Author and owner: who is the author, and who owns the copyright

1. Who is the author (section 2(d))

• Literary or dramatic work: the author of the work.
• Musical work: the composer.
• Artistic work other than a photograph: the artist.
• Photograph: the person taking the photograph.
• Cinematograph film or sound recording: the producer.
• Any literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work which is computer-generated: the person who causes the work to be created.

Two points matter for theory. First, for films and sound recordings the Act makes the producer an author, which a personality theorist would find odd: the producer is the person who takes the initiative and responsibility for making the work (section 2(uu)), not the creative contributor. Second, the computer-generated clause, added in 1994, borrows from section 9(3) of the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. Whether it extends to generative AI outputs is discussed in the note on digital issues.

2. First ownership: the rule and its exceptions (section 17)

The general rule is that the author is the first owner. The exceptions are:

1. Journalists under a contract of service (proviso (a)). The proprietor of a newspaper, magazine or periodical owns the right as far as publication in such a periodical is concerned; in all other respects the author is first owner.
2. Commissioned works (proviso (b)). A photograph taken, painting or portrait drawn, engraving or film made for valuable consideration at the instance of any person: that person is first owner.
3. Works made in the course of employment (proviso (c)). Where a work is made in the course of the author’s employment under a contract of service or apprenticeship, not covered by (a) or (b), the employer is first owner.
4. Speeches and addresses (proviso (cc)): the person delivering it, or on whose behalf it is delivered.
5. Government works (proviso (d)), works of public undertakings (proviso (dd)) and of international organisations (proviso (e)).

All of these yield to an agreement to the contrary. The difference between a contract of service (employment) and a contract for services (independent contractor) is the hinge. A freelancer who writes a report for a company is its author and owner unless he assigns in writing; an employee writing the same report in the course of employment is not owner.

3. Films and music: IPRS v. EIMPA

The leading case is Indian Performing Right Society v. Eastern India Motion Pictures Association, 1977 INSC 87, AIR 1977 SC 1443. IPRS, a society to which composers and lyricists had assigned their performing rights, claimed fees for the public exhibition of films containing their songs. The Supreme Court held that when a film producer commissions a composer or lyricist for valuable consideration to compose for the film, the producer becomes the first owner of the copyright in the music and lyrics as incorporated in the film, under provisos (b) and (c) to section 17, and so needs no licence from IPRS to exhibit it. The composer retains rights only if there is a contract reserving them.

Krishna Iyer J., concurring, regretted the outcome for creative artists. He observed that music was a creative product with a separate identity, and suggested that the law should recognise the contribution of composers and lyricists, a suggestion Parliament took up thirty-five years later.

4. The 2012 amendment: royalty rights for authors

The amendment addressed the problem the industry had made of IPRS. The main changes are:

• A proviso to section 17 says that, for any work incorporated in a film, provisos (b) and (c) do not affect the right of the author in the underlying literary or musical work. The producer owns the film, not the song as a separate work.
• New provisos in section 18(1): the author of a literary or musical work included in a film or sound recording cannot assign or waive the right to receive royalties, to be shared equally with the assignee, for any use of the work other than communication of the film in a cinema hall. The right can pass only to legal heirs or to a copyright society for collection.
• Section 19, sub-sections (8) to (10), says an assignment contrary to these terms is void, and an assignment does not affect the author’s right to an equal share of royalties.
• Assignment of a right in a mode or medium not existing or not in commercial use at the date of assignment requires express reference (proviso to section 18(1)).

5. Joint authorship

Section 2(z) defines a work of joint authorship as one produced by the collaboration of two or more authors in which the contribution of one is not distinct from the contribution of the others. Three conditions follow from the definition and the case law: a contribution of expression (not ideas only), collaboration with a common design, and contributions that cannot be separated. If the contributions are separable (a song’s lyrics and music), each is a separate work.

English law requires a significant creative contribution to the expression: Kogan v. Martin (Court of Appeal, 2019) rejected a rigid test and held that contributions must be assessed in the context of the collaboration, and that one person may be a joint author without holding the pen. US law adds an intention to be joint authors (Childress v. Taylor, 2d Cir. 1991). Indian courts have generally refused joint authorship to a person who only supplied ideas or material, consistent with R.G. Anand.

6. Ownership after first ownership

• Assignment (section 18): only in writing, signed by the assignor (section 19). Future works may be assigned, taking effect when they come into existence.
• Testamentary disposition (section 20): a bequest of a manuscript or unpublished artistic work passes the copyright unless the will says otherwise.
• Relinquishment (section 21): the author may give up rights by notice to the Registrar or public notice.
• Licence does not transfer ownership; see the note on assignment and licensing.

Moral rights in section 57 remain with the author even after assignment. That is the sharpest statement of the difference between author and owner.

How this is examined

The 2025 question invites the structure: definition of author, general rule of first ownership, exceptions with the contract of service distinction, IPRS, the 2012 amendment, joint authorship, and moral rights as what the author keeps. Close with an evaluation: Indian law now separates economic ownership (which follows investment) from remuneration and moral interests (which follow authorship).