Under the Indian Copyright Act 1957, copyright protects the social, economic and interests of the author. The copyright owner is entitled to the following exclusive rights.

Right Of Reproduction

The Copyright Act states that no third party can reproduce or make copies of the original work or part of the work unless the copyright owner has granted permission to do so. It restricts reproduction in the form of printing an edition of a work and recording sound and films.

Right Of Adaptation

The copyright creator can choose to use his work whichever way he wants. That is, he can create derivatives from the existing work or prepare a new work in the same form or different form based on the original work. The following actions define the term “adaptation” as per the Copyright Act :

• Converting plays, movies, choreographic shows and other dramatic works into non-dramatic or literary works like poems, novels and books
• Converting literary works and artistic works like sculpture, photography, paintings, drawings, etc into dramatic work
• Modification or alteration of dramatic and non-dramatic work
• Pictorial depiction of the work
• Transcription of musical work

Right Of Communication To The Public

Copyright owners can make their work available to the public by means of broadcast or wireless diffusion whether in any or more of the forms of signs or visual images.

Right Of Public Performance

The owners of musical work and artistic work can perform their works publicly. For example, a musician can play his piece or an actor can perform in his play for the masses. The artists can also choose to broadcast their performance in the digital platforms.

Right Of Paternity And Integrity

The Copyright Law grants the moral rights of paternity and integrity to the creators. The right of paternity or attribution means that the creator can claim authorship over his work and have it attributed to him. That is, whoever wishes to reproduce or adapt the original work has to give due credit to the author or else the author has the right to file a suit against the maker. For example, if a person wants to make a movie out of a book, he/she must duly acknowledge the author. Right of integrity protects the right of the holder and lets him claim damages when someone distorts, mutilates or modifies his work causing disreputation to his name and work.

Right Of Distribution

The copyright holder may distribute his work in any form through reproducing, selling, renting, leasing or lending. He can also assign specific rights to a person to either copyright the work partially or wholly or subject to certain limitations.

Getting copyrights for books, music pieces, movies, photography, software programs, etc. gives the author the following benefits:

• When the work gets copyrighted, it is made available free on the public records, thereby creating the ownership.
• In the case of copyright infringement, the authors can sue the infringers to secure their work and claim statutory damages
• The owners can record the registration with Indian customs and prevent importing duplicate copies
• Any by-product or derivative can be made from the original registered work
• The rights can be passed or sold to third-party with no objection
• Copyright protection enables the owners to exhibit their work

Personal Details

• Name, Address & Nationality of the Applicant
• Name, address and nationality of the author of the work
• Nature of the applicant’s interest in the copyright – whether the applicant is the author of the work or the representative of the author
• Copies of the original work
• ID proof of the owner and Incorporation certificate if it is for business

Nature Of The Work

• Class & Description of the Work
• Title of the Work
• Language of the Work
• Date of Publication – Publication in internal magazines, like a company magazine or a research paper submitted to a professor does not count as publication.