Copyright Law

Copyright law in India is governed by the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 which is TRIPS compliant and protects original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, cinematograph films, and sound recordings. The law also recognizes broadcasters’ rights, performers’ rights and moral rights of authors.

India is a signatory to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and by its virtue, copyright protection is equally afforded to works first made or published in countries which are members of the Berne Copyright Union and/or works created by authors who are nationals of such countries. India is also a signatory to the Universal Copyright Convention, the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty – the latter two are collectively knowns as the “Internet Treaties”.

With the change in the medium of distribution of creative works and the evolution of new business models such as digital platforms, social media, etc., the copyright laws and particularly copyright litigations in India are witnessing a paradigm shift. Our attorneys are involved in handling some of the leading copyright disputes. We handle compliance programs for several global software publishers and our attorneys have been instrumental in running successful anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting campaigns for publishing, gaming, software and the broadcasting industry. Our attorneys also work closely with IT companies to advise on open-source licenses.