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Author and Owner Intersection in Sound Recordings in The Copyright Act of India
The present work focuses on the intersection of author and owner concerning sound recordings. The interpretation of copyright law on the author and owner intersection by the Court's are rather varied. It may be because the restricted issues at its hand lead the courts. More particularly, interpretation of provisos (b) and (c) of Section 17 of The Copyright Act, 1957 leads to differing interpretations by the Courts. The present analysis is made by studying three recent judgments to understand the author and owner conflicts of sound recordings.
Keywords
Copyright, Authorship, Ownership, Sound Recordings, Cinematograph Films, Musical Works, Work For Hire, Audio Recording.
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- The Copyright Act, 1957 (Act 14 of 1957) as amended by The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 (India).
- Section 2(d) (v): ―author‖ means in relation to a cinematograph film or sound recording, the producer.
- Section 2(xx) ―sound recording‖ means a recording of sounds from which such sounds may be produced regardless of the medium on which such recording is made or the method by which the sounds are produced.
- Section 2(f) "cinematograph film" means any work of visual recording and includes a sound recording accompanying such visual recording and "cinematograph" shall be construed as including any work produced by any process analogous to cinematography including video films.
- Section 17, First owner of copyright. — Subject to the provisions of this Act, the author of a work shall be the first owner of the copyright therein: Provided that a) in the case of a literary, dramatic or artistic work made by the author in the course of his employment by the proprietor of a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical under a contract of service or apprenticeship, for the purpose of publication in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical, the said proprietor shall, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, be the first owner of the copyright in the work in so far as the copyright relates to the publication of the work in any newspaper, magazine or similar periodical, or to the reproduction of the work for the purpose of its being so published, but in all other respects the author shall be the first owner of the copyright in the work; b) subject to the provisions of clause (a), in the case of a photograph taken, or a painting or portrait drawn, or an engraving or a cinematograph film made, for valuable consideration at the instance of any person, such person shall, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, be the first owner of the copyright therein; c) in the case of a work made in the course of the author’s employment under a contract of service or apprenticeship, to which clause (a) or clause (b) does not apply, the employer shall, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, be the first owner of the copyright therein; Provided that in case of any work incorporated in a cinematograph work, nothing contained in clauses (b) and (c) shall affect the right of the author in the work referred to in clause (a) of sub-section (1) of Section 13.
- IPRS Ltd v EIMP Association (1977) 3 SCR 206.
- A&M Records Limited and Another v Video Collection International Limited (1995) EMLR 25.
- Section 2(p) ―musical work‖ means a work consisting of music and includes any graphical notation of such work but does not include any words or any action intended to be sung, spoken or performed with the music.
- Saregama India Ltd v Suresh Jindal (2006) AIR 2006 Cal 340.
- AGI Music SdnBhd v Ilaiyaraja and another (2019)2019 SCC Online Mad 1960.
- Indian Record Manufacturing Company Ltd v AGI Music Sdn Bhd, Ilaiyaraja and another (2020) C.S.No.296 of 2016 & O.A.No.338 of 2010, decided on
- Feb 2020, Madras High Court.
- Mrs Sellapappa Keeran v S. Vijayaraghavan and another (2021) CS No. 241 of 2004, decided on 01 Sep 2021, Madras High Court. 13 Section 2(p): ―musical work‖ means a work consisting of music and includes any graphical notation of such work but does not include any words or any action intended to be sung, spoken or performed with the music.
- Section 2 (d) (ii) ―author‖ means in relation to a musical work, the composer.
- Section 14. Meaning of Copyright.— (1) For the purposes of this Act, ―copyright‖ means the exclusive right subject to the provisions of this Act, to do or authorise the doing of any of the following acts in respect of a work or any substantial part thereof, namely:— (a) in the case of a literary, dramatic or musical work, not being a computer programme,— (i) to reproduce the work in any material form including the storing of it in any medium by electronic means; (ii) to issue copies of the work to the public not being copies already in circulation; (iii) to perform the work in public, or communicate it to the public; (iv) to make any cinematograph film or sound recording in respect of the work; (v) to make any translation of the work; (vi) to make any adaptation of the work; (vii) to do, in relation to a translation or an adaptation of the work, any of the acts specified in relation to the work in sub-clauses (i) to (vi); (b) --- (c) --- (d) in the case of a cinematograph film,— (i) to make a copy of the film, including— (A) a photograph of any image forming part thereof; or (B) storing of it in any medium by electronic or other means; (ii) to sell or give on commercial rental or offer for sale or for such rental, any copy of the film; (iii) to communicate the film to the public; (e) in the case of a sound recording,— (i) to make any other sound recording embodying it including storing of it in any medium by electronic or other means; (ii) to sell or give on commercial rental or offer for sale or for such rental, any copy of the sound recording; (iii) to communicate the sound recording to the public.
- Section 57. Author’s special rights.— (1) Independently of the author’s copyright and even after the assignment either wholly or partially of the said copyright, the author of a work shall have the right— a) to claim authorship of the work; and b) to restrain or claim damages in respect of any distortion, mutilation, modification or other act in relation to the said work if such distortion, mutilation, modification or other act would be prejudicial to his honour or reputation: Provided that the author shall not have any right to restrain or claim damages in respect of any adaptation of a computer programme to which clause (aa) of sub-section (1) of Section 52 applies. Explanation— Failure to display a work or to display it to the satisfaction of the author shall not be deemed to be an infringement of the rights conferred by this Section.] (2) The right conferred upon an author of a work by sub-section (1), may be exercised by the legal representatives of the author.
- Section 13. Works in which copyright subsists.— (1) Subject to the provisions of this section and the other provisions of this Act, copyright shall subsist throughout India in the following classes of works, that is to say,— a) original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works; b) cinematograph films; and c) sound recording. (2) --- (3) --- (4) The copyright in a cinematograph film or a sound recording shall not affect the separate copyright in any work in respect of which or a substantial part of which, the film, or, as the case may be, the sound recording is made.
- Section 2 (y) ―work‖ means any of the following works, namely:— (i) a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work; (ii) a cinematograph film; (iii) a sound recording;
- Community for Creative Non-Violence v Reid, (1989) 490 U.S. 730
- A work specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, as a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, as a translation, as a supplementary work, as a compilation, as an instructional text, as a test, as answer material for a test, or as an atlas.
- Section 2(z) – ―work of joint authorship‖ means a work produced by the collaboration of two or more authors in which the contribution of one author is not distinct from the contribution of the other author or authors.
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