An artist’s boon; a pirate’s bane

CIPAM team

In the past editions, we have discussed the growing relevance of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) globally and further elaborated the specificities concerning two types of IPRs – patents and trademarks. Patents not only open up a world full of exciting and important inventions, but they also help protect the same. Trademarks, on the other hand, are instrumental in protecting a company’s goodwill, reputation, products or services.

But there is one IPR that we must all be aware of, simply because we are all involved with it from a very young age. Have you ever made a painting or written a poem or story? Look at the world around you. It is full of creative products – paintings adorning walls, books full of stories and poems, movies in cinema halls, doodles on the back of our notebooks – aren’t they all an expression of our ideas? These are examples of intellectual property, and the IP right protecting these creative works is known as copyright!

Students of all ages have created something that can be protected under copyright – from essays as part of writing classes to sketches made in art classes – our curriculum itself encourages students to utilize their creative capabilities and it is just as important to encourage them to protect their creative works.

What is copyright?
Copyright is the right to “not copy”. It is offered when an original idea is expressed by the creator or author. It is a right conferred upon literary, artistic, musical, sound recording and cinematographic films. Copyright is an exclusive right of the creator. This means, without the permission of the creator, nobody can use the content which includes reproducing and distributing copies of the same.

Introducing the subject to students
A short trivia about famous authors and artists is a good way of familiarizing students with the subject. The following images are a collection of questions that teachers can ask their students. You may also add a few questions of your own.

Post the trivia, introduce ‘copyright’ to the students. Tell them how the above were all examples of original creative works.

What can be copyrighted?
Broadly, a copyright protects literary, artistic, musical and cinematographic works. This includes a wide array of creative products such as books, plays, musical compositions, audio and video recordings, choreographic works, motion pictures, filmstrips, TV programs, photographs, paintings, drawings, maps, architecture, scale models, sculpture, crafts, jewellery designs, fabric designs, computer programs, databases and even oral speeches and lectures! Remember – all work must be original in order to get a copyright registration.

Term of a copyright

Generally, the term of a copyright protection is the life of the author plus 60 years. The creator of the work gets the copyright. A copyright helps authors and artists to be rewarded for their work. Thus, if you feel that your creative work has a potential for popularity, you must definitely get a copyright registration for the same!

Piracy and plagiarism

Today, the youth is highly empowered with the power of the internet and digital mediums are aplenty! But with great power comes great responsibility: teachers often come across copied/plagiarized contents by students in assignments and projects. It is very important to inform them here that whatever exists on the internet is not free for use. All content belongs to someone or the other!

People think whatever is there on the internet is free for use. Ask the students – do you take images, text, and animation files from websites and use them without permission from the owner of the same? Do you download and share movies or music from the internet without paying?

Taking images, text, and animation files from websites and using them in projects, without permission is wrong. Downloading music and movies without paying for the same constitutes piracy which is a criminal offence!

Thus, students should be encouraged to develop the habit of asking for the copyright owner’s permission for using their work. They must be cautioned about indulging in plagiarism and piracy. Advise them to watch movies and listen to music bought from legal websites.

How to register a copyright
The unique feature of a copyright is that the protection of the work arises automatically as soon as the work comes into existence. Therefore, if you have written a poem, you have a copyright over it as soon as you finish writing it! The registration of the content is not mandatory. However, registration is essential to exercise exclusive rights in case of an infringement. Thus, registering your work is always advisable.

To register your work, simply visit www.copyright.gov.in to file your application. If no third person objects to your application and your application passes the examination stage, the Copyright Office will grant copyright registration for your work.

As said before, it is not mandatory to get a copyright registration for your work. You can simply use the copyright symbol along with the year of publication of work in the following manner – ©COPYRIGHT 2020.

Towards the end of the discussion, you can play the following short game of True or False with the students to gauge their understanding regarding key aspects of copyright.

From the moment we learnt how to put our thoughts into words, picked up pens and paints to express our ideas, we have been endlessly producing creative works. Often, we put in a lot of hard work and original thought to create them, and naturally we feel immensely proud for creating them. But how would it feel if someone copied our work and took credit for the same? Would it not be highly discouraging? And what if it goes on to become something famous through which the copycat gains all the laurels? To avoid such situations for ourselves and specially for our bright, brilliant young students, it is essential to talk to them about copyright.

For more information and online resources to talk to students on the subject, teachers can visit the website www.cipam.gov.in.

The Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM), is set up under the aegis of the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. CIPAM addresses the identified objectives of the National IPR Policy. If any school is interested in organizing an IPR awareness session for their students, they may write to cipam-dipp@gov.in.