Copyright (Amendment) Bill grants joint ownership to film producers and directors

Who it concerns: Authors, performers, producers, principal directors, copyright societies, non-profit libraries, educational institutions, and organizations registered under the Income-tax Act and the Persons With Disabilities Act.

What the bill does

• Cinematograph films are deemed works of joint authorship, with the producer and principal director treated as joint first owners of copyright.
• The definition of 'communication to the public' is expanded to include making works available for enjoyment at places and times chosen individually, regardless of whether anyone actually sees or hears them.
• A new definition of 'visual recording' is added to cover moving images stored by electronic means.
• Authors of literary or musical works in films or sound recordings cannot assign the right to receive royalties for uses other than as part of the film or recording, except to legal heirs or copyright societies.
• Assignments of copyright to media or modes of exploitation that did not exist at the time of the assignment are invalid unless specifically referred to.
• A compulsory license mechanism is introduced for organizations working for the benefit of persons with disabilities to publish copyrighted works.
• The duration of copyright for a principal director in a cinematograph film is set until seventy years from the beginning of the calendar year next following the year of publication.
• Section 25 of the principal Act is omitted.

Also in the document

• The Bill updates references from the Designs Act, 1911 to the Designs Act, 2000.
• It introduces a statutory license for cover versions of sound recordings.
• It specifies that copies of works published outside India with the author's permission and imported into India are not deemed infringing copies.