Copyright and related rights

Copyrights protect original creative works such as paintings, songs, books, photographs and other original works of authorship. Copyright law protects expression of ideas, and not the ideas themselves. Copyright refers to a bundle of exclusive rights vested in the owner of the Copyright. These rights can be exercised only by the owner of the Copyright, or any person who has been duly authorized by the owner of the Copyright.

Apart from the economic rights that accrue from this, the moral rights which are vested in the copyright owner are inalienable; and, even when the copyright has been duly assigned to someone else, the copyright owner can exercise these rights thereafter.

Copyright subsists in the original works of:

1. Literature
2. Drama
3. Music
4. Art; known together as LDMA.

Cinematographic films, sound recordings, computer programs also get the protection of Copyrights. Neighboring Rights are inclusive of Broadcasting Rights and also extends to cover in its ambit the Performers’ Rights.

The general term of Copyrights is 60 years; add to that the life of the author, in case of LDMA works.