Copyright in India

Copyrights in India are governed under the Copyright Act, 1957. Copyright applies to both published and unpublished works. Registration is not compulsory under the Act as the Copyright subsists as soon as the work is created. However, certificate of registration of copyright and the entries made therein serve as prima facie evidence in a court of law with reference to dispute relating to ownership of copyright.


Copyright in computer programmes

It is a well-established proposition that computer programs are copyrightable subject-matter, just like any other literary work.

Works such as loading a program into computer memory, saving the program or running it without authority may infringe copyright. Making an arrangement or altered version of the program or converting it into or out of one computer language or code into a different computer language or code is also an infringement.

Article 10 of the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPs) expressly provides that computer programs, whether in source code or object code shall be protected as literary works under the Berne Convention, 1971. The relevant provisions of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 which are pertinent in this context are set out hereunder :

  • ‘computer’ includes any electronic or similar device having information processing capabilities ;
  • ‘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 ;
  • ‘literary work’ includes computer programmes, tables and compilations including computer databases ;

Thus, under Indian copyright law, computer programs are considered to be literary works and accordingly entitled to copyright protection. Hence, the software on the basis of which the computer program operates may be the subject matter of a copyright under the Act.


Term of a copyright

The duration of the copyright protection depends on the type of copyright :-

  • Original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works : the life span of the author and 60 years after the author's death.
  • Anonymous and pseudonymous work : 60 years from the date of publication.
  • Photographs : 60 years from the next calendar year of publication.
  • Cinematographic films : 60 years from the next calendar year of publication.
  • Sound recording : 60 years from the next calendar year of publication.
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