Dr. Meghna Dhar
23rd April is observed as World Book Day and Copyright Day .It is also known as International Day of the Book or World Book Day. Yearly events are organized on April 23rd, by various organizations and libraries to promote reading, publishing and copyright. The intellectual excellence and artistic creations determine the quality of the culture of an age. This quality is greatly affected in turn by the appreciation, the protection and the encouragement given to their creators. Literature, whether it is a scientific treatise or belles-letters; art or an advertising poster; music, whether it is a symphony or the latest popular song, may all be copyrighted. The law of copyright is thus the law that helps to shape the culture of our modern societies, for it is a vital factor in determining what books we read, what art we enjoy, what music we hear. Without the protection that copyright gives to the creator and the entrepreneur, there would be little incentive to create and disseminate the works that forms the repository of our learning and culture. Broadly speaking, by copyright is meant an exclusive, legally secured, right to publish and sell the substance and form of a literary, musical, dramatic, and artistic works. Writers and artists contribute immeasurably to man’s knowledge and to the quality of human life; their works, therefore, must be protected from infringe-ment. Copyright is an exclusive and assignable legal right granted by law given to the originator for a specified number of years to produce copies, print, publish, perform, film, or record and to control an original literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc. Works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are
Copyright Day 23 April
protected for the lifetime of the author or creator .The duration of copyright is not fixed. For example, in our country the copyright of a book remains in force till 60 years after the death of the author. It varies from country to country. Infringement of copyright is but a common phenomenon. In photocopying shops, books after books are photocopied at the request of students in flagrant infringement of copyrights. Apart from this, dishonest publishers print books in great demand without informing the authors. These types of books are called as pirated books. Copyright safeguards the interests of publishers and other processors who transform and package the works of authors so as to present them to the public. It sees that they must be afforded the economic returns that will enable them to perform their functions.
In essence, copyright is a legal device designed to provide the opportunity for economic reward that enables authors to expend their time and talents to creating the works of literature, music and art, and enables publishers to invest their resources and efforts in making the authors’ works available to the public. Copyright seeks to achieve this end by giving to authors, who may grant to publisher; or other producers, broad rights, of control over the various modes of reproduction of their works or at least, the right to exact payment for their reproduction.
What is Copyright?
Under the Copyright Act, 1709 (enacted in the reign of Queen Anne), copyright meant “the sole right and liberty of printing; but under the subsequent Literary Copyright Act, 1842, it was extended to include copying by other means than the press and the right of multiplying copies by printing, including the right to publish and sell. Obviously, “copyright”, before the enactment of the Imperial Copyright Act of 1911, meant the sole exclusive right of multiplying copies of a book by printing or otherwise and ii extended throughout the British Dominions. It did not include the performing right in dramatic and musical works.
In 1911, the law of copyright was codified in England and was made applicable to India as well. Under the provision of this Act: the Indian Legislature was empowered to modify or alter its provisions by the requisite legislation. By virtue of this power, the Governor-General of India enacted the Indian Copyright Act of 1914 (Act III of 1914) with certain modifications in the Act of 1911. After India became independent, this Act was suitably revised and became the Copyright Act, 1957.
The Copyright Act, 1957 came into effect from January 1958. This Act has been amended in 1983, 1984, 1992, 1994, 1999, 2010 and 2012. The amendment of 1994 has been the most substantial. Prior to the Act of 1957, the law of copyrights in our country was governed by the Copyright Act of 1914. This Act was essentially the extension of the British Copyright Act, 1911 to India. Even the Copyright Act, 1957 borrowed extensively, from the new Copyright Act of the United Kingdom of 1956. The Copyright Act, 1957 continues with the common law traditions. Developments elsewhere have brought about certain degree of convergence in copyright regimes in the developed world.
The Indian Copyright Act today is compliant with most international conventions and treaties in the field of copyrights. India is a member of the Berne Convention of 1886 (as modified at Paris in 1971), the Universal Copyright Convention of 1951 and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement of 1995. Though India is not a member of the Rome Convention of 1961, the Copyright Act, 1957 is fully compliant with the Rome Convention provisions.
Two new treaties, collectively termed as Internet Treaties, were negotiated in 1996 under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). These treaties are called the ‘WIPO Copyrights Treaty (WCT)’ and the ‘WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT)’. These treaties were negotiated essentially to provide for protection of the rights of copyright holders, performers and producers of phonograms in the Internet and digital era. India is not a member of these treaties; amendments are being mooted to make Act in compliance with the above treaties in order to provide protection to copyright in the digital era .
Utility in Libraries
The Act is of great use in libraries. The Act is a powerful reference source. It is useful both for the library staff and for the readers. In a library lots of photocopies are made. The library staff must know thoroughly about the infringement of copyright. If a reader is refused photocopies of certain copyright material, he may ask for explanation. At that time, the Act will be of great use. In addition, a reader may ask various questions about copyright. For answering those questions a copy of the Copyright Act should be kept in the library.
The Indian Copyright Act, 1957 which came into force on January 21, 1958 was amended in August, 1983 with the specific purposes of (a) incorporating the provisions of the Paris Text of 1971 of the Berene Convention concerning the grant of compulsory licences for translations and reproduction of foreign works for required educational purposes; (b) providing adequate production to author’s rights (Sec. 19 A); and (c) removing administrative drawbacks and other lacunae experienced in the administration of the copyright Act, 1957. The copyright (Amendment) Act, 1983 came into force w.e.f. 9 August, 1984.
The Copyright Act was further amended in 1984 in order to check the problem of wide-spread piracy in India. Provisions have been made in it to combat piracy by making punishment for various offences more stringent. Infringement of Copyright has been made a cognizable offence. The Act provides for enhanced punishment for the infringement of copyright, namely imprisonment up to 3 years, with a minimum punishment of six months, and a fine up to Rs. 2 lakh, with a minimum of Rs. 50,000. The Act came into force w.e.f., 8th October, 1984.
Copyright and Challenges of Modern Technology
Reprography
How far is the reproduction of documents or parts thereof permissible through reprographic techniques under the Copyright Act. The Indian Copyright Act grants exclusive right over his work to the author during his life-time and 50 years after his death. But under the heading of “fair dealing” and copying by libraries, documentation and information centres under specified conditions, making of photocopies and micro-recording of documents for the purpose of research and private study does not tantamount to be an infringement of the copyright. The specified conditions are that the copy will be used for private study and research and that one copy is supplied to one person. Also, that the cost of copy must be paid by the recipient, who will sign a declaration that the reprographic copy will be used for personal research. No limitations are proposed on the extent of the reprographic copy, and no declaration is required if the receiving institution is a non-profitable body. Finally, the reprographic copies are not for sale, except at cost price.
Computer
The advent of computer has made remarkable changes in the pattern of information storage and retrieval. Computer enables storage of complete texts of books including encyclopedias, periodicals in the data-base which can be retrieved at the push of button. Computer programme has been accepted as a ‘”work” in the copyright sense and is eligible for protection under the copyright law of a country as “input” to computer is definitely reproduction of the author’s work How can the copyright owner control the use of his work stored in the computer memory is being argued at national and international levels.
Radio / Television
The radio and TV constitute sound and visual-broadcasting by wireless. By and large, the programmes on radio/TV are intended for the national audience of the broadcasting organization. The royalities due to the copyright owners are accordingly determined.
Delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act 1954
To preserve the literary works of a nation ‘Legal Deposit’, variously termed as “Legal Deposit Act”, “Copyright Deposit” Copy tax or Delivery of printed copies has come to stay in most of countries. Of course, this idea owes its origin to the French King, Francis I, who by his ordinance de Montpellier of 1510* made it obligatory on every printer and publisher in the country to send a copy of each newly printed book, free of cost to the Royal- Library. With the passage of time, however, the idea has spread throughout the world and has been cultivated by the Governments for developing their legal deposit/national libraries, and India is no exception. The Delivery of Books (Public Libraries) Act, 1954 was enacted by the Government of India “in order to promote libraries in India and to encourage scholarship, it is considered necessary to build good libraries, and for this purpose, it is desired to acquire not more than four copies of books and publications in India. One set of books so acquired will be deposited in the National Library, Calcutta, and the remaining three sets will be utilized for important Libraries”.
In this Act, the term “book” includes every volume, part or division of a volume in any language and every sheet of music, map, chart or plan separately printed or lithographed. The Act was amended by the Government to include newspapers in 1956 because the newspapers but more so periodicals also contain highly useful nascent information and thought. The public libraries which were granted the privilege of legal deposits by this Act were as under:
* National Library, Kolkata, for the Eastern Region.
* Central Library, Mumbai for Western Region.
* Connemara Public Library, Chennai for Southern Region.
* National Central Library at Delhi for Northern Region. Since this library has not come into existence, this privilege of “copyright” has been conferred on Delhi Public Library, Delhi,
The enactment of the Act proves the sincerity of the Government of India for the development of libraries to emit knowledge and encourage scholarship. The privilege of legal deposit, however, raises two problems. First, because “the dust of today may be the gold of tomorrow” no selection of material received under the right of legal deposit can be practiced, and this raises the problem of storage with sufficient ease of access when items are required. Secondly, there is a conflict between preservation and use. Preservation presupposes that use should not cause deterioration and that the legal deposit material should be used for reference not for loan.
In this context, one is constrained to record that the legal deposit libraries in India suffer from both these problems. There is heavy deluge of Indian publications in these libraries creating organizational problems. The Act has made it obligatory for every publisher to deliver at his own cost four copies of the publication to four libraries within thirty days of its publications. It is, therefore, desired that the provision of the Act be made more stringent so that every publisher may deposit the copies. Lending of legal deposit materials may be discontinued; the alternative is the provision of a photocopy or microfilming service.
(The author is Assistant Professor at University of Jammu, Jammu)
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