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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.
Gazetted Notification dated 14.03.2013 of the Copyright Rules, 2013
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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.
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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.
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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; amendments are being mooted to make Act in compliant
with the above treaties in order to provide protection to copyright in the digital
era.
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Copyright Office
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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:
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4th Floor, Jeevan Deep Building
Parliament Street
New Delhi - 110001
Telephone No. : +91-11-23362436
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Copyright Board
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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.
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