You may have often heard people pointing out copyright issues and filing for copyright cases these days. Why?
Well, that's because many times when one runs out of ideas, one takes inspiration from other sources. Sometimes, this inspiration replicates the other's idea, which raises eyebrows & calls for copyright!
what
Today, you can protect your work by sending a legal notice for copyright, giving you the right to protect your work from being stolen or any misuse.
You as a copyright holder can even send a legal copyright notice if you perceive that your work might get stolen or someone may infringe your copyright.
To send a legal copyright notice in India, the sender has to be the original author.
While you send a legal notice for copyright infringement, it should contain all the material facts and important details of how the infringement has taken place.
It is very important to note that before sending a legal notice, the copyright holder must have reasonable grounds to believe that their work is being infringed. Since false accusations against another person will not be entertained in Courts.
In order to make sure everything is properly followed, you should hire a good IPR lawyer who can draft a legal notice of copyright infringement.
To refine your lawyer search you can always choose MyAdvo and we can help you through and through!
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What is copyright infringement?
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When to send a legal copyright notice?
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Features and advantages of having copyright protection
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Measures that one can take in case of Copyright Infringement
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Role of a Lawyer in Sending Legal Copyright Notice
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How can MyAdvo help in this?
What is copyright infringement?
Copyright is a part of Intellectual Property Law. Copyright is the protection one gets by the courts to save from stealing the first and original work of an author.
The copyright protection ensures that the original presenter of the idea or the author gets their proper, due respect and fame for their work.
If there was no such protection, then there would always be the fear of stealing works or someone else presenting original author's work.
The things that generally come under the copyright protection are:
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Literary works
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Songs
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Dramatic works
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Sound recordings
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Cinematograph films
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Musical works
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Artistic works
When a person infringes the other's copyright protection, then he/she is guilty under the eyes of the law.
A copyrighted work is called infringed in the following scenarios where the accused person:
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Made illegal copies of the literary work and is giving it on a temporary promotional basis or selling them without the permission of the original owner.
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Has been directly or indirectly involved in importing copies of the infringed material into India.
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Has been involved in performing works in places making a monetary profit from it will be considered as an infringement of copyright protection.
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Circulating and selling copyrighted materials to people and cause damages to the author or the owner of the work.
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Has been involved in such acts where the interest of the owner or the author gets compromised and prejudiced.
When to send a legal copyright notice?
One can send a legal copyright notice in the following situations when the copyright holder:
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Has reasonable grounds to fear that their work might get stolen.
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Has the proof that another person is trying to present their original work as their own.
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Wants to save their work beforehand so that no other person can even think of infringing it.
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Features and advantages of having copyright protection
There are certain features and advantages of availing copyright protection such as:
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The best thing about it is that you will never have to think again whether someone can steal your work or present it to the world.
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Copyright Act in India (pdf) protects the expression of the ideas and not the idea itself.
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One gets the copyright protection only for the original work.
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The copyright protection grants an exclusive right to the author to enjoy their own work and only they can decide whether to reproduce the work or not.
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You should also know and treat computer programs as literary works, which comes under the Copyright Act.
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The term of a copyrighted work is usually 60 years.
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If the work is literary then the 60 years is counted from the year in which the author died.
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In other works like musical works or cinematograph recordings, the term is counted from the year of their publication.
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Only police who is not below the rank of a sub-inspector can forfeit and seize the illegal and infringed materials. One can also do this without issuing or showing a warrant.
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Only a court not below or inferior to a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Judicial Magistrate of First Class will try and decide the offences committed under the Copyright Act.
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A legal notice for copyright infringement in India can also be presented in the Court if required.
Measures that one can take in case of Copyright Infringement
The person who is aggrieved by such infringement can always take help of the law to get justice. The aggrieved person can send a legal copyright notice either:
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through speed post,
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give it personally, or
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telegram copyright legal notices
The sender of the legal copyright notice has to mention all the facts known to them and relevant to the matter in hand.
When the aggrieved party sends a legal notice for copyright reserved, the receiver can either rectify the situation through amicable settlement or send a reply against the legal copyright notice.
The aggrieved person asks for an injunction from the Court as a measure to stop the infringer from stealing their work or from performing an illegal act.
The sender of the legal copyright notice can also ask for damages and accounts to compensate themselves for the loss and inconvenience suffered due to copyright infringement.
One can treat the infringement of copyrighted material as a criminal offence as well. This will fall under the ambit of Section 63 of the Copyright Protection Act.
The punishment for the offender is both imprisonment and fine. The minimum punishment will be six months imprisonment with a fine which may start from Rs. 50,000.
The fine can also be of one lakh rupees with minimum one-year imprisonment for the second or subsequent offence of the same kind. The high fine and imprisonment will deter people from committing infringement of copyright protection.
There is pdf file in respect to legal notice of copyright infringement here.
Role of a Lawyer in Sending Legal Copyright Notice
A legal notice format for copyright infringement should be written on a lawyer’s letterhead. The sample of legal copyright notice format is available here, but it is advisable to take help of a good lawyer.
You can even learn the same from us by watching how to send a legal notice for copyrighted content in our video.
One needs to keep the following points in mind while drafting a legal notice:
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It should contain the name, description, and place of residence/office of the accused person.
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It should mention the date from when the default or the infringement of copyright has taken place.
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Also, mention all the facts and grievances in details with proper dates.
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The legal notice should mention how the accused has caused inconvenience and infringed the rights of the original author of the work.
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The legal notice must contain in detail the course of action the copyright holder is planning to take.
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It should mention all the previous communications if any made.
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It should offer a reasonable time, usually 15 to 30 days to settle the matter through amicable discussion.
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The lawyer will have to duly sign the notice and retain the copy of the same.
Sending legal copyright notice
When a copyright holder makes accusations against a person of stealing their expression of an idea or infringing his copyright. Then he/she can send a legal notice to the accused person informing him about their plan to institute a legal suit if such infringement continues.
Since a lawyer’s letterhead is of prime importance in sending a legal notice, therefore you should seek help from a legal practitioner before you take a step ahead.
A good lawyer can guide you well on the entire process. You can consult a lawyer in the field of IPR near you in India through MyAdvo.
How can MyAdvo help in this?
MyAdvo is one of India's leading legal-tech services acting as your legal concierge to solve your problems and helping you find lawyers in India.
Each advocate specialises in different domains of law and you can choose from a base of 10,000+ lawyers spread across 60+ cities and 500+ districts of India.
We enable you to fix lawyer consultations by simply mailing your legal queries at consult@myadvo.in or by calling at +91-9811782573.