Defining The Scope: Subject Matter Of Copyright Under The Copyright Act, 1957

Himani (LLM, NLIU) (BBA LLB, UPES)

ABSTRACT

Copyright is one of the categories of intellectual property which can essentially be defined as the creations of the human mind including drawings, paintings, writings, art works, inventions, designs, trademarks, amongst others. These intellectual properties are governed by specific statutes defining the scope, purpose, effect and duration of rights granted under such statutes.

The Copyright law in India is contained in the Copyright Act, 1957 with the object of encouraging authors, artists and composers to create original works by way of rewarding such creations with a bundle of exclusive rights enabling them to commercially exploit their work for a fixed period.

The categories of work are held to be eligible for protection, subject to fulfillment of conditions of originality and fixation as have been enumerated under section 13 of the Act and include original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, as well as cinematograph films and soundrecordings. The aforementioned section can be interpreted to understand that an idea, by itself, would fail to qualify for copyright protection. A simple reading reveals that such literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works need to be original for protection under the Act.

The present research aims to make an attempt towards developing an understanding of the works considered eligible for copyright protection through statutory interpretations as well as judicial opinions and academic writings.