Introduction 

Copyright contains two words Copy + right. Hence copyright means the right to copy. Copyright protects the use of work that one has created or any other rights related to the use or exploitation of the copyright-protected work.

With the help of copyright, one protects the original work from getting copied. Now the question arises, what is original work? Original work is something that has been created by using some skills either in the form of human labour or mental intellect. 

Copyright acts do not protect the idea or thought but the expression of the idea or thought. It protects skills used or the efforts put into creating a work so that the only author can take benefits of the skills he used or labour he put while creating a work not the idea itself. One can avoid copyright infringement if he uses his own expression for a particular idea.

Part of IPR

Copyright is part of IPR  by the fact that it originates in the mind of a person as thoughts and ideas and is then reduced into the tangible form. However, those ideas and thoughts are not protected under the copyright law until they are reduced into the tangible form.

Copyright is an incorporeal property. The right owner has created the property justifies the concept of property. Right over that incorporeal property is protected by the copyright. The right owner can transfer the property either by assigning it to someone or by giving a license to someone to use it.

Copyright contains a collection of rights in itself. It gives the right over the work. The right owner can stop anybody from replicating his work or engaging in any other activities that, by copyright law, are exclusive to him. Unlike the physical property, copyright is limited to a particular time period. After the expiration of this period copyrighted work passes on the public domain and any one can use it freely, to maintain the balance between the copyright owner and the public.

Subject matter of copyright

The general rule provided in Section 40 in respect of all categories of work is that copyright does not subsist in any work unless in the case of a published work, the work is first published in India, or where the work is first published outside India, the author is at the date of such publication, or in a case where the author was dead at that date, was at the time of his death, a citizen of India. In case of an unpublished work, the copyright subsists only when the author is at the date of the making of the work is a citizen of India or domiciled in India.

Work Under Copyright

Section 2 of the copyright act defines the various categories of work that fall within the concept of copyright under the Copyright Act.  

1. 1.  a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work;

1. 1.    a cinematograph film;

1. 1.   a  sound recording

Section 13 of the Copyright act

Now the question arises: what are those works and expressions which can be copyright protected?

This question has been answered by Section 13 of  The Copyright Act, 1957. Section 13 provides that Copyright protection could be claimed anywhere in India upon following subjects:

·   original literary work

·       original dramatic work

·       original musical work

·       original artistic works

·   cinematograph films; and

·   sound recording

Literary works 

Defined under Section2(o) of the Copyright Act. An original literary work, therefore, is the product of the human mind which may consist of a series of verbal or numerical statements, not necessarily possessing aesthetic merit, capable of being expressed in writing, and which has been arrived at by the exercise of substantial independent skill, creative labour, or judgment.

The expression “literary work” means not only such work which deals with any particular aspect of literature in prose and poetry but also indicates work which is literature i.e. anything in writing which could be said to come within the ambit of literary work.

The Copyright Act, 1957 provides an inclusive definition of literary work. It defines literary work to include ‘computer programmes, tables and compilations including computer databases 

Further literary work includes computer Tables & Compilation including computer database, Dissertation, Question Papers, Encyclopedia & Dictionaries, Headnotes of Law Reports & Digest, Translation, Abridgement or reproduction of Literary works Computer Software & Database

Original Computer Programmes

Section 2(o) of the Copyright Act, 1957, provides that computer databases are included under the literary work and hence protected under the Literary work. The Act defines a “computer” as any electronic or similar device with the ability to process information.However, a “computer programme” is described as a collection of instructions that may be used to teach a computer to carry out a certain job or produce a specific outcome. These instructions can be written in words, codes, schemes, or any other form that can be read by a machine.

Like any other work, the computer program has an expression of its own, and that expression takes the shape of an application that has a front end and a back end. While the back end is made up of executable code, object code, and source code, the front end, which is visible to the user, is made up of screen displays, symbols, design layout, commands, menu systems, and other non-literal parts, etc. The computer software is encrypted by these codes. Both front-end and back-end expressions are protected by copyright.

In order to claim copyright, a computer program has to be “original” and “recorded,” whether through written or oral means.It means that the software is the author’s own work and that it was created with the modest amount of skill, labor, or effort. Moreover, a computer database that is kept on a disk, tape, or by another electronic method is typically a compilation that is protected like a literary work.However, the protection is contingent upon the criteria of originality  being met. In the case of compilations, the uniqueness lies not in the individual contents but rather in the way the pieces are arranged, as individual items may in some circumstances be protected separately by copyright.

Original Dramatic Work

An original dramatic work is a creation of the human mind that results from the application of significant independent skill, creative labor, or judgment. It must be performed in a way that is sufficiently definite and permanent to be recorded in writing, and it must involve acting or dancing for its appropriate representation.

According to the Copyright Act of 1957, a “dramatic work” is any item meant for recitation, choreography, or entertainment in a dumb show, with a defined scenic arrangement or performing form of which is fixed in writing or otherwise. Cinematograph films are not included in this definition. Dramatic work is defined as doing the activities listed in section 2(h) in a live, bodily manner which is not a photograph.

A dramatic work can be defined as ‘a work created in order to be communicated in motion, that is, through a sequence of actions, movements, irrespective of the technique by which this movement is retrieved or expressed’.”

Original musical works

For a musical work to be eligible for copyright protection, it must be original. According to the Copyright Act of 1957, a “musical work” is any work that comprises music and any associated graphic notation; it does not include any words or actions that are meant to be sung, spoken, or performed in combination with the music.

According to Section 2(p), a musical work is defined as the music alone and its graphical notation; it excludes any words or actions that are meant to be sung, spoken, or performed together with the music. As a result, the Act distinguishes between a song that may or may not have music and a musical work. 

Different sets of copyright arise from a song e.g. lyrics of Song, Music of the song, singer’s right. But the copyright for musical work vest in the composer of the song. The lyrics are protected under the literary work and the lyricist is the author and copyright owner of the lyrics of the song.

In Star India Pvt. Ltd. v. Piyush Agarwal,” ,” the Delhi High Court stated that music was different from sound i.e. music only meant what were musical notes which were found on the paper or other writing medium, and not what was heard. What was heard, and which was called music in layman’s terms, was really a sound created by the musician by playing an instrument in terms of musical notes (which was the musical work and the subject matter of a copyright).

ORIGINAL ARTISTIC WORKS

According to Section 2(c) of the Copyright Act, 1957, a “artistic work” is defined as follows:

(i) a painting, sculpture, drawing (including a diagram, map, chart, or plan), engraving, or photograph, regardless of whether any of these items have artistic merit; 

(ii) an architectural work; and

(iii) any other artistically crafted piece.

Artistic work should be original to be protected as artistic work. Originality in the artistic work does not mean it should be unique or novel, rather it means that the author has put major effort, skill, labour. An architectural work of art any other work of artistic craftsmanship, Architecture must have an artistic quality Painting must be original and tangible in order to get copyright protection, Photographs originally taken by the Photographers are also protected under the artistic work. 

Cinematograph films

Before the Copyright Act of 1911, there was no explicit law provision relating to cinematograph films. Films were protected as series of photographs under the artistic work. By the time it was acknowledged that cinematographic films were a new and distinct form of art when the Berne convention was updated in 1908.For the first time, such films were granted copyright in their own right by the Convention and the Copyright Act, 1911. 

Section 2(f) defines “Cinematograph film”  as any work of visual recording, including a sound recording that goes along with it. The term “cinematograph” is also understood to include any work created using any process similar to cinematography, including video films.

The term “visual recording” refers to the act of recording moving pictures or their representations in any medium, by any means, including electronic means of storage, from which the images may be seen, reproduced, or transmitted in any manner. Sound recording is the term used to describe the recording of sounds that may be generated, independent of the medium or method used to create the sounds.Eg- Movies & TV. serials.

According to Section 13(4) of the Copyright Act, 1957, copyright in a cinematograph film must not affect independent copyright in any work in respect of which, or a major part of which, the film is created. Therefore, Sound track is protected as a part of cinematographic film. However, sound recordings created from movie soundtracks may also be protected by independent copyright. 

Originality in Cinematograph films

There is no explicit statute under the Copyright Act, 1957 which provides that cinematograph films need to be original to get copyright protection. However, Section 13(3)(a) provides that if a significant portion of a cinematograph film infringes the copyright of another work,the copyright does not apply to that particular work.

Sound Recordings

Sound recordings for the first time were protected under the Copyright Act, 1911. According to the Copyright Act, 1911, Records, perforated rolls and other contrivances by means of which sounds may be mechanically reproduced” should be granted copyright protection. However, instead of establishing a whole new category of copyright, the Act stipulated that these fabrications must be handled “in like manner as if such contrivances were musical works.”

The Copyright Act 1957 initially included the term  “record” and “recording” which was further omitted by The Copyright (Second Amendment) ACt, 1994 and substituted a new definition of “recording” as ”sound recording.”

Sound Recording is defined under Section 2(xx) as a recording of sounds that can be used for producing those sounds, independent of the medium of recording or method used to produce the sound.

According to Section 13(3)(b) of the Copyright Act of 1957, if copyright in a literary, dramatic, or musical work has been infringed upon during the course of creating the sound recording, then copyright in respect of that work does not exist. Further, section 13(4) stipulates that the copyright in a sound recording is separate from the independent copyright in any work that the film, or as the case may be, the sound recording, is made of, or a significant portion of.

When a cinematograph film or sound recording is produced, the underlying literary and musical works continue to exist; they are all mutually exclusive, and ownership of the works can be exercised to the degree specified by the Act.

Related Cases

International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (ICSAC) Vs. Aditya Pandey and Ors. 

Facts of the case

The plaintiff is the author and composer of literary work, As such they have the right to get restrained Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 (the event management company and the manager of  that company) from infringing their copyright, and license given to sound recording company does not affect the rights of lyricist or the musician. Reference has been made to the definition of expression “communication to the public. Further, reference has been made to the amendment introduced in 1994 in the Copyright Act, 1957.

Issues of the case

The issues framed in the above case as follows-

1. 1. whether lyric written by ‘X’ (lyricist) and music composed by ‘Y’ (musician) are used to make sound recording by ‘Z’ (Sound Recording Company),

1. 1.  whether ‘A’ (Event Management Company/Event Organizer) is required to seek license from ‘X’ and ‘Y’ for subsequently playing the song in public even after ‘A’ had paid for the broadcasting of the song to ‘Z’ (Sound Recording Company) ?

Judgement

Honorable supreme court held that in case the Defendants wish to perform the sound recording in public, i.e. play them, a license from PPRS is essential; in case the musical works are to be communicated or performed in the public, independently, through an artiste, the license of IPRS is essential. In case the Defendant wishes to hold an event involving performances or communication of works of both kinds to the public, the license or authorization of both IPRS and PPRS are necessary. The Defendant is accordingly restrained from communicating any of such works to the public, or performing them, in the public, without such appropriate authorization, or licensing pending adjudication of the suit.

Conclusion

Copyright serves as a vital mechanism for protecting the creative efforts of individuals and organizations, ensuring that their intellectual property rights are recognized and respected. It fosters innovation by granting creators exclusive rights to their work, incentivizing further creation and contributing to the cultural and economic growth of society.

However, as with any legal framework, copyright law must strike a balance between protecting creators’ rights and allowing access to creative works for the public good, s we navigate the complexities of copyright in a rapidly evolving landscape, it is crucial to uphold the principles of fairness, creativity, and innovation while respecting the rights of all stakeholders involved. By understanding and adhering to copyright laws, we contribute to a more just and vibrant creative ecosystem.

References

1.  Laws Relating to Intellectual property rights  VK Ahuja 3^rd Edition

2.  International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (ICSAC) Vs. Aditya Pandey and Ors.