Copyright Registration

Introduction

With the increasing awareness among people regarding the intellectual property rights and also with the continuous advancement in technology, there is a rush amongst the number of intellectual property rights’ registration in India. Several tailor-made solutions in the zones of Intellectual Property Rights are available today to safeguard the business through Copyright, Trademark, Patents and Registration.

An Overview

Copyright is the legal right to ownership and enjoyment entitled to creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic work, producers of cinematograph films, and recordings. In India, copyright registration provides its owner exclusive, sole right to distribute, reproduce, adapt, translate the work, or give authorization to another entity for performing the same.

Copyright Registration is often used by many businesses for producing their literature or user manuals. It provides certain safeguards to the owner such as the right of ownership and enjoyment of the authors over their creations and consequently allows them to protect and reward their creativity.

Copyrights Act, 1957 also provides the right to transfer from the person owning the said Copyright to another or the person’s employer who had commissioned it.

Who can apply for Copyright Registration

Any person who has produced any literary, dramatic, musical, artistic work, cinematograph film, or sound recording which is original in nature and not have been previously registered or applied for registration are eligible to get it registered under the Copyright Act, 1957. The Invention produced or prepared must be original and useful in nature.

In India, Copyrights are mainly classified under three classes of work and each of the classes provides its distinctive right.

Individuals who are legally accountable for the submission of a copyright application are as follows:

• The Author- This can either be an individual who has invented the work or the boss or for whomever the work was invented, in case of “made for hire” work.
• The Copyright Claimant- This can either be the author or an organization or an individual who has received ownership rights from the author either via written contract/assignment/will or any other transfer of rights.
• The Authorized Agent- Any individual or institution duly authorized to perform on author’s behalf, other copyright claimant or a holder of exclusive rights.
• The Owner of Exclusive Rights- An owner of any of the exclusive rights that form a copyright to be transferred and separately owned.

Benefits of Copyright Registration

• Protection to the invention
  Registration of Copyrights protects the invented work from being copied or misused by any unauthorized person be it individual or entity and also ensures certain minimum safeguards over the creation.
• Value addition to intangible assets or skills
  Registration of Copyrights adds value to the intangible assets of the business or person.
• Right to sue
  Registration of copyright entitles the owner with a right to sue and file a suit in case of illegal use and infringement.
• Builds trust & brand image
  Registration of copyright helps in the trust development and creation of a brand image among consumers.

Who can apply for Copyright Registration?

• Name of Applicant*
• Full Address of the Applicant*
• Nature of Work produced which shall include the class, description, title and language of work (if required)
• Date of Publication (If published)

* Proof to be provided for point 1&2

How to Register a Copyright?

The whole process of copyright registration can be divided into four steps

• COLLECTION OF REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
  Basic documents as stated above are required along with an authorization letter signed by you for filing of application. So, the steps ask for the collection of all these imperative documents.
• APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION
  The next step is to file an application for the registration. Applications must be prepared and submitted to the Registrar of Copyright in the prescribed format. This can either be done via the offline method or online within 2 working days. After that, the Registrar issues a Diary No., and a waiting period of 30 days is mandatory for receiving objections (if any).
• CONDUCT HEARING
  In case when any objection is received by the Registrar, a hearing on the application of copyright is conducted. The scrutinizer checks the application for any disparity, if no objections are received within the prescribed time of 30days.
• REGISTRATION OF WORK
  In the absence of any disparity, the registration process is completed and the extract of the same is sent to the Registrar for entry.

If a case of disparity, on successful completion of hearing conducted by the Registrar the scrutinizer will again scrutinize the application and will give its decision.

Copyright registration consultants handle the whole process of copyright registration that starts with the collection of documents, continues with application filling, and ends at approval.

Validity of Registered Copyright

The Copyright registered is valid for 60 years. In case literary, dramatic, artistic or musical work the 60 years are counted from the year following death of author and in case of sound recordings, cinematographic films, photographs, anonymous, posthumous publications, pseudonymous publication, work of international organization and work of government, the period for 60 years starts from the date of publication.