Copyright Act, 1957 :
Copyright in India is governed by Copyright Act, 1957. This Act has been amended several times to keep pace with the changing times. As per this Act, copyright grants author’s lifetime coverage plus 60 years after death. Copyright and related rights on cultural goods, products and services, arise from individual or collective creativity. All original intellectual creations expressed in a reproducible form will be connected as “works eligible for copyright protections”. Copyright laws distinguish between different classes of works such as literary, artistic, musical works and sound recordings and cinematograph films. The work is protected irrespective of the quality thereof and also when it may have very little in common with accepted forms of literature or art.
Copyright protection also includes novel rights which involve the right to claim authorship of a work, and the right to oppose changes to it that could harm the creator’s reputation. The creator or the owner of the copyright in a work, can enforce his right administratively and in the courts by inspection of premises for evidence of production or possession of illegally made “pirated” goods related to protected works. The owner may obtain court orders to stop such activities, as well as seek damages for loss of financial rewards and recognition.
A vital field which gets copyright protection is the computer industry. The Copyright Act, 1957, was amended in 1984 and computer programming was included with the definition of “literary work.’ The new definition of “computer programme” introduced in 1994, means a set of instructions expressed in works, codes 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.
The greatest fear and challenges to the copyright industry is the piracy of works whether, books, musical works, films, television programmes or computer software or computer database. The special nature of infringement of copyrights in computer programmes has again been taken note of by the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1994 by inserting a new section 63 B. The new section provides that any person who knowingly makes use on a computer of an infringed copy of a computer programme will be punishable with imprisonment for a term of not less than seven days, which may extend to three years and with a fine of notless than ` 50,000/- and which may extend to ` 2,00,000/-. Proviso to section 63 B, however, provides that where computer programme has not been used for gain or in the course of trade or business, the court may at its discretion and for reasons mentioned in the judgement not impose any sentence of imprisonment and impose only fine upto ` 50,000/-.
The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1999 makes it free for purchaser of a gadget/equipment to sell it onwards if the item being transacted is not the main item covered under the Copyright Act. This means computer software which is built in the integral part of a gadget/equipment can be freely transacted without permission of copyright owner. This amendment also ensures fair dealing of ‘broadcasting’ gaining popularity with the growth of the Internet. With this amendment India has updated the Act to meet the concerns of the copyright industries mainly consisting of Book Industry, Music Industry, Film and Television Industry, Computer Industry and Database Industry.
The Copyright Act, 1957 amended in 2012 with the object of making certain changes for clarity, to remove operational difficulties and also to address certain newer issues that have emerged in the context of digital technologies and the Internet. Moreover, the main object to amendments the Act is that in the knowledge society in which we live today, it is imperative to encourage creativity for promotion of culture of enterprise and innovation so that creative people realize their potential and it is necessary to keep pace with the challenges for a fast growing knowledge and modern society.