The impact of the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act, 1957 in India

Copyright has been defined by the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia as a form of intellectual property that gives the author of an original work the exclusive right for a certain time period in relation to that work, including its publication, distribution and adaptation, after which time the work is said to enter the public domain. The Copyright Act, 1957 extends protection to the original creators of all works, literary, dramatic, musical or artistic in India. The act came into effect from The Act has been amended five times since then, i.e., in 1983, 1984, 1992, 1994 and 1999, with the amendment of 1994 being the most substantial.¹

The government had proposed amendments to the Copyright Act sometime in 2006 which would substantially change the scope of rights of the copyright owners in demanding royalty every time their work was published in any media. These amendments were strongly opposed by the powerful lobbies in the music industry which led to the delay in the passing of the amending act. However, quite recently the government has proposed certain amendments to the Copyright Act which would include a new system of royalties for artists.

These amendments are being made to bring the Act in conformity with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Internet Treaties, namely WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) which have set the international standards in these spheres,” said an official. The WCT deals with the protection for the authors of literary and artistic works such as writings, computer programmes, original databases, musical works, audiovisual works, works of fine art and photographs. The WPPT protects certain “related rights” which are the rights of the performers and producers of phonograms.²

While India has not yet signed the above two treaties it is necessary to amend domestic legislation to extend the copyright protection in the digital environment. Various amendments have been proposed in order to bring the Act in conformity with WCT and WPPT. The amendments propose to also include the creation of a new type of rights – namely “moral rights” and “the right to integrity” which, under the Act would be non-assignable. Section 38 of The Copyright Act, 1957 is proposed to be amended to make it compliant with the WPPT. The new section (38B) provides for the performer to be identified as the performer of the performance and to prevent any damage or alteration or mutilation of his work.

The amendment to Section 65 in the form of Section 65A provides for the punishment of persons who circumvent technological measures for the purpose of infringing copyrights. Any such acts shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to two years and may also extend to fine.

The most discussed amendment to the Act is the amendment providing for the access of copyrighted works to persons who are visually or aurally or in any other way challenged. The proposed amendment to Section 52 (1) (za) reads as follows –

“Certain acts not to be infringement of copyright- ….

(1) (za) the reproduction, issue of copies or communication to the public of any work in a format, including sign language, specially designed only for the use of persons suffering from a visual, aural or other disability that prevents their enjoyment of such works in the normal format. ”

Such a provision is critical, given that hardly 0.5% of all published books are accessible by the print impaired. Further, given the constitutional mandate that each one of us shall have the right to life under Article 21 (which includes the right to education and the right to read) and the right not to be discriminated against (under Article 14), the State is under a positive obligation to provide accessible works to the disabled and thereby help them lead better lives. However, the clause provides for the viewing of the works in certain formats only, most of which are highly expensive. Such a provision is self-defeating in nature. For example the most popular format for screen reading, JAWS is made available for Rs. 50,000/-.

It is also proposed to alter the term of copyright from the current sixty years to a term of the lifetime of the author plus sixty years, an amendment which would significantly increase the term of protection extended to a copyright. The author or his legal representatives would be entitled to a much longer term of enforcing the rights available to them under law.

In conclusion, the amendments proposed to the Copyright Act would provide more rights and a degree of further control to the authors or creators of the copyrighted work. Such rights would bring the status of the Indian legislation to par with the international standard set by the WIPO. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has proposed the amendments in order to gain clarity, remove operational difficulties and to address the newer issues that have emerged in the context of digital technology and the internet. However, whether the amendments shall be passed still remain to be seen.

References:

[1]http://copyright.gov.in/

[2]http://www.indiaedunews.net/

[3] http://spicyipindia.blogspot.com/