally written by Dr. G.R.Raghavender, published on LinkedIn. The link for the same herein. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/brief-history-evolution-development-copyright-law-india-gr
13. Section 57 of Copyright act, 1957 
14. This article was originally written by Sanjeev Panda, published on lawyersclubindia. The link for the same herein. https://www.lawyersclubindia.com/articles/doctrine-of-merger-or-scenes-a-faire-doctrine-under-copyri-2791.asp
15. Mattel Inc. v. Jayant Agarwalla, IA No. 2532/2008 in CS (OS) 344/2008
16. This article was originally written by Dr. G.R.Raghavender, published on LinkedIn. The link for the same herein. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/brief-history-evolution-development-copyright-law-india-gr