Essay On Copyright Law

Words: 1799
Pages: 8

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Every nation has a copyright law today and mostly it is standardized to some extent through international and regional agreements such as the Berne Convention but the history of copyright law is very unique. The origin of copyright had a connection with the invention of printing press in the fifteenth century. With the easy duplicating facility made possible by the printing press, there was huge increase in the printing and distribution of books which in turn, led to adoption of unfair practices. Though piracy was born only by the end of the fifteenth century, it was only in 1710 the first law on copyright in the modern sense of the term came into existence in England. The law which was known as `Queen Anne's Statute' provided authors with the right to reprint their books for a certain number of years. The 1710 law gave writers the privilege to reproduce their books for a specific number of years. But it excluded other innovative works such as drawings, paintings etc.by the time which became target of piracy. To beat this issue a new enactment namely `Engravers Act' came into existence in 1735 followed by few more enactments last to be Copyright Act 1911.

Talking in the Indian context it is
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If a literary, musical, dramatic, artistic work or film is made in the course of employment, the employer is the first owner of the copyright, unless there is any agreement to the contrary. It is important to distinguish ownership of a physical product with the ownership of the copyright embodied within it. For example the purchase of a CD does not mean that the purchaser owns the copyright in the musical or literary work within it or the copyright in the sound recording. Therefore purchasing a CD alone does not entitle the purchaser to copy the work or do any other acts which are restricted to the copyright