Copyright Registration

All about Copyright Registration and its benefits

A significant increase in registration of intellectual property has been witnessed in India mostly due to the growing level of awareness among people regarding regulations of intellectual property laws and the availability of high-end technicalities, letting the online registration of various kinds of intellectual property being developed. Copyright registration is one of the crucial kinds of intellectual property protection that safeguards ownership of creative works, including literature, music, drama, etc.

Copyright is primary right for ownership assigned to the developer of concerned creative work, be it about dramatic, literature, art, cinematography, music, etc. This is a complete set of rights that comprise the rights for redevelopment, public interaction, making an adapted version or translated version of the work. Copyright guarantees about basic safety and ownership rights and the rights for the creator to enjoy its work, thus protecting and encouraging creativity.

A certain amount of copyright protection becomes evident the moment a piece of work is developed, and no formality is felt needed for obtaining copyright. But to prove authenticity of copyright to act as the prime evidence in the legal court, works can be put for registration at the Register of Copyrights kept in the Copyright Office of the Department of Education. In this context, the application has to be made over Form IV in a desired fashion, along with desired charges.

The published and the works not published yet can be put under copyright. As far as published work is concerned, it is essential to present three copies of published work along application. For unpublished work, a copy of manuscript must be delivered along with application for applying stamp of Copyright Office as the proof of work registered.

Copyright protection generally remains valid for 60 years. For art, drama, and music, a period of 60 years is taken into account from the year after the author’s death. As far as cinematograph films, music, and all sorts of publications concerned, the tenure of 60 years is counted from the publication day.

One can obtain copyright registration for published works and that not published. In this context, one can apply at the Copyright Office for registering work as per copyright regulations in desired form with requisite charges. Application for copyright registration is essential to be made over ‘Form IV’ with “Statement of Particulars and Statement of Further Particulars.” Three copies of published work must be delivered along application.

For unpublished work that has to be registered, a manuscript copy must be delivered with application for fixing a stamp of the Copyright Office as the proof of work that has been registered. If two copies of manuscript delivered, one of the same thoroughly stamped can be returned, and the other is kept, mostly in the Copyright Office for record purpose, and is kept secret.

An applicant can sign copyright application and submit or an advocate in favor of whom or Power of Attorney has been made by the applicant. When the application is made by an advocate, the Power of Attorney signed by applicant and acknowledged by the advocate must be kept within the application.

When multiple works are registered, distinct applications must be made for registering each along desired charges.

Discussed below are a few of the key advantages of registering the work and getting copyright protection.

1) Copyright protection maintains a public record of the rights by the copyright holder.

2) Copyright protection provides right to the owner of copyright to take legal action against infringers in a court.

3) In case the legal action is taken prior or at a specific time from the publication date, it provides enough proof in court regarding the authenticity of the copyright and the facts that are mentioned in the copyright certificate.

4) If registration is done in a short period of the person’s work or anytime before the copyright infringement of the concerned person occurs, the owner is allowed to claim statutory damages in high court. Without registration process, only an award regarding real damages and gains are made available those can be challenging to prove in legal court.

5) It allows the copyright owner to record the registration with Indian Customs to assist in assuring safety against the importing of infringement records to India.

6) Copyright protection provides significant encouragement for the development of creative work. Moreover, without copyright protection, it gets absolutely simple for anyone else to exploit these works without paying any kind of royalty or fees for the concerned owner of the work. Hence, copyright encourages and provides a perfect set-up for conducting financial activities.

7) Copyright protection provides benefits as the economic rights that make the developer have right overused the literature and creative contents in numerous fashion, ranging for preparing copies, public performance, telecasting, using over the web, etc., and also to gain proper economic benefit.

8) Copyright protection makes the creators get awarded for their creativity or artistic value of the work and also supports in a consistent fashion.

9) Copyright also makes it possible for the moral values to be figured out as the developer or the writer of a specific kind of material, also call as paternity right, and act against the complaint of damaging and mutilating the right. The complete right of an author to take the stand against any kind of adaptation or illicit activity is concerned with the work of the specific person is called the integrity right.

10) Registration and claiming of the copyright is going to make the authenticity of the copyright evident in case it is registered in a certain period after the five years of the publication work is done. This can be helpful in avoiding the challenges of the future in relation to the works associated with the rights.

11) One can make use of, go for reusing and regenerate the copies and also can go for selling the copies of the work that falls under the copyright.

12) One may go for dealing in the importing and exporting the entire or segment of the work as per copyright protection.

13) One is allowed to develop any kind of derivable work from the work that has been copyrighted.

14) One can showcase his work apparently with proper copyright safety.

15) One can sell or make the work forwarded to someone with copyright protection.

16) It enables someone to deal with transmitting or showcasing the work by means of audio or video having copyright protection.

In general, the validity of copyright protection is for a period of sixty years. As far as the original literature, works of drama, music, and artwork are concerned, the period of 60 years is taken into account from the year after the death of the author occurs. When it comes to cinematographs films, recording of sound, photography, all types of publication, any kind of work related to the government, and the works at the global level organization, the timeline of 60 years is taken into account from when the publication date begins.

Copyright infringement of any kind of work is considered criminally offensive as per Section 63 of the act of Copyright. At least, the concerned person causing an infringement of copyright has to be imprisoned for a period of six months, along with a nominal fine amount of INR 50k. Additionally, when copyright infringement has occurred or occurring or going to be, any police officer of SI rank may go for seizing the property without any warrant, with an entire set of copies of the work and stuff used for making the infringing copies of the work.

The regulations under specific norms let the users in using registered work without acknowledgment of the owner of study, research, review, reporting, and even the works that are made use of at school and library, as well as in legislatures. Maintaining the user’s interest, certain excuses are provided regarding certain usage of work with copyright. Following are some of the exemptions allowed for the use of the work.

1) Regarding research work or personal study, ii) Regarding criticism or review,

2) Regarding reporting present actions,

3) Those concerned with judicial affairs,

4) To be performed by an amateur club or society as far as performance for a non-paying audience and

5) Preparing sound recordings of literature, artistic or musical works staying within specific norms.