Module 8

Self Learning Material – Intellectual Property

Rights (Copyrights)
Er. Amardev Singh
Assistant Professor
Entrepreneurship Development and Industrial Coordination (EDIC) Department
National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research, Sector 26, Chandigarh (India)

Objectives of the Module:

After reading the learning material, you will be able to:

 Know the need for Intellectual Property Rights

 Understand the concept of Copyrights
 Understand the important aspects and the provisions under Copyrights for the Self Learning
Material

Learning Outcomes:
After reading the learning material, you will be able to:

 Explain the need for Intellectual Property Rights

 Describe the concept of Copyrights
 Describe various important aspects and the provisions under Copyrights for Self Learning
Material

Pre-requisite Knowledge:

It is assumed that the learner is somewhat familiar with the term Intellectual Property Rights.

Introduction

Dear learners, the moment you give a form to your idea, you are implicitly putting the effort of
your brain. It is obvious that you will never want anyone else to take all the credit on your effort
without acknowledging your contribution or without reimbursing you monetarily in case your
creation is tradable. Thus, it is required to understand the need for Intellectual Property Rights and
the Concept & Aspects of Copyrights that will be helpful to you in exercising you rights in context
of Self Learning Material you will develop either now or in future after competition of the course
on Development of Self Learning.

This learning material will enable learners to know the need for Intellectual Property Rights,
understand the concept of Copyrights, and understand the important aspects and the provisions
under Copyrights for the Self Learning Material.
1. Intellectual Property Rights

Dear learners, the term Intellectual Property Rights is a combination of three separate words
viz. a viz. ‘Intellectual’; ‘Property’, and ‘Rights’. So, we can very easily arrive at meaning of
the term Intellectual Property Rights simply comprehending and associating the meaning of
these words.

As per dictionary, Intellect refers to ‘power of the mind’; and Property refers generally to
something that can be traded i.e. bought or sold or which has commercial value. Uniting the
meanings of these two words, we get the meaning of Intellectual Property that is the creations
of the mind, having commercial value; and the legal rights associated with different Intellectual
Property Forms are referred to as Intellectual Property Rights (Bansal & Bansal, 2013).

1.1 Need for Intellectual Property (IP) and Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs)

To understand the need of IP and IPRs, let us consider a routine classroom scenario.
Suppose a teacher has given an assignment on a particular same topic to five students to
be done separately by them. Now let us consider that all the five submits the same
response/work to the teacher pertaining to that assignment. There can be several
subcases, a few of which are as described below:

i) One student prepared the response to the assignment in original and all his
fellow students copied from him/her.

ii) All of the five students copied the work from some secondary source such as
material available over the internet, or a book etc.

So, here there may be two scenarios as discussed below:

- In subcase i) one student prepared the response to assignment in original and

all his fellow students copied from him/her then a teacher may mistakenly
award lesser marks to the original creator of the response/work because of
several possible reasons such as difficulty in adjudging which student has
prepared the work in original. Further, in a situation where the work/response
to the assignment may result in the form that is tradable then there may be
ambiguity and the original creator may not get due recognition or financial
incentive (reward) that he/she should have got.

- In subcase ii) all of the five students copied the work from some secondary
source such as material available over the internet, or a book etc. then it will be
a misuse of the work of some other person who is the original creator of the
work, and all the students copying may get penalized as per the law. Similarly,
in a scenario our work is protected under IP law but is being copied and misused
by some other party, we can exercise our IPRs to protect our work.
 So, the IP and IPRs are needed (Bansal & Bansal, 2013) to:

- provide recognition & reward for original effort.

- provide for protection of original effort and preventing its misuse through
legal mechanism.

1.2 Mechanisms for protection of IP

Let us now have an essence of seven different mechanisms to protect IP (Bansal &
Bansal, 2013) as per the India System:

1. Patents pertain to ‘inventions’

2. Copyrights pertain to ‘creative/artistic works/software’
3. Trademarks pertain to ‘marks used in trade’
4. Industrial Designs pertain to ‘external shape of goods’
5. Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits
6. Geographical Indications pertain to ‘goods from a particular region e.g.
Darjeeling Tea, Kullu Shawls’
7. Plant Varieties pertain to ‘new varieties of plants e.g. a Rose plant bearing
roses of several colors’

In some countries another mechanism, namely Trade Secrets pertaining to protection of

information of commercial importance also exists.

Dear learners, the development of self learning material to supplement learning at the learner’s
end may involve: the integration of a self-created Charts, Paintings etc. into the content; the use of
a self-created Computer Program; or a background music based on a self-created Musical
Notations. Such forms of work fall under the purview of Copyrights, and it is important for us to
under the concept of Copyrights.

Let us have a brief and quick glimpse of the evolution of the concept of Copyrights.

2. Concept of Copyrights

As put by Bansal and Bansal (2013), the concept of copyright is not new and has its roots in
the messy resultants of the Industrial revolution characterized by the development of
machines capable of producing multiple copies of literary works at enormously fast pace
thereby offering a base for widespread commercial exploitation

In 1534 laws were initially enacted in this regard in England, which were further strengthened
in 1556 and finally evolved into the Copyright Act of 1710 enacted during the Queen Anne’s
reign. A fourteen years’ period for ‘sole right and liberty of printing books’ was granted to
authors and their assignees under the act (Bansal & Bansal, 2013).

With further development and the surfacing of newer technologies e.g. phonograms,
cinematographic works, and photographic works thereby resulting in new expressions of work
beyond the printed material lead to the progressive expansion in the copyright law scope to
cover them (Bansal & Bansal, 2013).

Being enacted as the Indian Copyright Act of 1847, the Indian Copyright Law got modified
to Indian Copyright Act of 1914, which further evolved in the present Indian Copyright Act
of 1957. There has been recent modification in the Act in May, 2012 (Bansal & Bansal, 2013).

Since it was based on the British Law based on internationally acceptable norms, the Indian
Copyright Law was wholly companionable with the international copyright treaties (Bansal
& Bansal, 2013).

2.1 Need for Copyrights

Dear learners, just like any other work, we need Copyrights in context of self learning
material to:
- Exercise protection of a piece of work from unauthorized copying and thus
misuse.

- Realize the awards in the form of recognition and rewards as an original creator
of the work.

- Harness the work’s commercial value imparted by the copyright such as

financial benefits in terms of royalty payments etc., which the legal heirs can
also enjoy, depending upon the license’s terms and conditions.

2.2 International Copyright Conventions / Treaties

Further, it is good for us to be aware of the important international conventions / treaties

in context of Copyright (Bansal & Bansal, 2013) summarized as below:

Berne Convention, 1886 Pertaining to the safeguarding of

‘artistic’ and ‘literary’ works
Rome Convention, 1961 Pertaining to the safeguarding of
artistes, broadcasting organizations
and creators of phonograms
Geneva Convention, 1971 Pertaining to the safeguarding of the
phonograms creators against their
phonograms unauthorized duplication
Brussels Convention, 1974 Pertaining to the circulation of the
satellite transmitted program carrying
signals
Internet Treaties {World Intellectual Intended to address the issues of
Property Organization (WIPO) copyright protection on the internet
Copyright Treaty [WCT], 1996; & WIPO
Performances and Phonograms Treaty
[WPPT], 1996}
 2.3 Defining Copyrights

Copyrights are exclusive legal rights set granted to the creators of such Intellectual Work
as Literary including Software, Artistic, Dramatic, Musical, Sound Recording, and
Cinematograph Films.

In case of the work protected by copyright, the symbol © is used on the original
expression. The rights to reproduce, translate, adapt, perform, distribute and publicly
display the work (Cell for IPR Promotion and Management, no date), etc. are there with
owner of the Copyright of a particular work.

Since the copyright inherently comes into existence the moment an intellectual work is
created so the registration is not mandatory though for a better enforceability, to register
a copyright is recommended as registered copyrights carries more evidentiary value in
a court of law (Cell for IPR Promotion and Management, no date).

The limitation of the copyright against patents and trade secrets is that in case of
copyright, protection is provided only on the expression of a work, which may be in the
form a painting, printed material, recorded tape, video, or in any other expressed form;
whereas in case of Patents and Trade Secrets the protection of basic ideas is provided
(Bansal & Bansal, 2013). More explicitly stated, the limitation is that the knowledge /
ideas in an expression such as stated above can be used by anyone for any purpose
though another person may not make a copy of that (Bansal & Bansal, 2013). Further a
particular work may be protected under several form of Intellectual Property. For
example, a procedure handbook may be protected by copyright and as a trade secret (if
developed for internal use only by a company) though it may not be patented.

3. Important aspects and the provisions of Copyrights for Self Learning Material

Dear learners, though, the Copyright Act of India provides a very comprehensive
understanding of the various aspects and the provisions therein context of Copyrights, it is
essential for us to know the following:

3.1 Works Covered under Copyrights

The works in which the Copyrights subsists (Cell for IPR Promotion and Management,
no date), and each or any of which may be a constituent of a self learning material, are
as given below:

- Literary including Software (such as Books, Essay, Compilations, Computer

Programs etc.)

- Artistic (such as Drawing, Painting, Logo, Map, Chart, Plan, Photographs,

Work of Architecture)

- Dramatic (such as Screenplay, Drama)

 - Musical (such as Musical Notations)

- Sound Recording (such as on Compact Disc)

- Cinematograph Films (such as Visual Recording which includes sound

recording.

3.2 Rights entrusted in case of the work protected under Copyright

Dear learners, in context of the literary work (excluding computer program) and similarly
self learning material, the Copyright denotes the exclusive right (Bansal & Bansal, 2013)
to:

- Communicate work to public.

- Perform work in the public.
- Replicate the work.
- Dispense replicas of work in public.
- Create any adaptation of work
- Produce any variation of work.
- Make any translation of work.
- Make sound recording or cinematograph film in respect of the work.

3.3 Connotation of an author in context of Copyrights

Dear learners, generally, the author of any work (including a self learning material) is
the first owner of the copyright therein but conforming to the Section 17 and the clauses
and sub-clauses (if any) thereunder the Copyright Act; and is the person who is the
creator of the work. So, the ‘author’ is / refers (Bansal & Bansal, 2013) to:

- the author, in context of the dramatic or literary work.

- the producer, in context of the cinematographic film.
- the composer, in context of the musical work.
- the photographer, in context of the photograph.
- the producer, in context of the sound recording.
- the creator of the work, in context of the computer generated work.

3.4 Term of Copyright

Dear learners, for any self learning material which may be compilation or constituting
of several types of works, the term / duration of Copyrights (Cell for IPR Promotion
and Management, no date), according to the type of work, is as summarized in the table
below:
 Type of Work Duration of Protection
Literary, Artistic, Musical or Dramatic Author’s Lifetime + Sixty years since
Works commencement of the next calendar
year following year of death of the
author*
Anonymous & Pseudonymous Works Sixty years since the year of first
publishing of the work
Works of Public Undertakings & Sixty years since the year of first
Government Works publishing of the work
Works of International Organizations Sixty years since the year of first
publishing of the work
Sound Recording Sixty years since the year in which the
recording was published
Cinematograph Films Sixty years since the year the film was
published

* In case of a work of joint authorship, the reference to ‘author’ shall be construed as an

author who dies last.

Further, we must give due consideration to other important aspects in context of

Copyrights (Bansal & Bansal, 2013) as described below:

- Before attempting a commercialization/licensing/granting permission, due

application must be made to Registrar of Copyrights.

- Keep self, updated about time to time modifications in the Copyrights rules by
tracking the relevant website regularly.

- Keep self, aware of opacities. Explore through all possibilities of coverage. For
example, machine drawings and computer databases are coverable under
Copyrights.

3.3 Exceptions in context of Copyrights

Dear learners, in order to develop a quality self learning material and not compromising
with the essential content that may call for integration of other works from the fear of
violation of someone else’s Copyrights, it is important for us to be aware of certain
exceptions pertaining to the ‘copyrighted’ works which can be copied without
constituting ‘infringement’, that are provided by the Indian Copyright Law (Bansal &
Bansal, 2013); some of which as described below:

1. Reproduction of Acts of Legislature.

2. Reproduction of Court Judgments, Orders, Judicial Proceedings etc.

3. Reading or recitation in public.

 4. Use of copyright material for educational purposes in class or examination,
without any commercial interests.

5. For research, criticism or review in newspaper, magazines, and other media.

6. Copies of computer programmes can be made or adapted for creating temporary

or back-up copies.
7. Playing music in certain clubs or performance to a non-paying audience or for
religious institutions.

3.4 Copyright Violations or Infringements

Dear learners, it is important for us to be aware of the following common violations in

context of copyrights (Bansal & Bansal, 2013):

- Making of trespassing copies of the work for sale or letting or hire or selling
them for hire;

- Allowing for works performance in the public or any place where such
performance comes under the purview of copyright trespassing;

- Circulation of trespassing copies to the scale that it prejudicially affect the

copyright’s owner interests or for the trade purpose;

- Public display of trespassing copies by means of trade;

- Importing into India of trespassing copies.

Dear learners, the breach or violation of Copyrights is referred to as Copyright

Infringement. In case a Copyright is infringed (Cell for IPR Promotion and
Management, no date), the following remedies are available for the owner to protect
his rights:

Civil Remedies Criminal Remedies

 Interlocutory / Permanent  Imprisonment
Injunction - which may extend from a
- An Award of Costs & minimum of 6 months to a
Damages maximum of 3 years, and
- Delivery Up & Destruction with the
 Mareva Injunction  Fine
 Anton Pillar Order - of Rs. 50,000/- to Rs. 2 Lacs
 John Doe Order
3.6 Copyright Registration Process

Dear learners, the following flowchart elucidates the due process in case you aspire
to register for Copyrights for the self learning material developed by yourself or any
other intellectual work of yours’s.

Source: Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (no date)

Practice Task

Q1) State the meaning of Intellectual Property.

Q2) State two reasons for the need of IP and IPRs.

Q3) Name the works to which Copyrights are granted.

Q4) Name the first possessor of the copyrights in context of a musical work.

Q5) What is the duration of protection in case of Copyrights as per the Indian System?

Feedback to Practice Task

Key to Q1)

The creations of the mind, having commercial value.

Key to Q2)

The IP and IPRs are needed to:

- provide recognition & reward for original effort.

- provide for protection of original effort and preventing its misuse through legal
mechanism.

Key to Q3)

Copyrights are exclusive legal rights set granted to the creators of such Intellectual Work as
Literary including Software, Artistic, Dramatic, Musical, Sound Recording, and
Cinematograph Films.

Key to Q4)

the composer.

Key to Q5)

Author’s Lifetime + 60 years since commencement of the next calendar year following year
of death of the author.
Summary

Dear learners, to sum up, it is pertinent to mention here that non-registering of an IP for a work
may result in difficulty in obtaining relief in case an infringement is there since non-registered IPs
have weak evidentiary value. In the development of self learning material that may involve: the
integration of a self-created Charts, Paintings etc. into the content; the use of a self-created
Computer Program; or a background music based on a self-created Musical Notations; you must
register for Copyrights to realize all the benefits concerned as learnt in this module; and the apt
authority concerned for Copyrights is Registrar of Copyrights, New Delhi.

References

 Bansal, K; & Bansal, P (2013). Fundamentals of Intellectual Property for Engineers (1st ed.).
Hyderabad: BSP Books Pvt. Ltd.

 Cell for IPR Promotion and Management. (no date). Intellectual Property - The Future. New Delhi:
Author

Support Learning Resources

 Video film on ‘Intellectual Property Rights – An Introduction’ developed/recorded by Er.

Amardev Singh, Assistant Professor, EDIC, NITTTR, Chandigarh.
 Video film on ‘Intellectual Property Rights in context of Self Learning Material’
developed/recorded by Er. Amardev Singh, Assistant Professor, EDIC, NITTTR, Chandigarh.
 http://ipindia.nic.in/
 http://meity.gov.in/content/ipr-promotion
 http://dipp.nic.in/
 http://copyright.gov.in/
 http://dipp.nic.in/policies-rules-and-acts/acts
 The Copyright Act, 1957 available at:
http://dipp.nic.in/sites/default/files/copy_Right_Act_14July2016.pdf
 The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 available at:
http://dipp.nic.in/sites/default/files/copy_RightAmendment_14July2016.pdf