The owner of a copyright in an existing work or a prospective owner of a future work may assign to any person the copyright, either wholly or partly and either generally or subject to limitations and either for the lifetime of the copyright or any thereof. However in the case of future work, the assignment shall take effect only when the work comes into existence.

It may noted that after assignment, the rights of the assignor in the copyright shall be diluted to the extent of the rights so assigned to the assignee and in respect of the rights so assigned, the assignee shall be considered to be the owner during the period of assignment.

The assignment of copyright in any work shall be valid only when it is in writing and signed by the assignor of his duly authorized agent.

Advantages of Copyright registration

1. Legal Protection – Helps as prima facie evidence in the court of law over ownership of the work. Along with this, it offers Infringement Protection. It gives the creator the right way to get to people who are copying their work and making a living out of the efforts of the hard created things.

2. Branding or Goodwill – Registered copyright can be applied for marketing and building a sense of goodwill along with quality in the minds of your customers. Registered copyright tells others that you care about want you invented. 

3. After The Creators Death – After the creator’s death, protection can be extended. Copyright’s protection is not restricted up to the initial creators’ life span its validity is higher than any other intellectual property. It is for 60 years after his/her death also.
4. Prima Facie Evidence – Copyright protection gives prima facie evidence in case if the litigation proceeds. The proof is required to attest to anything in the court of law. Hence, here the copyright registration is very beneficial for creators.

Legal Rights in Copyright

1. Rights of the copyright owner

Under the Indian Copyright Act 1957, copyright preserves the social, economic and legal interests of the author. The copyright owner is allowed to retain the following exclusive rights.

• The owner may ask for authorship for published work under the right of paternity.
•  The owner may reproduce the work in any tangible form and keeping it in any medium by electronic means as well.
•  The owner may determine where to publish and where not under the right of publication.
•  The owner may perform in public or talk about it to the public or he/she may make any translation or adaptation of the work.
•  The owner may take certain defensive actions in case of image or reputation loss.
•  The owner has a right to sell and transfer his or her work.

2. Rights of Reproduction 

The Copyright Act says that no 3rd party can reproduce or make copies of the original work or part of the work unless the copyright owner has authorized to do so. It limits reproduction in the form of printing an edition of a work and recording sound and films.

3. Rights of Adaptation 

The copyright creator can choose to use his work whichever way he needs. That is, he/she can build derivatives from the existing work or make new work in the same form or another form based on the original work. The following actions outline the term adaptation as per the Copyright Act:

• Transforming plays, movies, choreographic shows, and other dramatic works into non-dramatic or literary works like poems, novels, and books
•   Transforming bookish works and artistic works like sculpture, photography, paintings, drawings, etc into dramatic work
• Change or modification of dramatic and non-dramatic work
•  Pictorial depiction of the work
• Transcription of musical work

4. Right of communication to the public 

Copyright owners can make their work open to the public using broadcast or wireless distribution whether in any or more of the forms of symbols or visual images.

5. Right of public performance

The owners of musical work and artistic work can do their works publicly. For example, a musician can play his part or an actor can perform in his play for the crowds. The artists can also choose to advertise their performance on digital platforms.

6. Right of paternity and integrity

The Copyright Law grants the moral rights of paternity and integrity to the creators. The right of paternity or attribution indicates that the creator can maintain authorship over his work and have it attached to him. That is, whoever wants to reproduce or change the original work has to provide due credit to the author or else the author has the right to take the actions against the maker. For example, if a person needs to make a movie out of a book, he/she must properly acknowledge the author. The right of integrity preserves the right of the holder and lets him/her claim damages when someone changes, damages or alters his work creating disputation to his name and work.

7. Right of Distribution 

The copyright holder may distribute his work in any form by reproducing, selling, renting, leasing or lending. He/she can also assign particular rights to a person to either copyright the work partly, entirely or subject to some limitations.

Infringement of Copyright

Copyright protection gives exclusive rights to the owners of the work to reproduce the work enabling them to derive financial benefits by exercising such rights. If any person without authorization from the owner exercises these rights in respect of the work, which has copyright protection, it constitutes an infringement of the copyright. If the reproduction of the work is carried out after the expiry of the copyright term, it will not amount to infringement.

Section 51 of the Act contemplates situation in which a copyright shall be deemed to be infringed. This section states that a copyright is infringed when any person without a license granted by the owner of the copyright or the Registrar of Copyrights or in contravention of the conditions of a license so granted or of any condition imposed by a competent authority-

1. Does anything for which the exclusive right is conferred upon the owner of the copyright; or
2. Permits for profit any place to be used for the communication of the work to public where such a communication constitutes an infringement of the copyright in the work, unless he was not aware and had no reasonable ground for believing that such communication would infringement of copyright; or
3. Makes for sale or hire or lets for hire or by way of trade display or offers for sale or hire; or
4. Distributes either for the purpose of trade or to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright; or
5. By way of trade, exhibits in public; or
6. Imports into India any infringing copies of the work.

The owner of copyright can sue the person who has infringed the copyright in his work in the District Court having the jurisdiction and shall be entitled to all such remedies by way of injunction, accounts and damages and otherwise as are conferred by law for the infringement of the right. However, if the defendant proves that at the date of infringement, he was not aware or had no reasonable grounds for believing that copyright subsisted in the work, then the plaintiff shall only be entitled to an injunction and account of profits made by the defendant by sale of the infringing copies. In this case, plaintiff shall not be entitled to any damages.

What counts as infringement of copyright?

• Reproduction of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work in the form of a cinematographic film.
• Making translation of a literary work.

What does NOT counts as infringement of copyright?

• Making or publishing of a painting, drawing, engraving or photograph of a work of architecture.
• Reconstruction of a building or structure in accordance with the architectural drawings or plans by reference to which the building or structure was originally constructed.
• Making of any sound recording or visual recording for the private use of the person making such recording, or solely for the purpose of bona fide teaching or research.