Question

You are the editor of a publishing company and are careful to register all of your books with the U.S. Copyright Office. One of your star authors, Jackie Yolan, just published his latest crime mystery, “Seven Ways to Get Away.” The new book is popular in the United States, and you are interested in distributing the novel abroad. You soon learn that a company in India is publishing a very similar book in the Hindi language. You believe the book will be as popular in India as it is in the United States. You believe that the Indian publication would violate your U.S. copyright rights, but are not sure about your international rights. Discuss whether your publication is protected in India and why.

Answer 1

Copyright is a form of intellectual property protection granted under Indian law to the creators of original works of authorship such as literary works (including computer programs, tables, and compilations including computer databases which may be expressed in words, codes, schemes or in any other form, including a machine-readable medium), dramatic, musical and artistic works, cinematographic films and sound recordings.
Copyright law protects expressions of ideas rather than the ideas themselves. Under section 13 of the Copyright Act 1957, copyright protection is conferred on literary works, dramatic works, musical works, artistic works, cinematograph films, and sound recordings. For example, books, computer programs are protected under the Act as literary works.
Copyright refers to a bundle of exclusive rights vested in the owner of copyright by virtue of Section 14 of the Act. These rights can be exercised only by the owner of the copyright or by any other person who is duly licensed in this regard by the owner of the copyright.

However, the government of India passed the International Copyright Order, 1958 whereby any work first published in any country which is a member of the Berne Convention or the UCC will be accorded the same treatment as if it was first published in India.