What are the roles and functions of the copyright board and the copyright society in administering copyright laws and regulations?
Answer:-
COPYRIGHT BOARD
- The Copyright Board is a regulatory body constituted by the government, to perform judicial functions as per the Copyright Act of India.
- The Board comprises of a Chairman and members (2-14) to arbitrate on Copyright cases. The Chairman of the Board is of the level of a judge of a High Court. As per the Act, the Board has the power to:
- Hear appeals against the orders of the Registrar of Copyrights.
- Hear applications for rectification of entries in the Register of Copyrights.
- Adjudicate upon disputes on the assignment of Copyrights.
- Grant compulsory licenses to publish or republish works (in certain circumstances).
- Grant compulsory license to produce and publish a translation of a literary or dramatic work in any language after seven years from the first publication of the work.
- Hear and decide disputes as to whether a work has been published or about the date of publication or the term of Copyright of a work in another country.
- Fix rates of royalties in respect of sound recordings under the cover-version provision.
- Fix the resale share right in original copies of a painting, a sculpture or a drawing and original manuscripts of a literary or dramatic or musical work.
COPYRIGHT SOCIETY
- Many a time, authors and other owners of Copyrights are either unable or lose track of all the uses of their work, including the collection of royalties, infringement issues, etc. To overcome these hurdles, Copyright Societies have cropped up.
- As per Section 33 of the Copyright Act, 1957, a Copyright Society is a registered collective administration society formed by authors and other owners of the Copyright.
- Society can perform the following functions:
- Keep track of all the rights and infringements related to their clients.
- Issue licenses in respect of the rights administered by the society.
- Collect fees in pursuance of such licenses.
- Distribute such fees among owners of Copyright after making deductions for the administrative expenses