Copyright Search
- Leezer Kaur
- Apr 16, 2023
- 3 min read
Written by Leezer Kaur, Student
Introduction
As the term 'copyright' suggests, it mainly refers to the right to copy. A copyright is a right with respect to intellectual property created by a person with his own skills and it provides protection to the owner so that his ideas won’t be used without his permission or license or before the expiry of a particular period of time for which his copyright is applicable. It grants the exclusive right to the creator to use that property and duplicate it. It could be related to art, literary work, computer software, cinematic works, musical lyrics, etc. However, it is important that the copyright must be registered with the appropriate authority. The other important point is that copyright has to be creative and in tangible form in order to be registered. It is not applicable to any idea or theory in intangible form.
In common parlance, it is sometimes used interchangeably for terms like trademark and patent, but in reality, they are different concepts. A trademark is about the registration of a unique company or institute symbol or logo, brand name, etc. whereas a patent is given by the government for an invention of a person for a limited period of time.
Infringement of Copyright
'Infringement of copyright' refers to a condition whereby a person uses the registered copyrighted work of an individual without any license or prior permission. Copyright is provided to the owner in order to protect his work, but when it is infringed by someone, then, the owner can claim civil or criminal remedy. He may also go for administrative action whereby he may ask the Registrar of Copyrights office to ban the importation or delivery of the infringing copies. At the international level, we have an organization called the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) dealing with the protection of copyright from infringement, mainly in cyberspace.
Process to Obtain Copyright
The person with unique work files an application along with the prescribed fees to the appropriate authority.
Then, a diary number is issued to the person.
A period of 30 days is there in which any objection regarding the copyright could be raised.
Then the application is accepted and scrutinized, and if no discrepancy is found, then the registrar approves the application.
Then a certificate of registration is issued.
If any application is objected then the registrar sends a letter to both parties and asks for a reply.
If the objections are found true, then the application may be rejected.
Copyright Search
In order to register a copyright with respect to a work, the first essential is that it must be original and creative and not a duplication of already existing works. To ensure that, it is important to conduct a copyright search and check if any other similar work has already been registered. In some countries like the USA, there are online databases like Copyright Public Records Portal to facilitate the process and find if similar works already exist or not. It is always better to conduct such copyright searches so as to prevent any objection which may be raised due to duplication of the work. Also, it helps us to know what all things are being granted copyright.
The Copyright Act, of 1957 was enacted in India and amended in 2012, which deals with the provisions with respect to copyrights. Section 9 of the act provides for the establishment of a Copyright Office with a Registrar who is to act under the superintendence and directions of the Central Government. Currently, the Copyright office is situated in New Delhi. All the records related to copyrights are kept by the authorities protected. It is important to ensure that all the works that are registered as copyrighted are protected and not used by any other person without the consent of the owner or without any license.
Conclusion
A Copyright is a right that a person has with respect to an intellectual property created by him which allows him to exclusively use his work and prevent any duplication of work by any third person. When the third party uses it, it is referred to as an infringement of copyright and may result in a civil or criminal action. It is also important to conduct a copyright search before giving an application for registration of the work or before using a work so as to prevent duplication or infringement of somebody’s copyright.
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