Did you know that in certain situations copyright can be infringed? If not there’s no need to worry as we’ve got you covered. If you wish to know more about the different exceptions to copyright infringement, keep reading.
What is Copyright?
A copyright is a type of intellectual property safeguard. All proprietors are entitled to this right under Indian law for their original works. It is applied to all creative works, whether literary, musical, artistic, dramatic, cinematographic or sound recordings. Computer programs, literature, and other copyright literary work are some examples of copyright. A proprietor can safeguard his work from being duplicated or reproduced without permission under Section 13 of the Copyright Act 1957. Copyrighted works are protected, and only the creators have the right to use them. These rights can be transferred for adaptation, replication, publication, translation, and so on.
Benefits and Prerequisites
It can be used to safeguard a work from local or global infringements. To register for a copyright, an applicant’s work must be original and not a copy of someone else’s work. The owner can register their work for copyright by applying for online copyright registration.
The author and their work are legally protected by copyright. Similarly, by using copyright, the owner can prevent his work from being utilised illegally by others. Since the world regards copyright for artistic work as intangible properties, they are assets that benefit the owners financially.
Copyright Infringement
Copyright infringement occurs when one’s copyrighted work is used by someone else without permission. We can often see people copying movies, music, etc., without authorised permission. When an owner gets his work copyrighted, he can easily get compensation for having his work infringed. This is because a person who copies or uses the original work without permission can be sued in a court of law through a lawsuit and be made to provide compensation to the original owner of the work. If anyone wants to use any of the copyrighted work, then they can get permission from the owner. In some cases, they can also pay to buy the copyrighted work from the owner.
Any use of a copyrighted work without the owner’s consent constitutes a copyright violation. When someone purposefully or inadvertently duplicates or uses another person’s work without giving them credit, it is considered infringement. Primary and secondary infringement are the two categories into which infringement is typically divided.
Primary infringing behaviour is the actual act of copying, while secondary infringing behaviour includes unauthorised transactions including importing, selling, and other activities. While awareness of the violation may or may not be present in the instance of primary infringement, it is there in the case of secondary infringement.
Limitations and Exceptions in Laws
In general, limitations and exceptions to copyright are subject to a 3 step test set out in the Berne Convention for the protection of literary and artistic works. The Berne Convention provides that a limitation or exception to the copyright is permissible only if it.
- It Covers special cases.
- Does not clash with the normal exploitation of the work.
- Does not arbitrarily bias the legitimate interests of the author.
Do note that standard limitations and exceptions are different from country to country in their scope and number.
The Doctrine of Fair Dealing
The term ‘Fair Dealing’ is a legal doctrine that allows an individual to make restricted use of a work without the permission of the owner.
The fair nature of the dealing is mainly based on the four factors. They are
- The purpose of use
- The kind of work
- The amount of work used
- The effect of the use of work on the original
Whether an individual’s use of the copyrighted material is ‘fair; would depend wholly upon the circumstances and facts of a given case. There is only a small difference between ‘fair dealing’ and infringement. No specific criteria in India define how many words and sections can be utilised without the author’s permission. We can only state that the extracted piece should not interfere with the author’s principal interest. As a result, fair dealing is an important constraint on the copyright owner’s special right. However, the court recognises the economic impact on the copyright owner. Where the economic impact is minor, fair dealing is considered appropriate.
What Constitutes Copyright Infringement Exception
In India, Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957: https://www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/1367?sam_handle=123456789/1362, provides for some acts that do not constitute a copyright infringement or are deemed a copyright infringement exception. Specifically, fair dealing of a literary, musical, theatrical, or artistic work that is not a computer program. The following as well are exceptions to infringement:
- Private use along with research
- Review or criticism
- Reporting present events in any print media
- By a cinematograph films copyright or broadcast or by any means of photographs
- Reproduction of the judicial proceeding or of a report of the judicial proceeding
- Publication or reproduction of the musical, literary, dramatic, or artistic work in any work prepared by the secretariat of the legislature
- The reproduction of any literary, musical work or dramatic in a certified copy made or supplied in lines with any law for the time being in force
- The recitation or reading in public of any reasonable extract from the published literary or dramatic work
- The publication in the collection, primarily composed of non-copyright matter, is bonafide and intended for the sake of educational institutions.
- The making of sound if made with or by the copyright license or consent of the owner of the right in the work.
