What is Copyright?

Copyright is a form of intellectual property. Intellectual property includes copyright, trademark, patent, design and geographical indications. It is governed by the Copyright Act, 1957. Copyright is a form of protection granted under the section 13 of the Copyright Act, 1957, to the creators of original works of authorship such as literary works (including computer programs, tables and compilations including computer databases which may be expressed in words, codes, schemes or in any other form, including a machine-readable medium), dramatic, musical and artistic works, cinematographic films and sound recordings. Further, it safeguards an original work from getting duplicated.One needs to know that only phrases are protected by copyright, not ideas, techniques, methods of operation, or mathematical concepts. It means that Copyright law protects expressions of ideas rather than the ideas themselves.

To sum up, in simple words, it is a bundle of exclusive rights vested in the owner of the copyright granted by Section 14 of the Copyright Act. These rights can be exercised only by the owner of the copyright or by any other person who is duly licensed in this regard by the owner of the copyright. So which rights are guaranteed under the Copyright Act?These rights include the right of adaptation, right of reproduction, right of publication, right to make translations, communication to the public etc. It also covers online works in the digital world.Also, note that the Copyright Act protects two types of rights, which are: a. Economic Rightsb. Moral Rights

The Act also entitles the author or the owner of the copyright to approach the court in case of infringement of copyright. Over the years, the law on copyright has developed and has a rich jurisprudence to support and protect the copyright owners.