The Copyright Act, 1957/Chapter 3

by the Parliament of India

Layout 2

CHAPTER III

Copyright

13-(1) Subject to the provisions of this section and the other Works in which copyright subsists.provisions of this Act, copyright shall subsist throughout India in the following classes of works, that is to say,—

(a) original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works;

(b) cinematograph films; and

(c) records.

(2) Copyright shall not subsist in any work specified in sub-section (1), other than a work to which the provisions of section 40 or section 41 apply, unless,—

(i) 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;

(ii) in the case of an unpublished work other than an architectural work of art, the author is at the date of the making of the work a citizen of India or domiciled in India; and

(iii) in the case of an architectural work of art, the work is located in India.

Explanation.—In the case of a work of joint authorship, the conditions conferring copyright specified in this sub-section shall be satisfied by all the authors of the work.

(3) Copyright shall not subsist—

(a) in any cinematograph film: if a substantial part of the film is an infringement of the copyright in any other work;

(b) in any record made in respect of a literary, dramatic or musical work, if in making the record, copyright in such work has been infringed.

(4) The copyright in a cinematograph film or a record shall not affect the separate copyright in any work in respect of which or a substantial part of which, the film, or as the ease may be, the record is made.

(5) In the case of an architectural work of art, copyright shall subsist only in the artistic character and design and shall not extend, to processes or methods of construction.

14. (1) For the purposes of this Act, "copyright" means the Meaning of copyright.copyright, exclusive right, by virtue of and subject to the provisions of, this Act,—

(a) in the case of a literary, dramatic or musical work, to do and authorise the doing of any of the following acts, namely:—

(i) to reproduce the work in any /material form;

(ii) to publish the work;

(iii) to perform the work in public;

(iv) to produce, reproduce, perform or publish any translation of the work;

(v) to make any cinematograph film or a record in respect of the work;

(vi) to communicate the work by radio-diffusion or to communicate to the public by a loud-speaker or any other similar instrument the radio-diffusion of the work;

(vii) to make any adaptation of the work;

(viii) to do in relation to a translation or an adaptation of the work any of the acts specified in relation to the work in clauses (i) to (vi);

(b) In the case of an artistic work, to do or authorise the doing of any of the following acts, namely:—

(i) to reproduce the work in any material form;

(ii) to publish the work;

(iii) to include the work in any cinematograph film;

(iv) to make any adaptation of the work;

(v) to do in relation to an adaptation of the work any of the acts specified in relation to the work in clauses (i) to (iii).

(c) in the case of a cinematograph film, to do or authorise the doing of any of the following acts, namely:—

(i) to make a copy of the film;

(ii) to cause the film, in so far as it consists of visual images, to be seen in public and, in so far as it consists of sounds, to be heard in public;

(iii) to make any record embodying the recording in any part of the sound track associated with the film by utilising such sound track;

(iv) to communicate the film by radio-diffusion;

(d) In the case of a record,to do or authorise the doing of any of the following acts by utilising the record, namely:—

(i) to make any other record embodying the same recording;

(ii) to cause the recording embodied in the record to be heard in public;

(iii) to communicate the recording embodied in the record by radio-diffusion.

(2) Any reference in sub-section (1) to the doing of any act in relation to a work or a translation or an adaptation thereof shall include a reference to the doing of that act in relation to a substantial part thereof.

15. (1) Copyright shall not subsist under this Act in any design 2 of 1911Special provision regarding Copyright in designs registered or Capable of being registered under the Indian Patents and Designs Act, 1911.which is registered under the Indian Patents and Designs Act, 1911.

(2) Copyright in any design, which is capable of being registered 2 of 1911under the Indian Patents and Designs Act, 1911, but which has not been so registered, shall cease as soon as any article to which the design has been applied has been produced more than fifty times by an industrial process by the owner of the copyright or, with his licence, by any other person.

16. No person shall be entitled to copyright or any similar right No copyright except as provided in this Act.in any work, whether published or unpublished, otherwise than under and in accordance with the provisions of this Act or of any other law for the time being in force, but nothing in this section shall be construed as abrogating any right of jurisdiction to restrain a breach of trust or confidence.