Does Copyright automatically protect your Original Works?

June 3, 2021

462 2 minutes read

Do you know that the copyright protects your original works is automatically as soon as it is create? Yes, that’s correct. Copyright automatically comes into existence as soon as an original work is create in India. Copyright gives the owner the exclusive right to use, reproduce and sell the original work.

The focus in copyright is on the originality in the expression of ideas. There is no mandatory requirement to get your copyright register under the Copyright Act, 1957. Section 51 of the Copyright Act, 1957 which deals with infringement of copyright does not restrict itself to works that have been register with the Registrar of Copyright.

Registration of copyright is optional but recommended as a registration certification serves as evidence of creation as well as ownership of the copyright work and can entitle you to claim damages arising out of infringement of your copyright. Copyright registration is an acknowledgement of your right in an original work. There are various other benefits of obtaining registration of your copyright and therefore, it is highly advisable.

Since copyright comes into existence automatically when an original work is create, there is no need for registration to protect your original work. Having said that, registration of copyright is valuable as it is a declaration to the world that you are the owner of that original work. However, securing registration of your copyright can seem to be a daunting task and that is why it is best to consult copyright lawyers of India.

Protecting your work under copyright law depends on a number of factors-

Copyright protects expressions of ideas, not the ideas themselves. Ideas and non fixed expressions are not protect.
Copyright protects original and creative work. The author should have created work himself/herself independently and it must possess at least some minimum degree of creativity in it.
Make sure that your work is in tangible form or in published form. If it is not publish, then proof of creation must be provide in tangible form. The original work has to be fix in order to be eligible for protection under copyright laws.
In India, copyright is granted for the lifetime of author plus 60 years.

Every author or creator of the original work has to decide whether they want to register their copyright. In today’s era, copying, ripping off, stealing, pirating and using original works illegally is very common. It is very easy for someone to copy your original work and use as their own. Therefore, it is important for you to prove that the copyright is your original work.

Let’s understand this with an example, Mr. X created a website, wrote his own original content on his website and uploaded all the content on the website. After a few days he noticed that someone else, say Mr. Y, copied X’s content and put on his own website and marked it as “Copyright 2021”. Now in such a situation, how can X prove that it is the owner of the content which Y has copied? In the absence of copyright registration, it is really difficult for X to prove that he created the content. As X is the original creator of the work, it cannot allow Y to take credit for the content.

Another way of declaring your ownership over a copyright is to mark your original work with the copyright symbol, the capital letter “C” in a circle followed by your name and the year in which the work was published, © Jane chris 2021. However, again this is not mandatory but you should seek copyright registration service in India for the aforementioned reasons.