Indian government notifies Copyright (Amendment) Rules 2021
Recently the Government of India has notified the Copyright (Amendment) Rules, 2021. This will promote accountability and transparency with the new rules and the new amendments will help in making the existing rules in line with other relevant laws.
Copyright Regime in India:
In India, the Copyright Regime is governed by the Copyright Act, 1957 and Copyright Rules, 2013. The Copyright Rules, 2013 was last amended in the year 2016.
Important provisions of the Copyright (Amendment) Rules, 2021:
- The purpose of these amendments is to harmonize the existing rules with other relevant laws related to copyright;also, the Copyright Office includes the adoption of electronic media as the primary form of work and communication, to ensure uninterrupted compliance with technological advances in the digital age.
- A new provision regarding publication of a copyrights journal has been incorporated, thereby eliminating the requirement of publication in the Official Gazette. The said journal would be available at the website of the Copyright Office.
- In the way to boost transparency and accountability, new provisions have been introduced, to deal with the undistributed royalty and use of electronic and traceable payment systems while collection and distribution of these royalties.
- To strengthen transparency in working of copyright societies a new rule has been introduced, whereby the copyright societies will be required to prepare and make public an Annual Transparency Report for each financial year.
- These amendments have harmonized the copyright rules with the provisions of the Finance Act, 2017, under which the Copyright Board has been merged with the Appellate Board.
- The compliance requirements for registration of software works have been reduced largely, as now the applicant has the freedom to file the first 10 and last 10 pages of source code, or the entire source code if less than 20 pages, with no blocked out or redacted portions.
- The time limit for the Government to respond to an application made before it for registration as a copyright society is extended to 180 days, so that the application can be comprehensively examined.
Source – PIB
