This post deals with filing of copyright registration application for protection of Artistic works forming part of a book. As stated in our previous post, text of a book is protected under Literary works, but some part of the book like images, diagrams, cover image, etc., may be protected under Artistic works. In order to ensure better copyright protection in a book it is recommended that a writer should first file for copyright registration for artistic works used in promotion of the book and cover image of the book.
As elaborated in the previous post written by my colleague, Ashwini Arun, the Artistic work forming part of a book may either be owned by the writer of the book or the publisher or the Artist. As the post is written for the ease of the writers, we presume that the Artistic work is owned by the writer and the writer is himself filing an application for registration of copyright in the said Artistic work.
Process of Filing Application for Copyright Registration
The Indian Copyright Office provides for offline and online filing of applications for copyright registration in India. In India, a separate copyright registration application is to be filed for each artistic work. Keeping in mind the cost constraints and the volume of artistic work in a book, the writer may choose to file copyright registration application only for few famous artistic works forming part of the book. Generally, it is recommended that the writer should file copyright registration application for cover image of the book.
Application for registration of copyright is to be filed under Form XIV, provided under the First Schedule of the Copyright Rules 2013. Application for copyright registration must be submitted with all the required documents (as discussed below) and prescribed fees.
Process of Filing Online Application for Copyright Registration
Application for copyright registration may be filed on copyright office’s website, copyright.gov.in.
For better understanding of the filing process, let’s consider an example of a book, titled “FunIP” authored by Dr. Kalyan C Kankanala, published in 2012 by Literators Publishing. Dr. Kalyan is filing copyright registration application for the cover image of the book, which is created by his employee Mr. Rakesh.
For filing an application for Artistic work, the writer needs to follow the following steps:
1. Writer needs to click on to the “e-filing of Application” option, available on left side of the home page, under the category of “Online Services”. Then the writer should create an account with copyright office and need to sign-in to his account. Online registration may also be done here.
Screenshot of Dr. Kalyan’s form for creating an account with Indian Copyright Office is provided below.
2. After creating an account, the writer needs to login to his account and click on “e-filing of Application” option, available on left side of the home page, under the category of “Online Services”. Then the writer should click on the “Click here for online Copyright Registration” option available in the account.
- After clicking on “Click here for online Copyright Registration” option, Form XIV will appear on the screen.
3. In Column 2 of Form XIV, the writer needs to provide his name and other details of the persons who hold an interest in copyright of the book. People like publishers, artist who created the cover image under the employment of the writer etc., may hold interest in the book. The writer should also send Form XIV, statement of particulars and statement of further particulars (basically the whole copyright registration application) to each person who have an interest in the book.
In present example, Dr. Kalyan is the writer of the book, but the cover image of the book is created by his employee Mr. Rakesh and hence he needs to send the application to Mr. Rakesh and to the publisher of the book. So Dr. Kalyan has to provide details of Mr. Rakesh and Literators Publishing in Column 2 of Form XIV and need to send the copyright registration application to Mr. Rakesh and Literators Publishing.
In Column 3 of Form XIV, the writer needs to provide his address of communication. If the writer is a foreign resident, he has to provide a communication address in India. A foreign writer may mention the address of his agent, attorney or any other address in India as his communication address.
Then after filling the said details, the writer should read and agree to the undertakings provided in the form, save the details and move to statement of particulars.
Screenshot of Dr. Kalyan’s Form XIV for FunIP is provided below for reference.
4. After Form XIV, the writer needs to fill the statement of particulars, which requires him to provide various details regarding the copyrighted work and his ownership, including nature of the work, writer’s interest in the work, language of the work, etc.
Details regarding information to be filled in each column is provided in the table below.
| Column No. | Information to be filled |
| 1. | To be filled by Copyright Office once the work is entered into the Register of Copyright. This column is not available in online form. |
| 2. | Writer needs to provide his complete name, address and nationality |
| 3. | Writer needs to provide nature of interest in the copyright of the work i.e., whether a creator or an owner/publisher. In the present example, Dr. Kalyan is not a creator of the cover image, but is the owner of the same and hence he has to select owner in this column. |
| 4. | The writer needs to mention the appropriate class of work, that is Artistic works. In case of Artistic works, the writer is also required to indicate whether the Artistic work is used or capable of being used in relation to goods and services or not. All the images, diagrams, cover images forming part of the book are capable of being used in relation to the goods. In the present example, cover image of Dr. Kalyan’s book is capable of being used in relation to a good, that is the book, and hence he will make the selection accordingly. |
| 5. | The title which appears on the work should be exactly mentioned here. If the Artistic work does not have a title then writer may write “NIL” in this column. In present example, title of the cover image of the book “FunIP” will be the title of the book itself. |
| 6. | Language of the work is to be mentioned here. In case the work contains multiple languages, all languages must be mentioned in this column. This column may also be indicated as “NIL” in case no language is used in the Artistic work. In present example, the cover image contains some written materials like title of the book, name of the author and publisher, etc. in English language and hence language of the work is English. |
| 7. | The name, address and nationality of the person(s) who has created or authored the work or was involved in the creation/authorship of the work should be entered here. In case there are more than one author, the details of every such person should be mentioned. It is also important to note that only a natural person can be the author of the work. The name and details of the person who actually created the work should be mentioned in this column. In present example, Mr. Rakesh is the creator of the cover image and hence his name and details have to be mentioned in this column. |
| 8. | The writer should provide the status of the work at the time of filing the application, i.e. whether the work is published or unpublished. In present example, the book was published in 2012, along with the cover image. Hence Dr. Kalyan has to select ‘published’ as the status of the work. |
| 9. | Details of the publisher need to be mentioned here, if the work is already published. In present example, Dr. Kalyan needs to mention details of Literators Publishing in this column. |
| 10. | Details of the subsequent publisher (if any) need to be submitted along with the latest year of publication. In present example, there is no subsequent publisher of the book. Hence, Dr. Kalyan has to mention “NIL” in this column. |
| 11. | Details of all the persons holding various rights/interest in the work need to be mentioned in this column. If the writer owns all the rights in the work, his details can be mentioned again. If the writer is a partnership firm, name, details of each partner may be mentioned in this column, along with their share in the copyright. In present example, Dr. Kalyan, Mr. Rakesh and Literators Publishing hold interest in the cover image as the respective owner, creator and the publisher of the cover image. Hence, Dr. Kalyan needs to mention details of all these people/entity in this column. |
| 12. | If any person is authorized to assign or licence the copyright, on behalf of the owner, the name, address and nationality of such person may be indicated. If not, ‘NIL’ or ‘N/A’ may be indicated or select “Not Applicable” in for this column In present example, Dr. Kalyan has not granted such rights to any person/entity and hence he has to select “Not Applicable” for this column. |
| 13. | Details of the person who is in possession of the original work should be mentioned in this column. In present example, publisher of the book ‘Literators Publishing’ is in possession of the original work and hence Dr. Kalyan has to mention details of Literators Publishing in this column. |
| 14. | Details of Search Certificate issued by the Trade Mark Registry shall be indicated. For getting this certificate, the writer should file an application in TM-C in the trademark office, asking its approval that the Artistic work does not conflict with any trademark that has already been registered under the trademark laws. |
| 15. | Details with respect to Registration under Designs Act need to be indicated if necessary. This is necessary when the artistic work is capable of being registered under Designs Act, 2000. Presently, we are dealing with the images in the books and such images may not be subject to design protection. Hence, the writer need not provide any details under this column and may write NIL in the column. |
| 16. | Details with respect to publication of that particular design should be indicated. This column might also not be relevant in the present case and hence writer may write NIL in this column as well. |
| 17. | This is a non-mandatory column and writer may write any remarks relating to the work in this column. Remarks relating to originality or elaborating the content of the work may be written in this column. In present example, Dr. Kalyan decided to provide brief explanation of the cover image. |
The writer must provide all the required details, as described above, and then move to next step.
Screenshot illustrating Statement of Particulars in Dr. Kalyan’s application is provided below.
5. After statement of particulars, the writer is directed to the next step, i.e. statement of further particulars.
Statement of further particulars is a declaration regarding the originality of the work. If the book is not an adaptation or translation of any primary work then writer should tick “Yes” in Column 1 and the other columns will automatically become irrelevant. If the work is an adaptation or translation of the already existing work then the writer needs to tick “No” in first column and must provide the details whether the original book is in public domain or a copyright subsists in the said original book. In case the book is an adaptation or translation of the already existing book in which copyright subsists, then the writer is required to provide a No Objection Certificate from the copyright owner of the original book. writer may also write some remarks in statement of further particulars.
In present example, cover page of Dr. Kalyan’s book is original creation of his employee and hence he has to mention “Yes” in first column of Statement of Further Particulars.
Screenshot illustrating Statement of Further Particulars in Dr. Kalyan’s application is provided below.
6. After submitting statement of further particulars, the writer is required to make payment of the prescribed fees.
The prescribed fees for filing a copyright registration application for Artistic work is INR 500, if the work is not capable of being used in relation to goods or services and INR 2000 if the work is capable of being used in relation to goods or services. As discussed above, images, diagrams and cover images forming part of the book are capable of being used in relation to a goods, that is the book, hence fee for their registration under copyright law is INR 2000.
The writer must also provide certain documents along with the application for registration of the copyright. Following documents are required to be send to the copyright office along with the print out of the application form, within 30 days from the date of filing of the online application:
- 2 Copies of work
- DD/IPO of Rs. (as applicable) per work (only of the application for copyright registration is filed offline)
- NOC from author/creator if writer is different from author.
- NOC from publisher if work published and publisher is different from writer.
- Search Certificate from Trade Mark Office (TM -C) if the work is being used on goods or capable of being used on the goods.
- NOC from person whose photograph appears on the work.
- If the application is being filed through attorney, a specific Power of Attorney in original duly signed by the writer and accepted by the attorney
It is recommended that the writer should send a cover letter along with all the documents for the ease of the copyright office. Cover letter may contain Dairy Number (if application is filed online), name and details of the writer and the list of documents send along with the application.
In the present example, Dr. Kalyan needs to send a cover letter, 2 copies of the work, NOC from the creator of the cover image (Mr. Rakesh), NOC from the publishers of the work (Literators Publishing) and Search certificate from trademark office.
As the cover image does not contain any photograph and the application is filed by Dr. Kalyan himself, last 2 documents, as mentioned in the list, are not relevant.
Currently, the Copyright Office does not provide a facility to submit the documents online and hence the writer is required to take the printout of the form and send it to the copyright office along with all the required documents. Form is to be sent to the address provided below.
Process of Filing Offline Application for Copyright Registration
The writer may also send or directly hand over an application for copyright registration to the copyright office. The application must be sent on the below address, along with Form VIX, the statement of particulars and the statement of further particulars. The application must be accompanied by all the required documents and prescribed fees.
Registrar of Copyrights
Copyright Office
Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion
Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Boudhik Sampada Bhawan,
Plot No. 32, Sector 14, Dwarka,
New Delhi-110075
The requirements and fees for filing offline copyright registration application is the same as that of the online application. All the forms required for filing copyright registration application can be downloaded here.
We will be elaborating the process for filing copyright registration application for sound recordings in our subsequent post.
This post is authored by Arjun Kansal (Associate, BananaIP Counsels)
Note: If you are a writer and would like us to answer specific questions, please write to [email protected] with the subject: Copyrights and Writers.
Suggested Reading
- Chapter 3, Fun IP, Fundamentals of Intellectual Property, Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala (2012).
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