Copyright: All Rights Reserved, Fully?

Ever heard about IPR- Intellectual Property Rights? In layman language we call it as “my ownership rights” for any kind of intellectual property of that person. These rights include intangible creations created by human intellect. There are multiple kinds of IPR, some of them are,

- Copyrights

- Trademark

- Patents

- Geographic Indication & Design

While watching any films, saw the ‘copyright infringement warning’ appearing, threatening jail time and fines? Why do you think big businessmen or digital creators or bloggers or website creator’s registers their logo design or website logo? Why Scientists claims certain rights over their inventions? All this is done to prevent infringement over their property, songs, pictures, books, blogs, podcasts, website design, website logo, trademark of their company, and many more such rights.

All of you must be familiar with “©” symbol! Though it’s a small symbol but it reflects significance for all the Entrepreneurs. One of the greatest challenges for digital content creators is the ability to maintain copyright over their works. Copyright refers to the legal right of the owner of intellectual property. In simpler terms, copyright is the right to copy. Original creators of products and anyone they give authorization to are the only ones with the exclusive right to reproduce the work.

Does Copyright stay valid till years? Copyright protection varies from country to country. Well the answer to this is – Yes, and can stand for 50 to 100 years after the individual’s death, depending upon the country. Want to protect your Brand name and unique copyright creations from copying?

Can these all - Computer software, art, poetry, graphic designs, musical lyrics and compositions, novels, film, original architectural designs, or website content be prevented from infringement?

What exactly infringing someone’s copyright is? When any copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner it amounts to infringement.

Ways of Copyright Infringement:

-Downloading movies and music without proper payment for use

-Recording movies in a theatre

-Using others’ photographs for a blog without permission

-Copying software code without giving proper credit

-Creating videos with unlicensed music clips

-Copying books, blogs or podcasts without permission

-Anything where you are copying someone else’s original work without an agreement

Let me give you an example of one of the prominent case laws –

RG Anand v. Delux Films (AIR 1978 SC 1613), a landmark decision was passed by the Supreme Court of India in the area of copyright law. The case deals with a copyright infringement suit against the movie ‘New Delhi’ made by Mohan Sehgal in 1954. In this case, the plaintiff R.G. Anand, contended that it was modeled on the plot of a play ‘Ham Hindustani’ written and produced by him. The judgment is remarkable for clarifying the concepts of idea-expression dichotomy and copyright infringement under the Indian copyright law.

Can you build upon another’s work to create your own original piece? Are you creating a derivative work that subtracts value from the original artist?

A similar case occurred which describes the above scenario - Rogers vs. Koons. In this, Photographer Art Rodgers shot a photograph of a couple holding a line of puppies in a row and sold it for use in greeting cards and similar products. And internationally renowned artist Jeff Koons, used it to create a set of statues based on the image. The Court found the similarities between the two images and Koons was forced to pay a monetary settlement to Rodgers.

How fair is it to use someone else’s creative work and portray that as yours? For such protection and prevention of misuse of brand name, brand logo’s or designs and other creative artistic work, The Copyrights Rights Act, 1957 was executed in India. Section 51 of this act defines ‘Infringement of Copyright’. Individuals and Companies need to be alert with such issues and register for copyright immediately after developing new works. Copyright infringement issues have varied over the years, such as;

Technology

Modern technology makes it relatively easy to copy a product or information, and some companies derive a substantial part of their revenue from replicating what other companies have created.

International Issues

In an international setting, it can be difficult to prove copyright ownership, and domestic courts may see enforcement of copyright claims from international companies as a threat to national productivity.

Photography and Visual Assets

With the advances in digital imagery, it's become easier than ever to copy an image.

Non-economic Rights

Not all copyright infringement results in a measurable monetary loss per se. Moral rights are enforced as well, which cover an author's right to be identified as the author of a work– called the Right of Attribution. Also, authors look to prevent changes or distortions of their work– called the Right of Integrity.

The Internet

The growing importance of the Internet has created new obstacles for copyright holders. It is easier than ever for copyrighted materials to be accessed by companies around the world.

With rapid advances in technology, the Copyright Office has faced a growing number of issues in an effort to keep pace with innovation. If you ever deal with any of such issues, reporting it with the Copyright Office immediately is the best solution you can opt for.

I would like to sign off here. Stay Safe and Keep Protecting your creative, artistic, literary, educational or musical works.