Mode of Assignment :
Section 19 of the Act provides that an assignment of copyright should be in writing signed by the owner of the copyright. Mere acceptance of remuneration or delivery of manuscript does not constitute an assignment of copyright. Oral assignment is invalid and it is impermissible in law. Setty v. Dr. Suryakantha U. Kamath K.A. Venugopala Setty v. Dr. Suryakantha U. Kamath AIR 1992 Kar 1.
Section 19 requires that the assignment should be in writing signed by the assignor or by his duly authorized agent—if the assignment appears from any document and it is signed by the assignor or by his authorized agent the statutory requirement is fulfilled. Srimagal and Co. v. Books (India) Pvt. Ltd. & Others AIR 1973 Mad 49: (1972) 2 Mad LJ 610.
Copyright is different from the material object which is the subject of the copyright. So it should be clear that the transfer of the material object does not necessarily involve a transfer of the copyright. The assignment of copyright should specify the assigned work, rights including duration, territorial extent of assignment and the amount of royalty. However, in the absence of duration and territorial extent, the assignment remains valid for a period of five years and within the territory of India.
In case assignee does not exercise his rights within a period of one year from the date of assignment, the assignment in respect of such rights shall be deemed to have lapsed after the expiry of said period, unless otherwise specified in the assignment.
The assignment of copyright in any work contrary to the terms and conditions of the rights already assigned to a copyright society in which the author of the work is a member is void.
The Assignment of copyright in any work to make a cinematograph film does not affect the right of the author of the work to claim an equal share of royalties and consideration payable in case of utilization of the work in any form other than for the communication to the public of the work, along with the cinematograph film in a cinema hall.
The assignment of the copyright in any work to make a sound recording which does not form part of any cinematograph film does not affect the right of the author of the work to claim an equal share of royalties and consideration payable for any utilization of such work in any form.