The copyright is essentially a negative right that prohibits from copying of an original work of various types which has been recognized under section 13 of The Copyright Act, 1957.

The author of a work is generally considered as the first owner of the copyright under the Copyright Act 1957. Copyright is the most pervasive, inclusive and freely accessible intellectual property right.

One may go so far as to call it the ‘people’s right’, for the contemporaneous and automatic protection it affords to all original creations. Copyright is a right given by the law to creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and producers of cinematograph films and sound recordings.

India is a member of most of the important international conventions governing the area of copyright law, including the Berne Convention of 1886 (as modified at Paris in 1971).

The Berne Convention stipulates that the duration of the term for copyright protection is the life of the author plus at least 50 years after their death. For some categories of works, the minimum duration is shorter. For example, the minimum term for applied art is 25 years.

Copyright subsists in all original published or unpublished literary, artistic work etc