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[Act No. 14 of Year 1957, dated 4th. June, 1957]
An Act to amend and consolidate the law relating to copyright
Be it enacted by Parliament in the Eighth Year of the Republic of India as follows: -
SECTION 01: 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.
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.
SECTION 03: 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.]
SECTION 04: 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.
SECTION 05: 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.
SECTION 06: 4[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.]
SECTION 07: 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.
SECTION 08: 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.
CHAPTER II : COPYRIGHT OFFICE AND COPYRIGHT BOARD
SECTION 09: COPYRIGHT OFFICE
(1) There shall be established for the purposes of this Act an office to be called the Copyright Office.
(2) The Copyright Office shall be under the immediate control of the Registrar of Copyrights who shall act under the superintendence and direction of the Central Government.
(3) There shall be a seal for the Copyright Office.
SECTION 10: REGISTRAR AND DEPUTY REGISTRARS OF COPYRIGHTS
(1) The Central Government shall appoint a Registrar of Copyrights and may appoint one or more Deputy Registrars of Copyrights.
(2) A Deputy Registrar of Copyrights shall discharge under the superintendence and direction of the Registrar of Copyrights such functions of the Registrar under this Act as the Registrar may, from time to time, assign to him; and any reference in this Act to the Registrar of Copyrights shall include a reference to a Deputy Registrar of Copyrights when so discharging any such functions.
SECTION 11: COPYRIGHT BOARD
(1) As soon as may be after the commencement of this Act, the Central Government shall constitute a Board to be called the Copyright Board which shall consist of a Chairman and not less than two nor more than 4[fourteen] other members.
(2) The Chairman and other members of the Copyright Board shall hold office for such period and on such terms and conditions as may be prescribed.
(3) The Chairman of the Copyright Board shall be a person who is or, has been, a judge of 2[* * *] a High Court or is qualified for appointment as a Judge of a High Court.
(4) The Registrar of Copyrights shall be the Secretary of the Copyright Board and shall perform such functions as may be prescribed.
SECTION 12: POWERS AND PROCEDURE OF COPYRIGHT BOARD
(1) The Copyright Board shall, subject to any rules that may be made under this Act, have power to regulate its own procedure, including the fixing of places and times of its sittings:
PROVIDED that the Copyright Board shall ordinarily hear any proceeding instituted before it under this Act within the zone in which, at the time of the institution of the proceeding, the person instituting the proceeding actually and voluntarily resides or carries on business or personally works for gain.
Explanation: In this sub-section "zone" means a zone specified in section 15 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 (37 of 1956).
(2) The Copyright Board may exercise and discharge its powers and functions through Benches constituted by the Chairman of the Copyright Board from amongst its members, each Bench consisting of not less than three members:
3[PROVIDED that, if the Chairman is of opinion that any matter of importance is required to be heard by a larger bench, he may refer the matter to a special bench consisting of five members.]
(3) If there is a difference of opinion among the members of the Copyright Board or any Bench thereof in respect of any matter coming before it for decision under this Act, the opinion of the majority shall prevail:
4[PROVIDED that where there is no such majority, the opinion of the Chairman shall prevail.]
(4) 12[The Chairman] may authorise any of its members to exercise any of the powers conferred on it by section 74 and any order made or act done in exercise of those powers by the member so authorised shall be deemed to be the order or act, as the case may be, of the Board.
(5) No member of the Copyright Board shall take part in any proceedings before the Board in respect of any matter in which he has a personal interest.
(6) No act done or proceeding taken by the Copyright Board under this Act shall be questioned on the ground merely of the existence of any vacancy in, or defect in the constitution of, the Board.
(7) The Copyright Board shall be deemed to be a civil court for the purposes of 13[sections 345 and 346 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974)] and all proceedings before the Board shall be deemed to be judicial proceedings within the meaning of sections 193 and 228 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).
SECTION 13: WORKS IN WHICH COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section and the other provisions of this Act, copyright shall subsist throughout India in the following classes of works, that is to say,-
(a) original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works;
(b) cinematograph films; and
(c) 10[sound recording].
(2) Copyright shall not subsist in any work specified in sub-section (1), other than a work to which the provisions of section 40 or section 41 apply, unless,-
(i) in the case of a published work, the work is first published in India, or where the work is first published outside India, the author is at the date of such publication, or in a case where the author was dead at that date, was at the time of his death, a citizen of India;
(ii) in the case of an unpublished work other than 12[work of architecture], the author is at the date of the making of the work a citizen of India or domiciled in India; and
(iii) in the case of a 12[work of architecture], the work is located in India.
Explanation : In the case of a work of joint authorship, the conditions conferring copyright specified in this sub-section shall be satisfied by all the authors of the work.
(3) Copyright shall not subsist-
(a) in any cinematograph film if a substantial part of the film is an infringement of the copyright in any other work;
(b) in any 10[sound recording] made in respect of a literary, dramatic or musical work, if in making the 10[sound recording], copyright in such work has been infringed.
(4) The copyright in a cinematograph film or a 10[sound recording] shall not affect the separate copyright in any work in respect of which or a substantial part of which, the film, or as the case may be, the 10[sound recording] is made.
(5) In the case of a 4[work of architecture], copyright shall subsist only in the artistic character and design and shall not extend to processes or methods of construction.
SECTION 14: 4[MEANING OF COPYRIGHT
For the purposes of this Act, "copyright" means the exclusive right subject to the provisions of this Act, to do or authorise the doing of any of the following acts in respect of a work or any substantial part thereof, namely,-
(a) in the case of a literary, dramatic or musical work, not being a computer programme,-
(i) to reproduce the work in any material form including the storing of it in any medium by electronic means;
(ii) to issue copies of the work to the public not being copies already in circulation;
(iii) to perform the work in public, or communicate it to the public;
(iv) to make any cinematograph film or sound recording in respect of the work;
(v) to make any translation of the work;
(vi) to make any adaptation of the work;
(vii) to do, in relation to a translation or an adaptation of the work, any of the acts specified in relation to the work in sub-clauses (i) to (vi);
(b) in the case of a computer programme,-
(i) to do any of the acts specified in clause (a);
14[(ii) to sell or give on commercial rental or offer for sale or for commercial rental any copy of the computer programme:
PROVIDED that such commercial rental does not apply in respect of computer programmes where the programme itself is not the essential object of the rental.]
(c) in the case of an artistic work,-
(i) to reproduce the work in any material form including depiction in three dimensions of a two dimensional work or in two dimensions of a three dimensional work;
(ii) to communicate the work to the public;
(iii) to issue copies of the work to the public not being copies already in circulation;
(iv) to include the work in any cinematograph film;
(v) to make any adaptation of the work;
(vi) to do in relation to an adaptation of the work any of the acts specified in relation to the work in sub-clauses (i) to (iv);
(d) in the case of a cinematograph film,-
(i) to make a copy of the film, including a photograph of any image forming part thereof;
(ii) to sell or give on hire or offer for sale or hire, any copy of the film, regardless of whether such copy has been sold or given on hire on earlier occasions;
(iii) to communicate the film to the public;
(e) in the case of a sound recording-
(i) to make any other sound recording embodying it;
(ii) to sell or give on hire, or offer for sale or hire, any copy of the sound recording regardless of whether such copy has been sold or given on hire on earlier occasions;
(iii) to communicate the sound recording to the public.
Explanation: For the purposes of this section, a copy which has been sold once shall be deemed to be a copy already in circulation.]
SECTION 15: SPECIAL PROVISION REGARDING COPYRIGHT IN DESIGNS REGISTERED OR CAPABLE OF BEING REGISTERED UNDER THE 15[* * *] DESIGNS ACT, 1911
(1) copyright shall not subsist under this Act in any design which is registered under the 15[* * *] Designs Act, 1911 (2 of 1911).
(2) Copyright in any design, which is capable of being registered under the Designs Act, 1911 (2 of 1911), but which has not been so registered, shall cease as soon as any article to which the design has been applied has been produced more than fifty times by an industrial process by the owner of the copyright or, with his licence, by any other person.
SECTION 16: NO COPYRIGHT EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN THIS ACT
No person shall be entitled to copyright or any similar right in any work, whether published or unpublished, otherwise than under and in accordance with the provisions of this Act or of any other law for the time being in force, but nothing in this section shall be construed as abrogating any right or jurisdiction to restrain a breach of trust or confidence.
CHAPTER IV : OWNERSHIP OF COPYRIGHT AND THE RIGHTS OF THE OWNER
SECTION 17: FIRST OWNER OF COPYRIGHT
Subject to the provisions of this Act, the author of a work shall be the first owner of the copyright therein:
PROVIDED that-
(a) in the case of a literary, dramatic or artistic work made by the author in the course of his employment by the proprietor of a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical under a contract of service or apprenticeship, for the purpose of publication in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical, the said proprietor shall, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, be the first owner of the copyright in the work insofar as the copyright relates to the publication of the work in any newspaper, magazine or similar periodical, or to the reproduction of the work for the purpose of its being so published, but in all other respects
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