Know about “The Copyright (Amendment) Rules, 2021”

The Government of India has come up with Copyright (Amendment) Rules, 2021 vide Gazette notification under reference G.S.R. 225(E) dated 30th March 2021. The copyright regime in India is wholly governed by two things i.e., the Copyright Act, 1957 and the Copyright Rules, 2013. In the year 2016, The Copyright Rules, 2013 were last amended according to the needs and necessities of the then requirements of the market. The recent amendments have been introduced by the Government with one ultimate objective of bringing all the existing rules in parity with other relevant legislations.

However, it aims to ensure smooth and flawless compliance in the light of the technological advancement in the field of digitalization by adopting electronic means for primary mode of communication along with workings in the Copyright Office. A new provision regarding the publication of a copyrights journal has also been incorporated in the new rules. This new provision shall eliminate the requirement of publication in the Official Gazette. The said copyright journal would be available on the official website of the Copyright Office.

Some new provisions have been introduced with an aim to encourage accountability and transparency in two things related to royalty amounts i.e.,

1.     calculation of undistributed royalty amounts; and

2.     use of electronic & traceable payment methods while collecting and distributing royalties.

Another new rule has been introduced to reinforce transparency in the working of copyright societies which makes it mandatory for the copyright societies to draw up and make public an Annual Transparency Report for every financial year. These amendments act as a harmonization agent between the Copyright Rules and the provisions of Finance Act, 2017 whereby the Copyright Board has been diluted into Appellate Board.

Interestingly, the compliance requirements for registration of software works which were large in number now have been reduced to a great extent. Now, the applicant is having the liberty to file the first 10 and last 10 pages of source code, or the entire source code in case it is less than 20 pages but fulfilling one condition i.e., there should be no blocked out or redacted portions in the code. Last but not the least, the time limit for the Central Government to respond to an application made before it for the purpose of the registration as a copyright society has been extended to one hundred and eighty days (180 days). The main aim behind such an extension is to increase the time to scrutinize the application in a more comprehensive manner than ever before.

The Copyright (Amendment) Rules, 2021 seems to be a perfect blend of everything which has been reached through a holistic approach. We really hope for the proper functioning and execution of it