Copyright
© Rahul Dutta | July 4, 2022
Copyright Subject Matter
Original expression in a tangible form is a subject matter of Copyright. The Courts have finetuned the copyright subject matter criteria. The original expression with intellectual effort and creativity makes copyright matter.
The dichotomy between intellectual property and industrial property is Copyright. Copyright is intellectual property but not industrial property. The union of Copyright and Industrial Property is known as Intellectual Property.
Intellectual Property = Industrial Property + Copyright
Like industrial property, Copyright is a negative right. It restricts the exploitation of copyrighted work without consent, acknowledgement and against the spirit of the work. There are transferable and non-transferable rights in copyright. The economic rights are transferable. Moral rights are non-transferable. The author can relinquish the economic right. The first owner of the copyright can transfer the transferable rights through an assignment in writing.
The Copyright exists in literary, dramatic, artistic, music, sound recording, and cinematograph work. A computer program, per se, is considered a literary work. The Copyright also provides neighbouring rights for performers, for performance in public, in literary, musical, and dramatic works. The right to perform publicly subsists with the creator of the literary, dramatic, and musical work. The broadcasting reproduction right and performers’ right to their public performance are known as neighbouring rights in copyright.
Copyright Term
The Copyright term in literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work subsists for the life of the author and sixty years from the following year from the author’s death. The copyright term in sound recording, cinematograph, Government work, or international organization work subsists for sixty years from the beginning of the calendar year next following the year in which the work was first published.