Why You Should Get Your Work Copyrighted?

People believe that they cannot protect their work online from being plagiarised, but this is not true. A copyright would protect your work from being replicated by anyone else, whether it is online or offline. A copyright protects all kinds of work from being stolen or redistributed and is the right of the creator to allow or deny the creation of copies or sales of their work. If a client copyrights their work, no other person can imitate, copy or distribute that particular work. It gives the client complete right over their work. Copyright registration in India grants you your copyright for a term of 60 years.

Copyright can be established on all works of art, including books, movies, paintings, literary work, fashion designs, books, manuscripts, films, training manuals, software, etc. Copyrights are protected under the Copyright Act of 1957, although there have been several amendments to the act.

One of the most important aspects to keep in mind while applying for copyright is to find out if your work qualifies for copyright. For your work to be copyrighted, it has to be completely original and not inspired or copied from anyone else’s work. It has to be a story, and not the story idea or the topic of a story, and single words cannot be copyrighted. If anyone takes inspiration from the idea of a story, it does not count as replicating another person’s work.

To get a copyright for your intellectual property, you’ll need the following:

·         Candidate’s Details: Details like their name, sex, age, nationality, and address would be needed.

·         Soft Copies: The client has to submit their relevant work in soft copy format, for example, jpeg for photographs and if a client wishes to get a copyright for their software, they must submit the required CDs and DVDs.

·         Acquiring a trademark certificate: If the client wishes to acquire copyright for artistic work, they will need to acquire a clear copyright search certificate from the trademark office before submitting the application.

·         Power of Attorney: If the client is applying for copyright through a firm, it is imperative that the client signs a power of attorney.

Not everyone goes for copyrighting their work but it is always advisable for one to do so, because it gives the client sole authority over their work, and no one by law is allowed to replicate that work. It ensures safety for the client’s work for a minimum period of time. It also grants the client protection from any kind of theft of their work, including branding, logos or redistribution of their work passed off as belonging to someone else.

There are certain documents a client will need, to ensure that their copyright registration goes as smoothly as possible.

·         NOC (No objection certificate) from the author of the work, if the author and the applicant are different people.

·         3 copies of the work

·         Special power of attorney

·         NOC from the publisher, if the publisher and applicant are different.

·         TM- 60 (NOC from trademark office)

·         Name, address and nationality proof of the author

·         Year and country of first publication

·         If the work is an adaptation of any previous work that already exists.

·         Authorisation if any

·         Language of the work

·         Title of the work

Once a client has all of these documents sorted, they can easily apply for copyright registration.

The fee for each copyright varies, depending on the type of work that needs to be copyrighted. The starting fee is generally Rs 500, which is set by the Government of India. The professional fee varies and can start from Rs 1500 depending on the type of work and the firm involved.

Once you apply for copyright registration, the whole process can take 8-9 months. This also depends on whether or not the copyright office finds any discrepancies, in which case, it would obviously take longer.

Here is the step by step lowdown of what actually happens when you file for copyright registration:

·         The application is submitted for each piece of work that the client wishes to get copyrighted. This application must be in the format of Form IV and should include the required fees as well.

·         The applicant and the advocate with the power of attorney must each sign the application.

·         Once the application is received, the registrar issues a diary number.

·         A waiting time of thirty days is issued in case any objections are raised.

·         In case no objection is found, the registrar moves ahead with the application. After this, the Copyright Office issues the Registration Certificate or the Extracts of Register of Copyrights.

·         In case any discrepancy is found by the scrutinizer, a discrepancy letter is issued to the applicant, to which the applicant must reply and then sit in for a hearing.

·         After the hearing the application is either rejected or approved by the registrar and the letter intimating the same is sent to the applicant.

There are several benefits of getting your work copyrighted in India.

·         Legal Protection: The owner of the work, gets legal protection in case of disputes regarding the ownership of the work.

·         Restrict unauthorised use: Establishes the owner’s seriousness about copyright infringement and makes sure there is no unauthorized usage of that particular piece of work.

·         Branding and Goodwill: A copyright creates your brand and ensures a sense of originality for your work. This can be good for marketing as it makes the customer believe that what they are purchasing is genuine.

·         Global Protection: Any work that is copyrighted in India, gives the owner of the work protection against copyright infringement in many countries and vice versa.

·         Publicity of the owner: Once the client’s work is registered it becomes available in the database of copyright registry. It also limits the use of the work without the permission of the owner.

We hope that simplifies the process of copyright registration in India, which can be a slightly daunting process but is really important if you are serious about protecting your work, online or otherwise from plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious crime and the criminal can only be charged if your work is registered as your copyright. 

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Created on Feb 20th 2020 03:53. Viewed 400 times.

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