To encourage authors and creators in the country, it is essential to provide protection to their creativity and work. In doing so copyrights play a very crucial role. Read this article to know if copyright registration is mandatory in India.
Introduction: Is Copyright Registration Mandatory in India
The Copyright Act, 1957 protects the owners of the creator or author the right to exercise exclusive rights over their trademarks. Such rights can be exercised either by the owner or any person licensed duly by the owner of the copyright. Copyright registration is something that protects the work of the person. However, the only drawback is that it does not protect the ideas. Know is copyright registration mandatory in India in this blog.
What Is Meant by the Registration of Copyrights?
Registration of copyright means the entry of the work in the copyright registered maintained by the registrar of copyrights under the Copyright Act of 1957. However, it is not mandatory to register a trademark. But it is advisable that you register your trademark so that you can use the registration as evidence in case a dispute arises in the court based on one’s creation. Registration also ensures that your work is not replicated by others.
According to the Courts, Is Copyright Registration Mandatory in India?
There has been a lot of confusion regarding is copyright registration mandatory in India. Following are the learnings from various court judgments about is Copyright Registration mandatory in India:
- The Bombay High Court in Dhiraj Dharmadas Dewani vs Sonal Info Systems Pvt Ltd. held that an owner must have a copyright registration if he wants to invoke any criminal or civil remedy under the Copyright Act.
- In other words, to challenge an infringement of copyright, the same must be registered in the copyright office
- The court clarified that the registration of the copyright is not mandatory to receive protection, as it automatically gets protection when the work is done
- The jurisprudence holds that the ownership rests with the person claiming to be the original owner, in the case of unregistered copyrighted work. If any dispute arises, the burden of proof is on the person who disputes the claimant’s ownership. That is why copyright seems to be an important form of IPR that can be enjoyed by a rural artisan or a poet equally
- Though there are chances that the registered copyright also can be sold, reproduced, or performed, registered copyrights have lesser chances of being compromised when compared to the unregistered ones
- In the case of software words, however, it is suggested to get the copyright registered because proving ownership in such cases can be challenging
- The Bombay High Court examined various decisions, TRIPS Agreement, and the Berne Convention to reiterate that the registration of copyright is not mandatory for enforcement.
Why You Should Register Your Copyright?
The objective of registration is to prove the ownership of a person over the original work, and their exclusive right over it. Protecting your work from being copied or reproduced by others, becomes easier when you have your copyright registered. Also, the risk of copying increases when the work is not registered, and this leads to the following limitations:
Suit for Infringement
You cannot file a suit for infringement if your copyright is not registered. The registration of your copyright is a prerequisite under the Copyrights Act. It serves as prima facie evidence of the original work. Therefore, in order to file such a suit, you have to have your copyright registered with the Copyrights Office.
- It becomes easier to raise a loan on the basis of the work if you have a registered copyright
- You cannot stop anyone from infringing the copyrights unless the work is registered.
Damages of the Suit
The owner of the copyright only gets for the actual loss and the amount gained by that person who used the work, in the case of an unregistered trademark. But in the case of a registered trademark, the copyright owner gets the statutory damages along with the attorney’s fee that was paid. Thus this saves a substantial amount for the registered copyright owner.
The Final Verdict – Is Copyright Registration mandatory in India
There have been a few cases where certain courts have held that registration of copyright is mandatory for the purposes of enforcement. However, it has been held by most of the courts in India, that the registration of copyrights is optional and not mandatory. But such conflicting judgments bring ambiguity and uncertainty to this crucial issue. Justice G.S Patel has however cleared all the uncertainty in this regard, with this judgment.
Though it is not mandatory to register a copyright in India, it is advisable to do so in order to save oneself from the court procedures in case the question of ownership arises. You can register your copyright yourself, or hire experts like Vakilsearch to do this for you at an affordable cost. The most important thing is the creativity of a person, which has to be protected. The creative mind works better if the innovation is better protected.
Hope this blog regarding Is Copyright Registration mandatory in India was helpful.
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