INTRODUCTION ON COPYRIGHT :

The idea of Copyright protection only began to emerge with the invention of printing, which made it for literary works to be duplicated by mechanical processes instead of being copied by hand. This led to the grant of privileges, by authorities and kings, entitling beneficiaries exclusive rights of reproduction and distribution, for limited period, with remedies in the form of fines, seizure, confiscation of infringing copies and possibly damages.

However, the criticism of the system of privileges led to the adoption of the Statute of Anne in 1709, the first copyright Statute. In the 18th century there was dispute over the relationship between copyright subsisting in common law and copyright under the Statute of Anne. This was finally settled by House of Lords in 1774 which ruled that at common law the author had the sole right of printing and publishing his book, but that once a book was published the rights in it were exclusively regulated by the Statute. This common law right in unpublished works lasted until the Copyright Act, 1911, which abolished the Statute of Anne.

Copyright is a well recognised form of property right which had its roots in the common law system and subsequently came to be governed by the national laws in each country. Copyright as the name suggests arose as an exclusive right of the author to copy the literature produced by him and stop others from doing so. There are well-known instances of legal intervention to punish a person for copying literary or aesthetic out put of another even before the concept of copyright took shape. The concept of idea was originally concerned with the field of literature and arts. In view of technological advancements in recent times, copyright protection has been expanded considerably. Today, copyright law has extended protection not only to literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works but also sound recordings, films, broadcasts, cable programmes and typographical arrangements of publications. Computer programs have also been brought within the purview of copyright law.

Copyright ensures certain minimum safeguards of the rights of authors over their creations, thereby protecting and rewarding creativity. Creativity being the keystone of progress, no civilized society can afford to ignore the basic requirement of encouraging the same. Economic and social development of a society is dependent on creativity. The protection provided by copyright to the efforts of writers, artists, designers, dramatists, musicians, architects and producers of sound recordings, cinematograph films and computer software, creates an atmosphere conducive to creativity, which induces them to create more and motivates others to create.

In India, the law relating to copyright is governed by the Copyright Act, 1957 which has been amended in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1999 and 2012 to meet with the national and international requirements. The amendment introduced in 1984 included computer program within the definition of literary work and a new definition of computer program was inserted by the 1994 amendment. The philosophical justification for including computer programs under literary work has been that computer programs are also products of intellectual skill like any other literary work.

In 1999, the Copyright Act, 1957 was further amended to give effect to the provisions of the TRIPs agreement providing for term of protection to performers rights at least until the end of a period of fifty years computed from the end of the calendar year in which the performance took place. The Amendment Act also inserted new Section 40A empowering the Central Government to extend the provisions of the Copyright Act to broadcasts and performances made in other countries subject to the condition however that such countries extend similar protection to broadcasts and performances made in India. Another new Section 42A empowers the Central Government to restrict rights of foreign broadcasting organisations and performers.

The Act is now 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 realise their potential and it is necessary to keep pace with the challenges for a fast growing knowledge and modern society.