The Supreme Court decision in the copyright case regarding the television
serial "Yey Jo hai Zindagi has enunciated an important principle
of law regarding the ownership of Copyrights.
In the context, the dispute was whether the Copyright on the programme
belonged to the sponsor of the programme who had financed the project
or the producer of the programme. The apex court has ruled the case in
favour of the producer.
The importance of the principle that has emerged out of the case is
that the intellectual property in a work belongs to the creator and the
financier or the facilitator has no automatic claim over the same. The creator
has however the right to transfer the same for a consideration to the financier
or any body else. The financier has no right other than any other transferee
can claim.
If no consideration is paid exclusively by the financier to the creator
for the transfer of the rights, not withstanding the defrayment of costs
of production or facilitation of production, no IP vests with him.
Any presumption of "Deemed Transfer of IP" has no place under this principle.
Any transfer should be by a valid contract to which the general principles
of "Free Consent", "Contractual ability", "Absence of Threat, Coercion,
and Undue influence" etc are also applicable.
This principle that "IP belongs to the Creator unless transferred by
a valid contract" will also apply to cases of dispute between the employers
and employees. The employers have to take special precautions by wording
their employment contract in such a way that the employee is given notice
that the IP belongs to the employer. If however, the employment contract
is itself for research and development for the creation of IP for the employer,
the employer may have a presumptuous claim on IP for the wok created. This
fact has to be established in the employment contract itself.
Naavi
September 1, 2001.
