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Copyright Search & Filling

About Copyright

The Copyright Act 1957 (as amended by the Copyright Amendment Act 2012) governs the subject of copyright law in India. The Act is applicable from 21 January 1958. The history of copyright law in India can be traced back to its colonial era under the British Empire. The Copyright Act 1957 was the first post-independence copyright legislation in India and the law has been amended six times since 1957. The most recent amendment was in the year 2012, through the Copyright (Amendment) Act 2012. India is a member of most of the important international conventions governing the area of copyright law, including the Berne Convention of 1886 (as modified at Paris in 1971), the Universal Copyright Convention of 1951, the Rome Convention of 1961 and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Initially, India was not a member of the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) but subsequently entered the treaty in 2013

Copyright is a bundle of rights given by the law to the creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and the producers of cinematograph films and sound recordings. The rights provided under Copyright law include the rights of reproduction of the work, communication of the work to the public, adaptation of the work and translation of the work. The scope and duration of protection provided under copyright law varies with the nature of the protected work.

In a 2016 copyright lawsuit, the Delhi High Court states that copyright is “not an inevitable, divine, or natural right that confers on authors the absolute ownership of their creations. It is designed rather to stimulate activity and progress in the arts for the intellectual enrichment of the public. Copyright is intended to increase and not to impede the harvest of knowledge. It is intended to motivate the creative activity of authors and inventors in order to benefit the public.

Types of Work Protected

The Indian copyright law protects literary works, dramatic works, musical works, artistic works, cinematograph films and sound recordings.

Types of Work

Effective period of Copyright

· Literary

· dramatic,

· musical and

· artistic works

Lifetime of the author + sixty years from the beginning of the calendar year next following the year in which the author dies.

· Anonymous and pseudonymous works

· Posthumous work

· Cinematograph films

· Sound records

· Government work

· Public undertakings

· International Agencies

· Photographs

Until sixty years from the beginning of the calendar years next following the year in which the work is first published.

Requirement for filling copyright application

Information regarding the Author(s) including (Full name & address).
Details of the contribution made to the work.
Title of the work.
Whether the work is already published or unpublished (If published, the date of first publication and last publication.)
Language used in the work.
Copies of the work for which a copyright must be filed (word/PDF/CD format)

Information regarding Applicant, including full name and address, type of legal entity (i.e. a company, partnership, corporation, or individual), state of incorporation or country of citizenship;
A Power of Attorney signed by the applicant in whose name the application will be filed; (It will be prepared by Preach Law LLP).
No-objection letter from the author of the work where the author of the work and Applicant are not the same person (it will be prepared by Preach Law LLP).

Government fee

Copyright filing (Literary/dramatic/musical/artistic work): Rs 500/-
Copyright filing (Literary/dramatic/musical/artistic work used or is capable of used in relation to any goods under section 45) Rs 2000/-
Copyright filing for cinematographic work: Rs 5000/-