Both copyright and trademarks are intellectual property rights which help their
owner/inventor/developer to enjoy the use of their innovation for a limited time. Businesses
that want to register intellectual property must identify how they differ, and then get the
necessary registrations to safeguard their respective intellectual property rights. A right to
copyright is accorded to authors of literary, musical, dramatic, artistic and film and sound
recording productions. No names and brands, no slogans or short words or short phrases, no
storylines, procedures or factual facts are protected under copyright. Copyright does not also
cover concepts or ideas. The copyright of sound recordings, the cinematographic and
computer software are therefore utilized to safeguard the originality of individuals such as
writers, painters, dramatists, designers, artists, architects, producers. A trademark is a phrase
or a visual sign used by any business to identify its goods or services from other comparable
goods or services which may come from another company. The applicant must submit a
trademark request for the registration of a trade mark in the required format to the appropriate
Trademark Registrar. The brands, company names, slogans and much more are typically
employed to protect trademarks.
THE DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARK IN INDIA IS
AS FOLLOWS:
Applicable Law:
Trademarks Act, 1999 is applicable to the Trademarks and is protected by the
same whereas on the other hand the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 is applicable to
the copyrights and is protected by the same.
Usage:
The literary, musical, theatrical and creative production is usually protected by a
copyright, including films and sound recordings. The Copyright Act can register
everything of a software or a program or tables and databases as a literary work on
the other hand trademarks are typically used to protect brand names, business
names, slogans and more by people, business and non-commercial institutions, but
an idea or software or concept cannot be trademarked.
Registrar:
The Copyright Office, the Higher Education Department and the Ministry for the
development of human resources supervise the assessment and acceptance of a
copyright application on the other hand the Controller General of Patents, Designs
and Marks, Ministry of Commerce and Industry shall monitor and accept an
application for a trademark.
Validity:
The general rule is for copyright is to last 60 years. Copyright: The term for the
60-year period is calculated from the year after the author's death for an original
literary, theatrical, artistic and musical works. The term of 60 years must be
calculated from the date of publishing for a movie, photo, sound recording,
posthumous publications, anonymous and pseudonymous publications, the
governmental activity, and the work of international organizations on the other
hand registration of trademarks must be effective for 10 years from the date of
submission. By submitting a trademark renewal application this validity might be
increased at the end for 10 years.
Importance:
Any other person utilizing your invention without authorization is protected by
copyright on the other hand a trademark is created to make your business, mark or
symbol unique and distinctive.
Applicability:
Copyright is applicable all around the globe as it protects and applies to creations
in art and literature on the other hand trademark is restricted to a certain region.
Requirements to be Protected:
A work must be original, creative and fixed in a tangible medium to be able to get
protection under Copyright law on the other hand to avail protection under the
trademark law a mark must be distinctive (i.e., that is, it must be capable of
identifying the source of a particular good).
Rights Granted:
The rights provided under the copyright are to regulate the reproduction, creation
of derivative articles, distribution and public presentation and display of the
copyrighted articles whereas on the other hand the rights granted under the
trademark are right to use the mark and to prevent others from using similar marks
in a way that would cause a likelihood-of-confusion about the origin of the goods
or services.
EXCEPTIONS TO THE COPYRIGHT
Limitations and exceptions to copyright laws are provisions which authorize the use of
copyrighted artworks for public interest purposes without prior permission or permission of
the owner. In general, copyright limits and exemptions are subject to a 3-step test laid out in
the Bern Convention on literary and creative protection. A restriction or exemption to
copyright is only permitted under the Berne Convention if-
Special cases covered.
Is not in conflict with the routine use of labor.
The legitimate interests of the author are not arbitrarily prejudiced.
The Fair Dealing Doctrine is an exemption to legislation, which normally protects any work
deemed as copyright by the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 ('Act'). The legal theory allows a
person to utilize any work protected under the Act with restricted use of the work such that
the sanctity and originality of the work, and the registered owner of the work, are maintained.
The definition of "fair dealing" varies on many conditions and facts. In India, the Court is
using fundamental common sense to assess on a case-by-case basis what can become a fair
deal. Copyright is a major limitation of the copyright owner's exclusive right. The court has
interpreted the effect of it on the copyright owner on a number of occasions. Where there are
no major economic impacts, the usage can be fair deal. The fair nature of the dealing depends
on the following four factors:
the purpose of use;
the nature of the work;
the amount of the work used, and
the effect of use of the work on the original.
For some activities that are not in breach of copyright or deemed copyright infringing
exemption is offered by Article 52 of the 1957 copyright law in India. In particular, it is not a
software for computer applications that fairly deal with a literary, musical, dramatic or
aesthetic piece for the reasons of:
Standard limits and exceptions range in scope and quantity from country to country.
Together with research, private usage.
Criticism or review.
Current events being reported in any press media.
By a film, or by broadcasting, or by any photography.
Reproduction of the judiciary or judicial procedure report.
Publishing or replication in any piece produced by the Legislative Secretariat of a
musical, literary, dramatic or creative work.
The replication, in a certified copy created, in conformity with or provided for in force
in any legislation, of any literary, musical or dramatic work.
The publishing in the collection, comprised mostly of non-copyright, is authentic for
the benefit of education.
Sound making if done with or via a license or agreement of the right owner in the
work.
CONCLUSION
Copyright and Trademarks are both intellectual property rights which help their
owner/inventor/developer to enjoy the use of their innovation for a limited time. Businesses
that want to register intellectual property must identify how they differ, and then get the
necessary registrations to safeguard their respective intellectual property rights. The criteria
to establish the fair use of such work as a copyrighted work is actually different from one
instance to another, since such circumstances are more important than the legislation per se.
Although in the Indian situation, Section 52 of the Copyright Act in 1957, the government
has tried to make this idea legislation more flexible and accurate, for the time being, it is the
public which is legitimate to rely on this provision. India has been successful for now since
the idea that the entire copyright protection exception is to create a creativity and growth that
can be transformed and articulated in many other ways in order to encourage people to
achieve this degree of creativity by taking careful account of the original copyright work.