COPYRIGHT LAWS

A copyright comes into existence as soon as an original published or unpublished literary, artistic, dramatic, cinematograph film or sound recording work is created. Under Copyright law in India, the copyright is exclusively provided to the creator of the work and specifically provides amongst other rights, the right to prevent others from reproducing, selling or licensing the work.

Assignment of a copyright

The first author of the work is the owner of the work unless he assigns someone else to be the owner for a specific thing and for a specific period of time. The owner of the copyright in an existing work may assign his work to any person, either wholly or partly, either for the whole term of the copyright or part of the term.

Procuring a copyright registration is not necessary for filing of an infringement action. However, a registration certificate has evidentiary value in a Court of law. Accordingly, it is advisable to procure a copyright registration under the provisions of the Copyright Law in India as it serves well when involved in contentious matters. The Firm regularly files and procures copyrights registrations for its clients.

India is a member of the Berne Convention, 1886 as well as the Universal Copyright Convention, 1951. This implies that a work that is created in a member country is protected in India and the same applies to a work created in India as well.

The Firm has been in the forefront on advising its clients on copyright law and related arrangements by way of agreements. The Firm has extensive experience in negotiating and drafting publisher agreements, designer agreements, advertising agreements, assignment and licenses, distributor’s contracts and value added re-seller agreements etc.

The Firm effectively represents authors, musicians, lyricists, software programmers and artists in procuring copyright registrations in India.