Rights Conferred by Copyright

Introduction

According to the Copyright Act, 1957, 'copyright' means the exclusive right to do or to authorise doing of any of the acts as mentioned the Section 14 of this very Act or any substantial part thereof.

Rights

1) Statutory right- Copyright in a work is a creation of statute. Law recognises the existence of such right. Section 14 of the Copyright Act,1957 defines copyright and mentions the rights to the owner of such right or whomever he authorises to do so in relation with -

a) literary, dramatic or musical work, not being a computer programme- 

i) to reproduce the work in any material form storing of it by electronic means;

ii) to issue copies of the work to the public not being the ones already in circulation;

iii) to perform work in public or communicate to the public;

iv) make cinematographic film or sound recording of such work;

v) to translate such work;

vi) to adapt such work;

vii) to do any act specified above from (i) to iv) concerning translation or adaptation

b) computer programme- 

i) to do anything as mentioned above 

ii) to sell or give on commercial rental or offer for sale any copy of computer programme

c) artistic work -

i) to reproduce the work in any material form

ii) the same as for literary, music or dramatic work

d) cinematographic film- 

i) to make a copy of the film including a photograph of any image or storing it in any medium by electronic means

ii) to sell or give on commercial rentals or offer for sale or rental

iii) communicate it to public

e) sound recording- 

i) to make any other sound recording embodying it

ii) sell or give on commercial rentals or offer to sale or rental

iii) to communicate it to the public

2) Negative right- Copyright also confers negative right. Negative right in the sense that prevents others from exploiting the work of the author without the consent or licence of the author for their benefit. 

3) Multiple rights- Copyright is a bundle of rights which exist and can be exploited independently. The nature of these multiple right depend upon categories of work as mentioned in Section 14 of this Act. For example, literary, music and dramatic work are grouped while definitely copyright. Rights like artistic works are distinct from cinematographic films and sound recording. 

4) Economic rights- The exploitation of the work of the author by exercising the rights mentioned in Section 14 may bring economic benefit. Therefore, rights conferred in Section 14 are economic rights as well. An author may exploit the work himself or authorise others to exploit one or more of the rights for a consideration that can be in the form of royalty, which is a lump sum payment.

5) Moral rights- Section 57 of the Copyright Act, 1957, deals with authors special rights. Moral right derives from French expression 'Droit moral'. Moral rights are neither opposite of immoral rights nor legal rights. Some moral rights are as follows-

a) Droit de divulgation ( Divulgation right)- It refers to the right of the author to publish a work or withholding it from dissemination. It is the right of the author to decide whether to publish or not to publish his work.

b) Droit au respect de l'oeuvre ( Integrity right)- It is the most important right. It refers to the right of the author to prevent destruction, alteration and other actions that can damage the author's reputation.

c) Droit a la paternite ( Attribution right)- It refers to rights of the author to claim authorship of an exhibited work or published work.

d) Droit de retrait ( Retraction right)- It refers to the right of the author to withdraw his work to prevent the distribution of his published work if it no longer represents views of the author.