Introduction

The Copyright Act, 1957 came into effect from January 1958.  This 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.
 

Prior to the Act of 1957, the Law of Copyrights in the country was governed by the Copyright Act of 1914.  This Act was essentially the extension of the British Copyright Act, 1911 to India .  Even the Copyright Act, 1957 borrowed extensively from the new Copyright Act of the United Kingdom of 1956.
 

The Copyright Act, 1957 continues with the common law traditions. Developments elsewhere have brought about certain degree of convergence in copyright regimes in the developed world.
 

The Indian Copyright Act today is compliant with most international conventions and treaties in the field of copyrights.  India is a member of the Berne Convention of 1886 (as modified at Paris in 1971), the Universal Copyright Convention of 1951 and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement of 1995.  Though India is not a member of the Rome Convention of 1961, the Copyright Act, 1957 is fully compliant with the Rome Convention provisions.
 

Two new treaties, collectively termed as Internet Treaties, were negotiated in 1996 under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).  These treaties are called the ‘WIPO Copyrights Treaty (WCT)’ and the ‘WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT)’.  These treaties were negotiated essentially to provide for protection of the rights of copyright holders, performers and producers of phonograms in the Internet and digital era.  India is not a member of these treaties as yet.
 

The Section 9 of the Copyright Act requires for establishment of an office to be called the Copyright Office for the purpose of the Act.  The Copyright Office is to be under the immediate control of a Registrar of Copyrights to be appointed by the Central Government, who would act under the superintendence and directions of the Central Government.  The Copyright Office is currently located at the following address:
 

B-2/W-3, Curzon Road Barracks
Kasturba Gandhi Marg
New Delhi - 110001
 

Section 11 of the Copyright Act requires the Central Government to constitute a Copyright Board headed by a Chairman with not less than two and not more than 14 other members.  Registrar of Copyrights is to be Secretary of the Copyright Board.  Section 12 of the Copyright Act also lays down the powers of the Copyright Board and deems it to be a civil court for the purposes of Sections 345 and 346 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and also that all the proceedings of the Board would be deemed to be judicial proceedings within the meaning of Sections 193 and 228 of the Indian Penal Code.