All about Assigning Copyrights

Copyright is basically a legal right of the owner who has created something out of his intellect. Earlier, there was no protection for the copyrighted work and there was an easy exploitation of the ‘Intellectual works’. But after some time, need for the protection of such works became important and therefore ‘THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1957’ was brought for the protection of artistic, literary work and other forms of intellectual works.  The act was brought so as to preserve the cultural works and retain the original rights of the owner.

Assignment of Copyright

No one is qualified to duplicate, recreate, distribute or offer a unique composition, painting, emotional generation, form and so forth without the consent of the maker. Thus, the law provides a right to the maker (creator) of the copyright to exchange the ownership of the copyright to a third party.

Mode of Assignment of Copyright

The owner of the copyright in an existing or future work may assign to any person. It can be assigned either wholly or partially and with or without limitation on whole or any part of the copyright.

Assignment of copyright in any work shall not be valid unless it is in writing and signed by the assignor or by his authorized agent. Oral assignment of copyright is neither permissible nor valid.

It shall identify the work, specify the rights assigned, duration, territorial extent of such assignment, amount of royalty payable to the author.

Rights Involved in copyright Assignment

Some moral rights of the creator are independent and always remain with the creator even if he has assigned his copyright.

1. The ownership of work created can be claimed by the Creator,
2. Creator/Owner has the right to claim the damages when there is any type of distortion, mutilation or modification/change of the original work,

Termination:

• Creator has the right to claim damages when the goodwill of the owner/creator is harmed by the omission of any act done by the assignee.
• If the parties mutually agree to terminate the assignment.
• If within one year from the date of the assignment, the assignee does not exercise the rights assigned to him, it shall be deemed to have lapsed unless otherwise specified in the assignment

Remedy:

If there is an infringement of copyright assignment, there are various type of remedy available for the owner/creator, such as:

1. Civil Remedies
   1. 1. Injunction,
   2. 2. Damages, and
   3. 3. Accounts of profit.
2. Criminal Remedies
3. Administrative Remedies
   1. 1. Copyright Board, and
   2. 2. Copyright Society.