Copyright Law Explained: Protecting creative works in the Digital Age

Introduction

Intellectual Property is a kind of intangible property which has no physical existence but it has some economic value in today’s world intellectual property become very crucial for business entities they trying to protect their intangible property and India has very well drafted laws which provides the protection to each one who make their own original work. In this blog  we were discussed about Copyright law how they provide the protection to person who creates their work, copyright law protects the original authors from infringement or breaches of their original work. Authorship or author specifically defined in copyright act  under section 2(d) author [1]includes, literary, musical, artistic, dramatic, photograph, cinematography and computer-generated works. Copyright law is not new discovery first enacted law for copyright protection enacted in Britain in 1710 named as Statute of Anne, 1710 [2]which provides the protection to printed works apart from that in the age of industrialization in Britain press plays major role for circulating the news among the worker class and there is necessary  requirement to provide protection to printing works, Guttenberg press also took the protection under the law. In modern times copyright law become very prominent because it secures the original author work also it upholds the integrity of authors if somebody copying or stolen the work of author so it killed their creative skills and they lose their confidence to make further works that’s why copyright law played major providing the protection.

Legal Principles

Copyright law provides the protection to original authors but if that author not express their thoughts in expressions law not provides the protection this concept knows as Idea Expression Dichotomy which explains that law only provides the protection to those works which express in physical form not to ideas. In Baker v. Selden, [3]US Supreme Court enshrined the principle of idea expression dichotomy where court held that copyright only protects the expression not the ideas later on in India this principle upholds their validity in R.G Anand v. M/s. Delux Films(1978),[4] in this landmark case of Indian Supreme Court where the plaintiff was writer or producer they write one stage play hum Hindustani become very popular later on defendant contact him where the plaintiff narrate him the script of Hum Hindustani but defendant not take much interest on them later on defendant makes the film on script which narrate by plaintiff but not too similar then the plaintiff sue him for infringement of copyright but Supreme Court applied the principle of Idea expression and contended that the idea not protected under copyright law where the execution not performed also defendant not exactly depict the idea of plaintiff but they depict in a unique way therefore plaintiff unable to take protection under the law.

Once the work of author registered, they enjoyed various rights over their work: section 14 of Copyright Act [5]specifically derived the rights of registered owner:

1. Any work which is related to dramatic, musical not the computer programme, the copyright owner,
2. Circulate the copy of work.
3. Make translation of work.
4. Made commercial benefit from that work.
5. Use the work for adaptation, means that owner gives permission to use their work in other forms.

Also, owner may sue for protecting their rights under copyright law, it not only limited to the protection but provides the assurance and trust that their work protected under the law.

Copyright law in Modern era

In the recent trends modern development in technology and over access use of Internet privacy breaches become very serious concern, on the other hand work of original author easily breached and circulated over the internet like any movie before their releasing people leak which adversely effected to the producers of the movie, pirated kind of virus which spread over the internet and it is very typical for customers or viewers to find the original work of the author. Thought the use of artificial intelligence people use AI tools to generate the works and raising contention for protection, but there is no specific statute who deal with this to provide protection for AI works, person who generate the work thought command or given prompt to AI took protection for that work but critics said that AI is a robotic tool person who works backend to store the information in the tools how this work considered as original work if somebody store that information. One of the major is cross border protection if somebody generate their work in India it will be protected within the boundary of India but if we talk about international breach who regulated this , India participated in various treaties like Berne conference, Rome conference, Wipo Treaty , TRIPS agreement and become a member of these treaties if somebody infringe the right of copyright owner outside the jurisdiction of India work will be protected because India signed the treaties with other nations.

Infringement of Copyright

Section 51 of Copyright Act, [6]explicitly provides the grounds of copyright Infringement:

1. If somebody without permission of copyright owner use their work or doing things which is only authorised by owner.
2. If somebody use the work of original author for profit and communicate to the public.
3. Make the that product for sale, for gaining advantage from that product.
4. Explicitly showing in exhibitions.
5. Any products of outside India import to India.

Whereas, Section 52 [7]provides the exceptions for Copyright Infringement:

1. If somebody used the work of copyright owner for fair dealing, they have no malafide intention to use work for personal gain.
2. Person using the work of copyright owner for research.
3. Sometimes individual refers the work of original author for criticism which not fall under the category of copyright infringement.
4. Individual deals with current affairs this activity not fall under the category of the infringement.
5. Reproduction of work of judicial proceedings in this exception there has landmark case law, Eastern Book Company v. D.B Modak (2008) [8]in this case D.B Modak used the edited judgement with footnoting & headnote of eastern book company, eastern book file a suit of infringement on the other side defendant contend that judgment was in public domain and no one can claim protection over it, but plaintiff used their efforts and make the judgement easy to read with references, court applied the sweat of the borrow principle where they clarified that no doubt judgement fall under exception but plaintiff use their efforts and labour to make the work creative and unique therefore court maintain the balance approach to provides the protection to plaintiff.
6. Any central or state government act which not fall under the copyright protection.
7. Religious and public ceremony
8. If person with disability makes a copy of original work for their own use it not falls under the category of infringement.

Conclusion

Copyright law ensure that they protect the rights of original author rather leads to infringement, also it ensures that creative mindset of authors should remain more creative to produce new things. In the age of AI privacy or pirated version of original work easily available over internet apart from that AI work not protected under law at that point of time but in future it may be a scenario where protection granted to auto generated works. Therefore, copyright act preserves the integrity and unique work of authors and if somebody breaches or used that work without the permission of author it suffers civil and criminal consequences.

Author:–Ishan, in case of any queries please contact/write back to us atsupport@ipandlegalfilings.com or   IP & Legal Filing.

[1] The Copyright Act, 1957, § 2(d).

[2] The Statute of Anne, 1710.

[3] Baker v. Selden, (1879) 101 (U.S).

[4] R.G Anand v. M/s. Delux Films,( 1978) AIR 1613 SCC 118( India).

[5] The Copyright Act, 1957, § 14.

[6] The Copyright Act, § 51.

[7] The Copyright Act, § 52.

[8] Eastern Book Company v. D.B Modak,( 2008) 1 SCC ( India).