Now in India, we have a defined copyright regime, and its roots lie in the long British colonial regime. Then, the era from 1661 to 1911 witnessed the evolution of a detailed copyright law in Britain. By 1483, when printing machines reached England, various monarchs starting from King Richard III to King Henry in 1553 shaped a new regime of copyright that later defined the international copyright governance. Indeed, the origin of the global copyright governance system is very much linked to the invention of the printing machine by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany around 1440. The second principle of “Automatic Protection” refers to the idea that copyright inheres automatically in a qualifying work upon its fixation in a tangible medium and without any required prior formality. The first principle of “National Treatment” underlines that works originating in one signatory nation are given the same protection in other signatory nations as each grant to works of its creators. The Berne Convention, apart from calling for establishing minimum standards of protection, has two unique principles: “National Treatment” and “Automatic Protection”. However, the biggest challenge to this harmonisation effort is emerging from a host of numerous national copyright laws currently existing in the EU nations. Besides, there have been serious efforts to bring copyright legislations under one single umbrella among the members of the European Union (EU). This convention sets a minimum standard for the protection of the rights of the creators of the copyrighted works across the nations. Nevertheless, nearly 180 nations have already ratified the historic Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works of 1886, administered by the WIPO. Therefore, no single copyright law can protect an author’s work throughout the world with a single registration like the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) that allows patent filing in a multinational context. Precisely, there is nothing like international copyright law applicable to all the nations. Under the US Copyright legislation, an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work or a work made for hire, the copyright is guaranteed for a period of 95 years from the year of its first publication or a period of 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first. Once it is published, the copyright lasts for the life of the author and additional 70 years after his/her death. The term of a copyright law depends on several factors such as whether the work has been published or if so, the date of its first publication. ![]() Therefore, wherever an author or a creator resides or his work is first published, the applicability of the copyright protection depends on the national laws of the country in which the particular author demands protection. Regardless of the WIPO conventions and other relevant global covenants, the copyright law is territorial and national in scope. The very word “works” refer to books, music, paintings, sculptures, films, computer programmes, databases, advertisements, maps and technical drawings as specified by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). ![]() In legal terms, it is meant to describe the set of rights that the creators or the owners have over their literary and artistic works. Copyright is regarded as “author’s right”. The information revolution accompanied by the digital revolution has pushed knowledge beyond the control of the sovereign nation-states.īefore moving into the problems and prospects of safeguarding the copyright laws, let us see what copyright is all about. As this information is gone in the great internet machine, it has witnessed another global movement called the digital revolution. At the heart of this colossal process lies a “superior and never seen before “brand new upheaval called “information revolution”. As a result, we all have experienced a slew of modernisation, standardisation and deterritorialisation drives all around the world. This intricate journey was only made possible by a vast network of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Globalisation and post-globalisation have brought us ever closer to each other.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |