Copyright Laws in India

3202 Words7 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: intellectual property ethical issues

Copyright Laws in India

This document is intended to give a brief overview of the patent and copyrights laws in India and a brief analysis on global issues related to these laws. India has progressed enormously in the field of technology and is ranked tenth in the pool of scientific and technical personnel in the world. There may be hundreds of economical, legal, ethical issues that might have global impact but discussing all of them here is almost impossible. Only the key issues are focused in this paper.

India is quickly growing as leading world software producer. It has occupied a secured place in information technology arena by producing high quality software products and software professionals. India also has a fairly well developed system of infrastructure facilities like power, transport, communication and banking. Government of India has recently adopted an increasing liberal approach towards joint venture and import of technology. The country has also revised its patents Acts after a number of foreign companies brought suit against local firms for breach of patents. While computer programs are not currently patentable in India, the country is not without software protection. The Indian Copyright Law explicitly defines the software as a literary work, which can be protected. The statute gives the Indian Central Govt. power to extent copyright protection to foreign works if needed. With the protective necessary statute in place, India has only to enforce them. Enforcement in India, as in Mexico, indeed seems to be weak spot in controlling intellectual property. We will discuss the details of patens and copyrights issues of India in following sections of this paper.

Overview of Patent laws in India

The Indian Patent Law does not contain any specific provision regarding the protection of computer programs. Computer programs are not patentable per se, however a claim to a manner of manufacture, which results in a tangible product that requires the application of an algorithm or a particular computer program, may be patentable.

Under Section 3(k) of the Patents (Second Amendment) Bill 1999, "a mathematical or a business method or a computer program or algorithms" is not a patentable invention. It appears that computer programs capable of bringing about a technical effect might be allowed, in pursuant to the recommendations made by the...

... middle of paper ...

... of the program to be free software as well.) would prohibit it.

Conclusion

Software is special . Neither it can be compared to a copyrighted novel nor to a hardware or machinery. Software should be considered as a special case as it forms a unique nexus between the intangible world of abstract concepts and the concrete world of machinery. New discoveries and inventions are taking place everyday in this field. As we discussed above, there are many ethical issues if we protect the software as any other engineering process and there are many issues if we do not protect them. Being a responsible software engineer, I believe that software should be considered as a separate entity (different from other engineering processes or literary work) and new laws should be defined only applicable to software.

References

i. The patent and copyrights law in India, http://www.singhania.com/ip/contents.html

ii. The Danger of Software Patents - by Richard M. Stallman,

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/stallman-mec-india.html

iii. Philosophies of Free Software and Intellectual Property - by Brett Watson, http://www.ram.org/ramblings/philosophy/fmp/free-software-philosophy.html

Show More
Related

  • Bus 2201 Unit 8 Written Paper

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    Define and explain the following: copyrights, trademarks, and patents. Compare the three and provide an example of each. This paper will be non-graded, but it is still highly recommended that you complete this assignment for increased practice and self-improvement.

    Read More

  • Trends In Copyright Infringement: A Review of Two Predictive Articles

    1963 Words  | 4 Pages

    Over the past decade the societal view of creative society has greatly changed due to advances in computer technology and the Internet.  In 1995, aware of the beginning of this change, two authors wrote articles in Wired Magazine expressing diametrically opposed views on how this technological change would take form, and how it would affect copyright law.  In the article "The Emperor's Clothes Still Fit Just Fine" Lance Rose hypothesized that the criminal nature of copyright infringement would prevent it from developing into a socially acceptable practice. Thus, he wrote, we would not need to revise copyright law to prevent copyright infringement.  In another article, Entitled "Intellectual Value", Esther Dyson presented a completely different view of the copyright issue.  She based many her arguments on the belief that mainstream copyright infringement would proliferate in the following years, causing a radical revision of American ideas and laws towards intellectual property.   What has happened since then?  Who was right?  This paper analyzes the situation then and now, with the knowledge that these trends are still in a state of transformation. As new software and hardware innovations make it easier to create, copy, alter, and disseminate original digital content, this discussion will be come even more critical.

    Read More

  • CBA

    1383 Words  | 3 Pages

    Also, if developers don’t want their product to be pirated, then they should create more security measures for their product. The common good shouldn’t be punished because people are too lazy, or weak, to implement problem solving skills to assess their problems.

    Read More

  • Intellectual Property in The US

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    Intellectual property is an incredibly complicated facet of the law. In the United States, we have many laws in place to control and limit profiting from others intellectual property. The issue is not only profiting from others intellectual property, but not purchasing the property from the originator as well. We will discuss why it is important to protect this property as well as why it is tremendously difficult to regulate all these safe guards. “Intellectual Property has the shelf life of a banana.” Bill Gates

    Read More

  • Essay On Intellectual Property

    1257 Words  | 3 Pages

    Intellectual Property Law used to only protect art, music, and literature, but because of technological development, Intellectual Property Law now also protects a greater variety of innovations including designs, inventions, symbols, discoveries, and words. The phrase “intellectual property” was first known to be used in the late 1700’s; however, it was not widely talked about, nor was the Intellectual Property Law in actuality commonly implemented. Intellectual Property Rights slowly gained more attention by mid-1800’s after the Industrial Revolution had taken place: more companies were created, competition between corporations became fiercer, and owning unique innovations were crucial to winning the competition. However, as Intellectual Property

    Read More

  • Issues Around Intellectual Property Rights

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    Governments of some developing countries often express doubts about introducing strong international Intellectual Property Rights and legislation into their framework. Most developing countries will most often base their scientific research and economy on the employment of foreign basic technology imported from industrialized countries. Both of these areas can be negatively affected by IP protection that is too strong. Developed countries often don’t take into account that while strict regulations of Intellectual Property is, at times, necessary to protect copyright holders, that the same strict IP laws limit how developing countries can interact with them.

    Read More

  • Copyright and Intellectual Property in Australia

    1703 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Copyright is a fundamental right of ownership and protection common to all of the arts” (O’Hara & Beard, 2006, p. 8). “It is a form of intellectual Property (IP)” and it gives the owner exclusive rights to the copyright (O’Hara & Beard, 2006, p. 11).

    Read More

  • Intellectual Property Protection

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    Intellectual property protection has become increasingly popular in the last century. Many factors have probed interest in this area of the law. A few of those factors include musicians seeking protection of their musical talents through use of copyrights, companies seek to protect inventions of advanced production capabilities, companies create trademarks that differentiate their unique goods from competitors, and companies like Coca-Cola protect their undisclosed ingredients for their products through use of trade secrets. These examples are to gain an understanding of how and why intellectual property rights help companies seek advantages in the marketplace. Furthermore, as the world shrinks because of advancements in transportation and computer technology, intellectual property rights become a large part of entrepreneurship and product development. This paper will discuss the interesting and challenging topic of intellectual property protection. The four basic types of intellectual property include copyrights, patents, trademarks and trade secrets; we will discuss the intellectual properties in the order in which they are listed.

    Read More

  • Copyright Issues in the Digital Age

    3085 Words  | 7 Pages

    Copyright, in its first form, was first introduced in 1710 with a British statute of Anne. Since this time copyright laws have changed to remain current, and have grown into an international agreement by many countries around the globe.

    Read More

  • Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    Because of its intangible nature, and particularly the increase of the digital domain and the internet as a whole, computers and cyber piracy make it easier for people to steal many forms of intellectual property. Due to this major threat, intellectual property rights owners’ should take every single measure to protect their rights. Unless these rights are either sold, exchanged, transferred, or appropriately licensed for use in exchange for a monetary fee, they should be protected at all cost. In order to protect these rights, the federal and states governments have passed numerous laws and statutes to protect intellectual property from misappropriation and infringement. “The source of federal copyright and patent law originates with the Copyright and Patent ...

    Read More

  • Patent Protection in Malaysia

    1307 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the end of the day, the decision on if and how intellectual property (IP) protection is sought must be made in the context of an organizations IP strategy and keeping in line with the organization goals and objectives. For company who prefer to compete in the free market, copyrighted software is sufficient in protecting the legal rights of the software created. For company whose main objective is to collect licensing rights and back end deals that comes with patent protection, than it is advisable to seek for patent protection. For me, a copyright is more than sufficient to acknowledge an invention and the inventor’s rights to claim.

    Read More

  • Copyright Law

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    Just two decades ago, saying “copyright” to teachers most likely conjured images in their minds only of the fine-print notice in the front of a textbook. Today, with a world of Web 2.0 technology at their fingertips, copyright issues for teachers can be confusing and complex. Add to that an ever-increasing emphasis on technology literacy in our states’ education standards – forcing teachers to incorporate applications and resources that may be uncharted territory to them – and the waters get even murkier. Teachers bear the double-burden of carefully abiding by copyright laws in their day-to-day incorporation of technology in the classroom, while instilling copyright ethics in students as they meet state standards for technology and media literacy. A review of the copyright literature related to education provides some clarity on copyright and fair use applied to classroom practices, suggests barriers to copyright compliance among educators, and provides suggestions on how to teach copyright ethics to a tech-savvy generation.

    Read More

  • Importance And Importance Of Copyright Law

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    Copyright is a protection for authors, composers or artists and other creators who create innovative idea base work. Copyright law is important because of its role to protect the interests of the creator, while allowing others to gain access to it legally. It designed to make sure that creators receive appropriate rights for their own ideas and creativity, and to promote artistic creativity by protecting the creator.

    Read More

  • Piracy Essay

    1136 Words  | 3 Pages

    Intellectual property is the ownership of ideas as well as the control over the tangible or virtual representation of those ideas. Software is intellectual property, as are books, movies, and music.Like music performers and authors, software developers use copyright laws to protect their work and their investment in the field. The theft of intellectual property thus eliminates the resources used to develop newer and better products.

    Read More

  • My Passion For Software Engineering

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    Did your phone just ring? Or was that your computer notifying you of a new email? Since the Digital Revolution and the addition of digital electronics like the personal computer, software-based technology has always been an essential aspect of our lives. Something that would have taken up an entire classroom can now fit within the grasp of your hands thanks to the efforts of various computer scientists and engineers, making our lives much easier.

    Read More

More about Copyright Laws in India

Open Document