Any intellectual property, which has been created by the creative skills and talent of a person, needs protection from stealing and sabotage.
Since creations of the mind, such as a concept for a book, a song, a new movie, etc. can be copied and replicated easily, special intellectual property rights exist for them, which helps the creator to protect them.
Copyright is one such right provided to the creators by the law, which comes under intellectual property rights under India’s Constitution.
Besides copyright, the other types of intellectual properties protected by law are patents, trademark, geographical indications, and industrial design.
Trade secrets are also a type of intellectual property, but in India, there are no laws to protect them, and the authorities are discussing the issue.
Assume there is an author who creates a fiction novel related to aliens and life in the Universe. The author contacts a publication house with the manuscript but gets rejected. Next week, the author finds that the publication house has stolen the concept and announced their next book based on the same vision and ideas.
If that book is not copyrighted, then the author won’t be able to do anything about this intellectual robbery.
But if the book is copyrighted, then that publisher can be sued, and financial compensation can be demanded.
In this article, we will share how to get a copyright and what are Types of Copyright available in India.
We will also share the Importance of Copyright in Business and tell you about the Advantages of Copyright and some disadvantages.
Types Of Copyright
In India, the copyright for any work is protected by The Copyright Act 1957, which was amended by the Copyright Amendment Act 2012.
The following types of copyright provisions exist under this law:
Literary Works:
This copyright protects the creator of all literary and written works such as books, articles, scripts, research papers, plays, novels, etc.
The duration of the copyright for literary works is the author’s lifetime, plus 60 years after he or she dies.
Dramatic Works:
The creations and innovations under dramatic work (plays, drama) are protected by copyright in India. This includes all recitation pieces, such as the play arrangement, choreography, dialogues, screenplay, and more.
Artistic Works:
The works of art created by an artist are protected under copyright laws in India. This can include graphics, photographs, maps, sculptures, paintings, caricatures, cartoons, and more.
Software:
When a programmer creates software or a program using his original ideas and concepts, then that software and program and even the algorithm are protected by copyright laws. Technically, this is covered under literary works since a program is basically a hand-written code.
Musical Works:
Copyright laws protect all works of music. It works in two ways: The lyrics of the song are protected under Literary works, but the music tone or the notation is protected under Music works.
Sound Recording
India’s copyright laws also protect the sound recordings made by a creator. Both musical and non-musical sound recordings are protected here. Examples being speech, podcasts, soundtracks, interviews, and more.
Movies
Since a cinematographic work is a combination of both visual and audio mediums, copyright laws protect the movies as a final product.
This includes the story, lyrics, script, screenplay, and the concept under literary works; music, recordings, notations, and songs under musical works. In fact, a movie without any music is also considered a movie and protected under copyright laws.
These types of copyright can be made and claimed by visiting the Govt website.
How To Get A Copyright
This section will share how to get a copyright for any intellectual property: for example, How to Copyright a Logo?
The first step is to visit the official website of copyright registration in India and pull out Form IV, which needs to be filled correctly.
As per Schedule 2 of the Copyright Act, there is a fee applicable, depending on the types of copyright being requested. More details on the fees are available here.
After the form has been submitted to the Registrar, they will wait for 30 days for any 3rd party objection. After that, an examiner and a scrutineer will cross-check the application before approving the copyright.
Importance of Copyright In Business
Although copyright is mainly used for artistic and literary works, there is the immense importance of copyright in business as well. For example, a software which a company has created. Or the emails, documents, training manuals, confidential information, business model, etc. which has been built from scratch by a business.
These can be copyrighted and protected to stop stealing and misuse.
Advantages Of Copyright
- There exists a public record once a work has been copyrighted.
- Reserves all the rights of usage and monetization to the creator. If any one steals a copyrighted work, then they will have to pay for it, dearly.
- Stop replication and duplication of artistic work.
- Enables proper commercialization of the work.
- Transfer of ownership becomes smooth.
Disadvantages Of Copyright
While patents protect the idea of a work, copyright needs tangible proof of the work to get protection, and this is one of the significant disadvantages of copyright. Hence, an author may be able to get his book copyrighted, but for protecting the ideas mentioned in the book, he/she may have to file for a patent.
Besides, there are tons of angles and perspectives when it comes to copyright. If you are searching for how to get a copyright or how to copyright a logo, then MSMEx can help you right away.
Visit here, If you want to What is the meaning of Trademark & What is the Trademark Registration Process.
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Book an appointment at MSMEx, and clear all doubts related to intellectual property rights, commercialization of a concept, marketing of your ideas, and more!