The Indian Copyright Act, 1957 complies with most international treaties such as the Berne Convention for protection of Literary and Artistic Works 1886, The Universal Copyright Convention 1951, The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement of 1995. The International Copyright Order has been passed to protect the copyright/copyright lawyers in Delhi in member countries of the convention and agreement. Similarly, foreign artistic works are also given protection in India. Although the quality of the photograph is immaterial, it must have the following essential properties: (1) it must be original work, and (2) some degree of skill and effort must have been expended on it. If a photograph satisfies the above conditions, it is protected under Indian copyright law.

  • Section 4 of the act prevents publishing the copyrighted work in a public setting without the license of the owner who has the copyright. The copyright owner can use the photograph in any way including commercially.
  • Section 13 of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 provides copyright protection for original artistic works. 
  • Section 17 of the Copyrights Act, 1957 bestows the author of a work with the first ownership. The author, with respect to a photograph, is the person taking the photograph, or the artist unless there is an express agreement stating otherwise. If we are to go by definition, a photographer is always the first owner of the photographs he clicks, as was noted in the case of Camera House, Bombay versus State of Maharashtra [AIR 1969 Bom 437], amongst others. As it is, when the threshold of originality is put upon a photograph to assess copyrightability, every single thing about it – starting from the angle at which it is taken to how the subject(s) is/are placed is only a smidgen of what could warrant a copyright grant/best trademark lawyers in Ludhiana.

Section 52 of the Indian Copyright Act 1957 deals with fair use. This section contains specific occasions or situations wherein the overall rule concerning copyright does not apply. Section 52(1)(a) of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 permits the employment of proprietary work for personal or personal use, together with analysis, criticism, or review. Section 52 (d) of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 permits the copy of any work for legal proceedings or maybe for the aim of a report of a legal proceeding/Online Registration of Well Known Trademark.

RIGHTS OF A PHOTOGRAPHER AS DERIVED FROM THE PROVISIONS OF THE COPYRIGHT ACT:

  1. From the date the photograph is taken, the photographer has a copyright on it for 60 years. The photographer needs not have published the picture for this protection to come into effect.
  2. In most cases, the first owner for the copyright for any work is held by the creator of that work. Hence, in cases of photographs, they lie with the photographer who originally clicked an image.
  3. Although it is preferred, a photographer doesn’t necessarily have to get the image registered for the copyright to be put into effect. The protection is applied from the date the picture was taken.
  4. Under the principle of fair use, a person other than a photographer may use the photographs without any malafide intention of attaining undue profits from it. In such cases there does not need to be any prior consent from the photographer.