Amendment of section 22. 12. In section 22 of the principal Act, the brackets and words “(other than a photograph)” shall be omitted.
Omission of section 25. 13. Section 25 of the principal Act shall be omitted.
Amendment of section 30. 14. In section 30 of the principal Act, for the words “writing signed by him”, the words “writing by him” shall be substituted.
Amendment of section 30A. 15. In section 30A of the principal Act and in its marginal heading, for the words figures and letter, “section 19 and 19A”, the word and figures “section 19” shall be substituted.
Amendment of section 31. 16. In section 31 of the principal Act,—
- (i) in sub-section (1),—
- (a) for the words “any Indian work”, the words “any work” shall be substituted;
- (b) for the words “licence to the complainant” the words “licence to such person or persons who, in the opinion of the Copyright Board, is or are qualified to do so” shall be substituted;
- (c) the Explanation shall be omitted;
- (ii) sub-section (2) shall be omitted.
Amendment of section 31A. 17. In section 31A of the principal Act,—
- (i) in the marginal heading, for the words “Indian works”, the words “or published works” shall be substituted;
- (ii) for sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:—
- “(1) Where, in the case of any unpublished work or any work published or communicated to the public and the work is withheld from the public in India, the author is dead or unknown or cannot be traced, or the owner of the copyright in such work cannot be found, any person may apply to the Copyright Board for a licence to publish or communicate to the public such work or a translation thereof in any language.”.
Insertion of new sections 31B, 31C and 31D. 18. After section 31A of the principal Act, the following sections shall be inserted, namely:—
- Compulsory licence for benefit of disabled.‘31B. (1) Any person working for the benefit of persons with disability on a profit basis or for business may apply to the Copyright Board, in such form and manner and accompanied by such fee as may be prescribed, for a compulsory licence to publish any work in which copyright subsists for the benefit of such persons in a case to which clause (zb) of sub-section (1) of section 52 does not apply and the Copyright Board shall dispose of such application as expeditiously as possible and endeavour shall be made to dispose of such application within a period of two months from the date of receipt of the application.
- (2) The Copyright Board may, on receipt of an application under sub-section (1), inquire, or direct such inquiry as it considers necessary to establish the credentials of the applicant and satisfy itself that the application has been made in good faith.
- (3) If the Copyright Board is satisfied, after giving to the owners of rights in the work a reasonable opportunity of being heard and after holding such inquiry as it may deem necessary, that a compulsory licence needs to be issued to make the work available to the disabled, it may direct the Registrar of Copyrights to grant to the applicant such a licence to publish the work.
- (4) Every compulsory licence issued under this section shall specify the means and format of publication, the period during which the compulsory licence may be exercised and, in the case of issue of copies, the number of copies that may be issued including the rate or royalty:
