The working environment in India has become more competent over time. It has become necessary to protect what is yours. Intellectual Property is one such aspect. Intellectual Property (IP) is an intangible asset of a company which includes expressions, creative ideas or knowledge of the human mind that can be protected and has a commercial value. It can be achieved through protected copyright, patent, trademark, service mark, or trade secret laws. In essence, it is a way to protect the asset from violation, imitation, and dilution.
IP can be categorized into two parts – Industry Property and Copyright. A proper process has to be followed with relevant documents to register under IP law.
Copyright is a legal term which is used to describe the rights of the inventors that they have over their musical, literary work, and artistic. The rules and regulations that lay under Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 (2012) has to be followed.
Requirements for Copyright registration:
- Name, address, and citizenship of the applicant
- Name, nationality, and address of the author of the work
- Nature of applicant’s interest in the copyright i.e. Licensee /Owner etc.
- Title of the work
- if the applicant is different than the author than a declaration signed by the author
- Language of the work
- Whether the work is published or unpublished
- If the work is published, name, nationality and address of the publisher with year and country of first publication and
- Year and countries of subsequent publications, if any
- Name, address, and nationality of any other person authorized to assign or license the rights in the copyright
- Power of attorney for the firm
- three soft copies and six hard copies of the work (For computer programs – 3 copies of the program on CD-ROMs)
Registration Procedure for Copyright
Copyright ensures the safety of what is your work such as books, databases, music, maps, computer programs, paintings, sculptures, films, technical drawings, and advertisements. With the increasing competition in the market, it is best to protect one from any future issues.
The steps for registering under Copyright are as follows:
- Application for the registration has to be as per the rules prescribed in the first schedule of the Act
- For each and every work a separate application has to be made
- The applications should be accompanied by the proper fee as prescribed in the second schedule of the Act
- The advocate’s in whose favour POA (Power of Attorney) has been executed, or the applicant’s sign should be there on the applications
- A power of attorney should be enclosed with the requests that were signed by the party and accepted by the lawyer.
- After filing the applications the rightful owner or the applicant has to wait for a mandatory period of 30 days. This period is for any objection that may be filed against the applicant’s claim.
- If any complaint is filed, it takes approximately one more month as the Registrar hear both the parties and decide whether to register the work under copyright or not.
- If no objection is filed the formal proceedings takes place within the said period.
- After all the formalities a Copyright Registration Certificate is issued by the Copyright Office.