Copyright: origin, nature, salient features and the Copyright Board - Intellectual Property Rights II

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1. Origin and development
2. Nature of copyright
3. Salient features of the Copyright Act, 1957
4. The Copyright Board: composition, powers and functions
5. The Copyright Office and recent decriminalisation
How this is examined

Cases checked to exist. Read the judgment before quoting a holding.

Every case cited here has been checked to exist — the citation resolves and names the right parties. The propositions attributed to each case have not been verified line by line against the judgment. Case names link through to the full judgment: read it before quoting a holding in an examination answer, and never carry a proposition from notes into court on trust.

Start with the idea–expression line. Copyright protects the form in which an idea is expressed, not the idea itself. Almost every theory question in this unit, from “nature of copyright” to infringement, comes back to that line, so state it early and support it with R.G. Anand.

1. Origin and development

Copyright is a child of the printing press. Before printing, copying a manuscript was slow and nobody needed a legal monopoly over it. Once books could be produced in large numbers, the Crown in England granted printing privileges to the Stationers’ Company, partly to control what was printed. The first copyright statute was the Statute of Anne, 1710, which for the first time gave the right to authors rather than printers, for a limited term of fourteen years, renewable once. The debate in Donaldson v. Becket (House of Lords, 1774) settled that after publication copyright exists only as the statute gives it and not as a perpetual common law right.

In India the development ran as follows.

Indian Copyright Act, 1847, passed by the Governor-General to apply English copyright law in British India.
Copyright Act, 1911 (UK), extended to India, with the Indian Copyright Act, 1914 making local modifications.
Copyright Act, 1957 (14 of 1957), in force from 21 January 1958, which repealed the 1914 Act and is the law today.
Amendments in 1983 and 1984 (translation and reproduction licences for developing countries; piracy of films and records), 1994 (computer programmes, copyright societies, performers’ rights, broadcasting reproduction right), 1999 (to meet TRIPS), and 2012 (digital rights, technological measures, statutory licences, royalty rights of lyricists and composers, access for persons with disabilities).
The Finance Act, 2017, the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 and the Jan Vishwas Acts of 2023 and 2026, which changed the forum for disputes and removed some offences (see section 5 below).

2. Nature of copyright

Section 14 defines copyright as the exclusive right, subject to the Act, to do or authorise the doing of the acts listed for each class of work. Its nature can be stated in a few propositions.

A statutory right. Section 16: no person is entitled to copyright otherwise than under the Act. There is no common law copyright, though the law of breach of confidence survives.
A negative right. It is a right to stop others from copying, not a positive right to use. An author may be unable to publish a work for other legal reasons (for example, obscenity) and still own copyright in it.
Expression, not ideas. In R.G. Anand v. Delux Films, 1978 INSC 138, (1978) 4 SCC 118, the Supreme Court held that there is no copyright in an idea, subject matter, theme, plot or historical facts; only the form, manner and arrangement of their expression are protected.
Originality, not novelty. The work must originate from the author. In Eastern Book Company v. D.B. Modak, 2007 INSC 1266, (2008) 1 SCC 1, the Court required a minimal degree of creativity, moving away from the pure “sweat of the brow” test.
Property. It is movable property that can be assigned (section 18), licensed (section 30), bequeathed (section 20) and relinquished (section 21).
A bundle of rights. Reproduction, publication, performance, communication to the public, adaptation and translation are separate rights that may be owned by different persons (section 56).
Limited in time and territory. Generally the life of the author plus sixty years, and only in India, with foreign works protected through the International Copyright Order, 1999 under section 40.
No registration needed. Copyright arises automatically when the work is made. Registration under section 45 is optional and the Register is only prima facie evidence (section 48).

3. Salient features of the Copyright Act, 1957

Protects original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, cinematograph films and sound recordings (section 13).
Defines the author of each class of work (section 2(d)) and the first owner (section 17), with rules for employees, commissioned works and Government works.
Assignment and licences must be in writing (sections 18, 19, 30, 30A).
Compulsory and statutory licences (sections 31 to 32B), including cover versions (31C), broadcasting (31D) and access for persons with disabilities (31B and 52(1)(zb)).
Copyright societies for collective administration (sections 33 to 36A).
Related rights of broadcasters (section 37) and performers (sections 38 to 39A).
Moral rights of authors (section 57) and performers (section 38B).
Fair dealing and other exceptions (section 52).
Civil remedies (sections 55 to 62), criminal remedies (sections 63 to 70), and protection of technological measures and rights management information (sections 65A and 65B).
The Copyright Office under a Registrar of Copyrights (sections 9 and 10).

4. The Copyright Board: composition, powers and functions

The January 2026 paper asked for the composition, powers and functions of the Copyright Board. The correct answer in November 2026 is historical, followed by the present position.

As originally enacted. Section 11 constituted a Copyright Board consisting of a Chairman and not less than two and not more than fourteen other members. The Chairman had to be a person who was, or had been, or was qualified to be, a Judge of a High Court. The Board sat in benches of at least three members, and section 12 gave it the powers of a civil court for summoning witnesses, discovery and receiving evidence on affidavit. Its proceedings were judicial proceedings.

Its functions included deciding whether a work had been published and when (section 6); disputes about assignment and revocation of assignment (section 19A); compulsory licences for works withheld from the public and for unpublished or orphan works (sections 31 and 31A); licences for translation and reproduction (sections 32 and 32A); statutory licences for cover versions and broadcasting (sections 31C and 31D); fixing tariffs of copyright societies on appeal (section 33A); rectification of the Register (section 50); and resale share rights (section 53A).

What happened next.

The Finance Act, 2017 (from 26 May 2017) abolished the Copyright Board and transferred its work to the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) constituted under the Trade Marks Act, 1999, called the “Appellate Board” in the Act.
The Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 (from 4 April 2021) abolished the IPAB. Sections 11 and 12 were omitted. In sections 6, 19A, 23, 31 to 33A, 53A and 54 the words “Appellate Board” were replaced by “Commercial Court”, defined in section 2(fa) as a Commercial Court or the Commercial Division of a High Court under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015. Rectification under section 50 and appeals against the Registrar under section 72 now go to the High Court.

Trap. Do not describe the Copyright Board as a body that exists today. Write its composition and functions as they stood, then state that it was merged into the IPAB in 2017 and that since 2021 its functions lie with the Commercial Courts and the High Court. Some printed copies of the Act still say “Appellate Board” because they have not been updated.

5. The Copyright Office and recent decriminalisation

The Copyright Office functions under the control of a Registrar of Copyrights appointed by the Central Government, who keeps the Register of Copyrights (section 44) and has the powers of a civil court in proceedings before him (section 74). Under the Jan Vishwas Acts, section 68 (false statements to deceive an authority) was omitted from 1 August 2024, and section 67 (false entries in the Register) from 15 June 2026. Infringement itself remains an offence under section 63.

How this is examined

January 2026 set both “Discuss the composition, powers and functions of copyright board” and “Write briefly the origin and development of copyrights” as the Unit I essay options. For the origin question, follow section 1 above and end with the 2012 amendment and the 2017 and 2021 changes. For the Copyright Board, use section 4, and make sure the last paragraph gives the present forum. “Nature of copyright” is answered from section 2, with R.G. Anand and Eastern Book Company.