Intellectual
Property Rights
COPYRIGHT ACT 1957
CHAPTER I: PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, extent and commencement
(1) This Act may be called
the Copyright Act, 1957.
(2) It extends to the
whole of India.
(3) It shall come into
force on such date1 as the Central Government may, by notification in
the Official Gazette, appoint.
2. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the
context otherwise requires,-
(a) "adaptation"
means,-
(i) in relation to a dramatic
work, the conversion of the work into a non-dramatic work;
(ii) in relation to a
literary work or an artistic work, the conversion of the work into a dramatic
work by way of performance in public or otherwise;
(iii) in relation to a
literary or dramatic work, any abridgement of the work or any version
of the work in which the story or action is conveyed wholly or mainly
by means of pictures in a form suitable for reproduction in a book, or
in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical; 2[* * *]
(iv) in relation to a
musical work, any arrangement or transcription of the work; 3[and
(v) in relation to any
work, any use of such work involving its re-arrangement or alteration;]
(b) 4["work of architecture"]
means any building or structure having an artistic character or design,
or any model for such building or structure;
(c) "artistic work"
means-
(i) a painting, a sculpture,
a drawing (including a diagram, map, chart or plan), an engraving or a
photograph, whether or not any such work possesses artistic quality;
(ii) a 4[work of architecture];
and
(iii) any other work of
artistic craftsmanship;
(d) "author"
means-
(i) in relation to a literary
or dramatic work, the author of the work;
(ii) in relation to a
musical work, the composer;
(iii) in relation to an
artistic work other than a photograph, the artist;
(iv) in relation to a
photograph, the person taking the photograph;
4[(v) in relation to a
cinematograph film or sound recording, the producer; and
(vi) in relation to any
literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work which is computer-generated,
the person who causes the work to be created;]
5[(dd) "broadcast"
means communication to the public-
(i) by any means of wireless
diffusion, whether in any one or more of the forms of signs, sounds or
visual images; or
(ii) by wire,
and includes a re-broadcast;]
(e) "calendar year"
means the year commencing on the lst day of January;
4[(f) "cinematograph
film" means any work of visual recording on any medium produced through
a process from which a moving image may be produced by any means and,
includes a sound recording accompanying such visual recording and "cinematograph"
shall be construed as including any work produced by any process analogous
to cinematography including video films;]
4[(ff) "communication
to the public" means making any work available for being seen or
heard or otherwise enjoyed by the public directly or by any means of display
or diffusion other than by issuing copies of such work regardless of whether
any member of the public actually sees, hears or otherwise enjoys the
work so made available.
Explanation : For the
purposes of this clause, communication through satellite or cable or any
other means of simultaneous communication to more than one household or
place of residence including residential rooms of any hotel or hostel
shall be deemed to be communication to the public;
(ffa) "composer",
in relation to a musical work, means the person who composes the music
regardless of whether he records it in any form of graphical notation;
(ffb) "computer"
includes any electronic or similar device having information processing
capabilities;
(ffc) "computer programme"
means a set of instructions expressed in words, codes, schemes or in any
other form, including a machine readable medium, capable of causing a
computer to perform a particular task or achieve a particular result;
(ffd) "copyright
society" means a society registered under sub-section (3) of section
33;]
(g) "delivery",
in relation to a lecture, includes delivery by means of any mechanical
instrument or by 6[broadcast];
(h) "dramatic work"
includes any piece for recitation, choreographic work or entertainment
in dumb show, the scenic arrangement or acting, form of which is fixed
in writing or otherwise but does not include a cinematograph film;
7(hh)"duplicating
equipment" means any mechanical contrivance or device used or intended
to be used for making copies of any work;]
(i) "engravings"
include etchings, lithographs, wood-cuts, prints and other similar works,
not being photographs;
(j) "exclusive licence"
means a licence which confers on the licensee or on the licencees and
persons authorised by him, to the exclusion of all other persons (including
the owner of the copyright), any right comprised in the copyright in a
work, and "exclusive licensee" shall be construed accordingly;
(k) "government work"
means a work which is made or published by or under the direction or control
of-
(i) the government or
any department of the government;
(ii) any Legislature in
India;
(iii) any court, Tribunal
or other judicial authority in India;
8[(l) "Indian work"
means a literary, dramatic or musical work,-
(i) the author of which
is a citizen of India; or
(ii) which is first published
in India; or
(iii) the author of which,
in the case of an unpublished work, is, at the time of the making of the
work, a citizen of India;]
4[(m) "infringing
copy" means,-
(i) in relation to literary,
dramatic, musical or artistic work, a reproduction thereof otherwise than
in the form of a cinematographic film;
(ii) in relation to a
cinematographic film, a copy of the film made on any medium by any means;
(iii) in relation to a
sound recording, any other recording embodying the same sound recording,
made by any means;
(iv) in relation to a
programme or performance in which such a broadcast, reproduction right
or a performer's right subsists under the provisions of this Act, the
sound recording or a cinematographic film of such programme or performance,
if such reproduction,
copy of sound recording is made or imported in contravention of the provisions
of this Act.]
(n) "lecture"
includes address, speech and sermon;
4[(o) "literary work"
includes computer programmes, tables and compilations including computer
9[databases];
(p) "musical work"
means a work consisting of music and includes any graphical notation of
such work but does not include any works or any action intended to be
sung, spoken or performed with the music;
(q) "performance",
in relation to performer's right, means any visual or acoustic presentation
made live by one or more performers;]
3[(qq) "performer"
includes an actor, singer, musician, dancer, acrobat, juggler, conjurer,
snake charmer, a person delivering a lecture or any other person who makes
a performance;]
(r) 2[* * *]
(s) "photograph"
includes photo-lithograph and any work produced by any process analogous
to photography but does not include any part of a cinema to graph film;
(t) "plate"
includes any stereotype or other plate, stone, block, mould, matrix, transfer,
negative, 7[, duplicating equipment] or other device used or intended
to be used for printing or reproducing copies of any work, and any matrix
or other appliance by which 10[sound recording] for the acoustic presentation
of the work are or are intended to be made;
(u) "prescribed"
means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
3[(uu) "producer",
in relation to a cinematograph film or sound recording, means a person
who takes the initiative and responsibility for making the work;]
(v) 11[***]
(w) 2[***]
4[(x) "reprography"
means the making of copies of a work, by photocopying or similar means;
(xx) "sound recording"
means a recording of sounds from which such sounds may be produced regardless
of the medium on which such recording is made or the method by which the
sounds are produced;]
(y) "work" means
any of the following works, namely,-
(i) a literary, dramatic,
musical or artistic work;
(ii) a cinematograph film;
(iii) a 10[sound recording];
(z) "work of joint
authorship" means a work produced by the collaboration of two or
more authors in which the contribution of one author is not distinct from
the contribution of the other author or authors;
(za) "work of sculpture"
includes casts and models.
4. Meaning of publication
For the purposes of this
Act, "publication" means making a work available to the public
by issue of copies or by communicating the work to the public.]
4. When work not deemed to be published or performed in public
Except in relation to infringement
of copyright, a work shall not be deemed to be published or performed
in public, if published or performed in public, without the licence of
the owner of the copyright.
5. When work deemed to be first published in India
For the purposes of this
Act, a work published in India shall be deemed to be first published in
India, notwithstanding that it has been published simultaneously in some
other country, unless such other country provides a shorter term of copyright
for such work; and a work shall be deemed to be published simultaneously
in India and in another country if the time between the publication in
India and the publication in such other country does not exceed thirty
days or such other period as the Central Government may, in relation to
any specified country, determine.
4[6. Certain disputes to be decided by copyright board
If any question arises,-
(a) whether a work has
been published or as to the date on which a work was published for the
purposes of Chapter V, or
(b) whether the term of
copyright for any work is shorter in any other country than that provided
in respect of that work under this Act,
it shall be referred to
the copyright board constituted under section 11 whose decision thereon
shall be final:
PROVIDED that if in the
opinion of the copyright board, the issue of copies or communication to
the public referred to in section 3 was of an insignificant nature, it
shall not be deemed to be publication for the purposes of that section.]
7. Nationality of author where the making of unpublished work
is extended over considerable period
Where, in the case of an
unpublished work, the making of the work is extended over a considerable
period, the author of the work shall, for the purposes of this Act, be
deemed to be a citizen of, or domiciled in, that country of which he was
a citizen or wherein he was domiciled during any substantial part of that
period.
8. Domicile of corporations
For the purposes of this
Act, a body corporate shall be deemed to be domiciled in India if it is
incorporated under any law in force in India.
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