AMITY LAW SCHOOL

COPYRIGHT LAW

Under the supervision of

LECTURER
Aastha khare

SUBMITTED BY:
PARUL NIGAM
B.COM L.L.B ( H )
A8121610031
9th SEMESTER

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
MEANING OF COPYRIGHT
REGISTRATION OF COPYRIGHT
INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT
EXCEPTIONS OF THE INFRINGEMENT OF
COPYRIGHT.

Acknowledgement

I Parul Nigam student of B.COM L.L.B, 5th YEAR (9th Sem)

(2010-2015) wants to thanks My LECTURER , AASTHA KHARE
for helping me and guiding me throughout the project ( WHICH
GIVES AN OVERVIEW OF COPYRIGHT )and providing me
sufficient knowledge about the topic and understanding the concept
.
I would also like to thanks my parents and my friends for helping
and supporting me in making the project.

Thanking You,
Parul Nigam

INTRODUCTION
U.S. copyright law grew out of English Common Law and statutory
law. When the printing press was developed in the fifteenth century,
rights for the reproduction of written works extended to printers rather
than to authors. In England, a printers' guild, the Stationers' Company,
claimed for itself the exclusive rightin effect, a monopolyon
written works. It was not until 1710 that Parliament passed a statute
relating to copyright. That law, called the Statute of Anne, established
authors' rights to control the reproduction of their work after it was
published. It also created a term of protection of 28 years from the
date of publication. After that time, an author's work entered the
public domain, meaning that anyone could print or distribute it
without obtaining the author's permission or paying a royalty, or fee,
to the author. Other European countries developed similar laws in the
late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Under the British system, the author retained a common-law right to

ownership of his or her work until publication. After publication,
copyright was established as a statutory right, protected by the Statute
of Anne. U.S. copyright law retained this distinction between
prepublication common-law rights and post-publication statutory
rights, until 1976.

By the late eighteenth century, the protection of intellectual property

as a means of advancing the public interest was considered important
enough to receive mention in the U.S. Constitution. The Patent and
Copyright ClauseArticle I, Section 8, Clause 8of the U.S.
Constitution empowers Congress "To promote the Progress of Science
and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and

Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and

Discoveries." Congress passed its first copyright statute in 1790and
has substantially revised copyright law four times, in 1831, 1870,
1909, and 1976.

Revisions in the copyright law have been driven largely by

commercially significant changes in technology. In 1802, for
example, graphic prints came under copyright protection, establishing
the notion that the Constitution's language regarding copyright not be
interpreted to apply literally to "Writings" alone. In 1831, musical
compositions were incorporated into copyright protection, and in
1870, paintings, statues, and other works of fine art were placed under
copyright protection.

The distinction between common-law protection for unpublished

works and statutory protection of published works received increasing
criticism in the twentieth century, particularly as the notion of
publication changed greatly with technological innovations in
communication. Congress removed this distinction in the landmark
Copyright Act of 1976 (17 U.S.C.A. 102(a)). According to this
statute, an author receives copyright protection as soon as a work is
recorded in a concrete waywhen, for example, it is written on a
piece of paper, recorded on an audiotape, or stored on a computer
disk. Any unauthorized copying of the work is subject to an
infringement suit and criminal charges. The 1976 act also allows
copyright protection of works that derive from the original, such as
motion pictures, CD-ROM multimedia editions, and other
adaptations. These subsequent creations are known as derivative
works.

COPYRIGHT

A bundle of intangible rights granted by statute to the author or

originator of certain literary or artistic productions, whereby, for a
limited period, the exclusive privilege is given to that person (or to
any party to whom he or she transfers ownership) to make copies of
the same for publication and sale.

A copyright is a legal device that gives the creator of a literary,

artistic, musical, or other creative work the sole right to publish and
sell that work. Copyright owners have the right to control the
reproduction of their work, including the right to receive payment for
that reproduction. An author may grant or sell those rights to others,
including publishers or recording companies. Violation of a copyright
is called infringement.

Copyright is distinct from other forms of creator protection such as

Patents, which give inventors exclusive rights over use of their
inventions, and Trademarks, which are legally protected words or
symbols or certain other distinguishing features that represent
products or services. Similarly, whereas a patent protects the
application of an idea, and a trademark protects a device that indicates
the provider of particular services or goods, copyright protects the
expression of an idea. Whereas the operative notion in patents is
novelty, so that a patent represents some invention that is new and has
never been made before, the basic concept behind copyright is
originality, so that a copyright represents something that has
originated from a particular author and not from another. Copyrights,

patents, and trademarks are all examples of what is known in the law
as Intellectual Property.

As the media on which artistic and intellectual works are recorded

have changed with time, copyright protection has been extended from
the printing of text to many other means of recording original
expressions. Besides books, stories, periodicals, poems, and other
printed literary works, copyright may protect computer programs;
musical compositions; song lyrics; dramas; dramatico-musical
compositions; pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works; architectural
works; written directions for pantomimes and choreographic works;
motion pictures and other audiovisual works; and sound recordings.
Section 14 in the Copyright Act, 1957
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: [14. 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.

The Registration of a Copyright

The moment a work is created, copyright subsists in it. This copyright

which has already come into existence can be registered. The author

or publisher of a work, or the owner of or other person interested in

the copyright in any work may make an application to the Registrar of
Copyrights to have the copyright registered.
On the receipt of an application in respect of any work, the Registrar
of Copyrights may, after holding an inquiry, enter the particulars of
the work in the Register of Copyrights.
Registration is not essential. It results in the names or titles of works,
and the names and addresses of authors, publishers and owners of
copyright being entered in the Register of Copyrights. Entries in this
Register are presumed to be true by courts although the presumption
is rebuttable.

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
Copyright infringement occurs when someone other than the
copyright holder copies the expression of a work. This means
that the idea or information behind the work is not protected, but
how the idea is expressed is protected. For example, there have
been many movies about Pirates, but only one Jack Sparrow.
Copyright infringement can occur even if someone does not copy a
work exactly. This example of copyright infringement is most
easily apparent in music and art. Copyright infringement occurs if
the infringing work is substantially similar to the copyrighted
work.

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT OCCURS WHEN

THE COPYRIGHT OWNER'S RIGHTS ARE
VIOLATED
To fully understand copyright infringement, you must understand
what rights you hold as a copyright holder. You own more than just
the rights to reproduce the work filed with the US Copyright
Office.

An owner of a copyright owns a bundle of rights. Each of these

rights can be sold or assigned separately. Copyright infringement
occurs when one of those rights are used without the express
consent of the copyright owner. The rights owned by the owner of
a copyright include:

The Right to Reproduce the Work. - This is the right to reproduce,

copy, duplicate or transcribe the work in any fixed form. Copyright
infringement would occur if someone other than the copyright
owner made a copy of the work and resold it.

The Right to Derivative Works- This is the right to modify the

work to create a new work. A new work that is based upon an
existing work is a "derivative work." Copyright infringement
would occur here if someone wrote a screenplay based on his
favorite John Grisham book and sold or distributed the screenplay,
or if someone releases or remixes of one of your songs without
your consent.

The Right to Distribution. This is simply the right to distribute the

work to the public by sale, rental, lease or lending. The music
industry lawsuits targeting file-sharing web services claim that
these services violate the right to distribution held by record labels.

The Public Display Right. This is the right to show a copy of the
work directly to the public by hanging up a copy of the work in a
public place, displaying it on a website, putting it on film or
transmitting it to the public in any other way. Copyright
infringement occurs here if the someone other than the copyright
holder offers a work for public display.

The Public Performance Right. This is the right to recite, play,

dance, act or show the work at a public place or to transmit it to the
public. Copyright infringement would occur here if someone
decided to give performances of the musical "Oliver!" without
obtaining permission from the owner.

ACTS DO NOT CONSTITUTE COPYRIGHT

INFRINGEMENT - THE EXCEPTIONS

There are three exceptions to the copyright infringement rules,

which allow one to reproduce another's work without obtaining a
license or assignment of rights:

Fair Use -This is a doctrine which permits the reproduction of

copyrighted material for a limited purpose of teaching, reviewing,
literary criticism and the like. Without the fair use doctrine,
books and movies could not be reviewed and colleges and high
schools would not be able to study works by people like Arthur
Miller. This is also how television programs such as The Daily
Show are able to use copyrighted material in their commentary.
"Fair use," however, is determined on a case-by-case basis.

Public Domain - This refers to works which are no longer covered

by copyright law. For example, the song The Star-Spangled
Banner can be performed without ever paying license fees to
anyone because the copyright has expired.

Non-Copyrightable Works.- Copyright infringement cannot occur

when someone uses material that cannot be protected by copyright,
such as facts or ideas. However, if someone puts a bunch of facts
into the form of a book (e.g. The Farmers Almanac), copying all
or part of that book would constitute copyright infringement.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://www.google.co.in/#q=penalties+under+copyright+law+in+indi
a&start=20
http://www.vakilno1.com/bareacts/copyrightact/copyrightact.html
https://www.google.co.in/url?
sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=11&cad=rja&uact=8&ved
=0CBsQFjAAOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.agc.gov.my%2FAkta
%2FVol.%25207%2FAct%2520332.pdf&ei=pmo5VNjIGofyATxnYDgDA&usg=AFQjCNGaXQ3VFRrJF185qekrgU1P4Rnq9w
&sig2=q6_duMzIuHP2EIxshJ5zbg&bvm=bv.77161500,d.aWw
http://www.easylaw.in/articles/copyright-infringement-remedies-andpenalties-india
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_infringement