Infringement of copyright and difference between direct copying & indirect copying

Copyright infringement usually refers to the unauthorized use of someone’s copyrighted work. Hence, it is the utilization of someone’s copyrighted work without prior permission and thereby infringing certain rights of the copyright holder, such as the right to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the protected work. Section 51 of the Copyright Act provides as to when a copyright is infringed. According to Section 51 of the Act, Copyright is deemed to be infringed if:

• A person without obtaining the prior permission of the copyright holder does any act which only the copyright holder is authorised to work.\
• A person permits the place to be used for communication, selling, distribution or exhibition of an infringing work unless he was not aware or has no reason to believe that such permission will result in the violation of copyright.
• A person imports infringing copies of a work
• A person without obtaining the authority from the copyright holder reproduces his work in any form.

A person can infringe the copyright directly or indirectly. Direct infringement of copyright occurs when a person, without your permission, does or authorises any act comprised in your copyright. On the contrast, indirect infringement occurs where a person deals with materials that infringe copyright, rather than copying the articles themselves.

Basically, it is the difference between any person making copies of prints and any person selling copies of same prints – then in the case, the first involves direct infringement and the second involves indirect infringement.

Direct Infringement

You will directly infringe copyright in case you substantially reproduce a work, authorise a copyright infringement or unconsciously copy the work.

• Substantially reproducing another person’s work: It is when a person does an act exclusively comprised of a person’s copyright. For example, if one copies someone’s poems onto your blog without permission.
• Authorising copyright infringement: It is when you allow a person to infringe copyright. For example, if you want to save money while buying Christmas cards, so you take a person’s designer Christmas card to the printer’s shop and ask them to reprint the card in bulk.
• Unconscious copying: One can also directly infringe copyright without the intention of doing it.

Indirect infringement

If anyone deals with an article or material which infringes copyright, such as by selling or importing the product, then one is involved in the indirect infringement. For example, if you import and sell a scarf from China, which reproduces a designer’s brand, you may be infringing copyright of the product.