Works in which Copyright Subsists

Introduction
Copyright comes under Intellectual Property Rights; Intellectual property is classified into
various types of assets, like trademarks, patents, industrial designs and geographical
indications. Copyright is a right given on Intellectual creations. It is an exclusive right given
by law to print, publish and sell copies of original work for a certain period. The objective of
copyright is to safeguard the author or the creator from unauthorized reproduction of his
creation. The domain of copyright is literary and artistic works, like writings, musicals and
works of fine arts, such as paintings and sculptures, as well as technology-based works such as
computer programs and electronic database. [1]

The Copyright Act, 1957 completely replicates the Berne Convention for Protection of Literary
and Artistic Works, 1886 and the Universal Copyrights Convention after the amendments in
1999, 2002 and 2012 and India is a party to both the conventions. India has signed the Geneva
Convention for the Protection of Rights of Producers of Phonograms and is an active member
of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The copyright law has originated in 1557 in England. The world’s first copyright law was the
Statute of Anne, enacted in England in 1710. This Act laid down the concept of the author of
a work and the importance of copyright of such work. The Act laid down various rules for the
protection of the copyright. The Statute of Anne was gradually adopted in various other
countries, such as the Copyright Act of 1790 in the United States. There was no uniform
legislation for copyright globally until 19th century. Finally, in 1886, the Berne Convention was
introduced to provide mutual recognition of copyright between nation states, and to promote
the development of international standards for copyright protection. The United States adopted
the treaty in 1988, and the Convention now is adopted by almost all major countries. This Berne
Convention remains in force to this day and continues to present the basis for copyright law
globally.[2]

Original literary work –

Literary work refers to works that are in writing. The Act does not classify literary work, but
we understand that as work that are captured in writing. The act says that literary work includes
computer programmes, tables, and compilations including computer databases. The literary
work need not have any literary merit and it is not the job of the courts to look into the literary
merit of copyright work.

So, courts have found that football fixture lists, mathematical tables, tombola tickets, etc. are
capable of copyright protection. The number of words in a copyrighted material is not an
indicator of quality and the author of copyrighted work is the author who makes the work or
who creates the work. There are certain things that cannot be protected under a copyright. For
instance, phrases, names, invented words and slogans cannot form a part of copyright
protections. The names especially used in commerce or in trade are protected by trademarks
and invented work and slogans, for example the slogan which Pepsi used a while ago “Yeh
Dill Mange more”, which is an advertising slogan was held something that can not protected
under the copyright Act.

Secondary or derivative works can also be protected. They can be prospected only if, it involves
the right kind of labor, it should be of such a nature that the effort brings a material change in
the work. Therefore, the work should get changed based on the effort that change should be of
the right kind and the prior work should be different from the secondary work. When the author
assigns the copyright to another person, the new work will be entitled to a copyright as well.
Adaptations and abridgment of existing works can have a copyright; translations can also be
entitled to a copyright. Compilations and collective works can have copyrights. A copyright
can subsist in the individual item as well as in the collection as a whole. For computer programs
the source code can be protected as a literary work.

Short Phrases

Interviews (Trump v/s Bob Woodward, 2023)

https://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/copyright/1345764/the-copyright-battle-between-
trump-and-woodward-who-owns-the-interviews

Blank Forms
Copyrights don’t apply to blank forms, encapsulating time cards, address books, graph papers,
and diaries.

Blank forms are not protected by copyright if they are designed for recording information but
do not in themselves convey any information. The blank forms rule was first articulated in
Baker v. Selden, (1982). Hence, blank forms are not a subject matter of copyright as there is
not originality involved.

https://copyright.gov.in/Documents/Public_Notice_inviting_reviews_and_comments_of_stak
eholders_on_draft_guidelines/Literary_Work.pdf

Baker v. Selden, (1982)

https://www.casebriefs.com/blog/law/intellectual-property-law/intellectual-property-keyed-
to-merges/copyright-law/baker-v-selden/
 Non-Fiction

Dramatic Work
Original dramatic work –
It defined as “including any piece of recitation, choreographic work or entertainment in dumb
show, the scenic arrangement or acting, form of which is fixed in writing or otherwise but does
not include a cinematograph film”. The terms literary and dramatic are used together and the
principle applicable to literary work will be applicable to dramatic work as well. The author of
a dramatic work is the person who authors the work.

 Choreographic Works
Owners of choreographic works (no matter original or not) cannot obtain copyright protection
unless they videotape or notate them. In the case of speech, the creator is unable to get the
protection unless he transcribes the same.

Academy of General Edu., Manipal v/s B. Malini Mallya, 2009

https://lawessential.com/ip-case-laws/f/academy-of-general-education-manipal-v-b-malini-
mallya

Stage Directions

Original Musical work –

Musical work was defined as “a work consisting of music and includes any graphical notation
of such work but does not include any work or any action intended to be sung, spoken or
performed with the music”. In 2012 Amendment, there was a grant of statutory license for
cover versions. A song typically contains both literary and musical work. Therefore, the tune
and lyrics together forms the song. Lyric of a song is the literary part and it is protected as a
literary work and the writer of the lyrics is the author of the work. Music accompanying the
song is treated as a musical work and the author of the musical work is the composer of the
musical work. So, in the song there can be two rights that are set of rights in the literary work
and rights in the musical work and they are owned by different people. The author of this right
is different people.

Remix (Both Super Cassettes Cases I and II)

 Cover Version (overlapping topic with unit 12)

Cinematography films –
It means any work of visual recording and includes a sound recording accompanying such
visual recording and 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. The author of cinematography films is the producer
of the films.

Original artistic work –

An artistic work as mentioned in the Act, a painting, a sculpture, a drawing includes a diagram,
map, chart or plan, an engraving or a photograph, and whether or not any such work possesses
artistic quality. A work of architecture is included as an artistic work and any work of artistic
craftsmanship can also come under the ambit of an artistic work. The author of an artistic work
is the artist of the artistic work other than photograph. The photograph is a person who takes
the photograph, who is regarded as the author. Recently there was an issue with regard to a
selfie taken by a monkey. The Court has held that, the person has to be a human being and so
far intellectual property rights have only covered Intellectual work of humans.

Sound recordings –
It means a recording of sound 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.
The author of sound recording is the producer of the sound recording. The sound recording
may involve musicians, it may involve singers, but the author is the producer.

The term of copyright varies depending on the kind of work that is protected. Literary, musical,
dramatic and artistic works are protected for the life of the author and after the death for a
period of 60 years. For posthumous work published after the death of the author. It is 60 years
from the time the work is first published. Therefore, cinematograph films sound recording,
government works, works of international organizations all are prospected for 60 years from
the work first published.

Here the ownership in copyright may vest in different persons under different circumstances.
Like of a work is created by an employee in the course of his or her employment, the employer
owns the copyright. If the work is created by an independent contractor and the independent
contractor signs a written agreement stating that the work shall be “made for hire,” the
commission person or organization owns the copyright only if the work is a part of the larger
literary work, such as an article in a magazine or a poem or story in anthology; part of a motion
picture or other audiovisual work, such as screenplay, a translation, a supplementary work,
such as an afterword, an introduction, chart, editorial note, bibliography, appendix or index; a
compilation; an instructional text; a test or answer material for a test; or an atlas. Works that
do not fall within one of these eight classifications constitute works made for hire only if
created by an employee within the scope of his or her employment. If the creator has sold the
entire copyright, the purchasing business or person becomes the copyright owner.
Eastern Book company v/s Navin J. desai[3]
The question involved was whether there is any copyright in the reporting of the judgment of
a court. The Delhi High court held that it is not denied that under section 2(k) of the Copyright
Act, a work which is made or published under the direction or control of any Court, tribunal or
other judicial authority in India is a Government work. Under section 52(q), the reproduction
or publication of any judgment or order of a court, tribunal or other judicial authority shall not
constitute infringement of copyright of the government in these works. It is thus clear that it is
open to everybody to reproduce and publish the government work including the judgment/
order of a court. However, in case, a person by extensive reading, careful study and comparison
and with the exercise of taste and judgment has made certain comments about judgment or has
written a commentary thereon, may be such a comment and commentary is entitled to
protection under the Copyright Act. The court further observed: In terms of section 52(1)(q) of
the Act, reproduction of a judgment of the court is an exception to the infringement of the
Copyright. The orders and judgments of the court are in the public domain and anyone can
publish them. Not only that being a Government work, no-copyright exists in these orders and
judgments. No one can claim copyright in these judgments and orders of the court merely on
the ground that he had first published them in his book. Changes consisting of elimination,
changes of spelling, elimination or addition of quotations and corrections of typographical
mistakes are trivial and hence no copyright exists therein.

Godrej Soaps (P) Ltd v/s Dora Cosmetics Co.[4]

The Delhi High Court held that where the carton was designed for valuable consideration by a
person in the course of his employment for and on behalf of the plaintiff and the defendant had
led no evidence in his favor; the plaintiff is the assignee and the legal owner of copyright in the
carton including the logo.

Conclusion
Intellectual Property Rights have been present for a very long time. These are the rights that
are given to people for their creative work. These rights are in the form of patents, copyrights,
and trademarks. They form the intellectual property laws to protect these rights of the people
over their creativity. Even though the intellectual property laws have developed over time, the
intent of the laws remains the same i.e., that the laws encourage the creativity shown by people
and for them to reap benefits from their ideas. The society is never static; it keeps on changing
with change in time. The globalization of the society has led to the advancement in technology.
With the advancement in technology, the copyright infringement has become more easy now-
a-days. Therefore, the legislative amendments made in copyright Act all these years’ help in
protecting the authors from any copyright infringement. The higher level of protection is given
to literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work in any country.

What cannot be protected by copyrights?

 Ideas, Systems, or Methods

Copyrights don’t protect ideas, systems, or methods that cover making things, business
procedures or operations, scientific or technical approaches, mathematical principles,
algorithms, formulas, or other concepts. Although the Copyright Law does not safeguard the
ideas, the expression of ideas can be protected under it. Ideas are works that do not exist in
tangible form.

 Commonly Known Information

You must be familiar with some types of things that are considered as common property and
hold no original (known) authorship. All such things, even the statements like; “The sky is
blue” are not set to get listed amongst the copyrighted assets as no known authorship is
associated with them. Standard calendars, telephone directories, tape measures, rulers, weight
and height charts, and tables or lists taken from public documents are some other main items
that fall under the same category.

 Titles, Names, Phrases, or Expressions

People can’t get the copyrights for the catchy slogan, titles of the works, pseudonyms, product
descriptions, and names they come up with for representing or promoting their businesses.
Ingredients of anything, including recipes, formulas, prescriptions, etc., are also processed
under the same doctrine. However, some exceptions like cookbooks that cover instructions and
explanations can attain the benefits of Registered Copyrights.

 Useful Articles

Things such as clothing, automobiles, and home appliances possess utilitarian functions and
thus, cannot obtain copyright protection. But, exceptions like building designs due to being
considered as an artistic expression also, can be copyrighted.

 Laws

Works like cases, regulations, court decisions, constitutions, and statues are considered to be
in the public domain, and therefore, cannot be copyrighted.

 Federal Government Works

Works, including memos, reports, rules, and documents that are being created by the Federal
US Government are not permitted to be copyrighted. On the other hand, various state
governments possess remarkable rights to copyright their works.

Basic Reading:
Alka Chawla, “Works in Which Copyright Subsist" Law of copyright - Comparative
Perspective, Lexis Nexis, 2013, Pg.No.50-71.

https://www.studocu.com/in/document/university-of-calcutta/intellectual-property-law/copy-
of-law-of-copyright-by-alka-chawla/66326149
https://lawbhoomi.com/meaning-and-subject-matter-of-copyright/
https://corpbiz.io/learning/type-of-works-protected-by-copyright-in-india/