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Section 13: Works in which copyright subsists
- (1) Subject to the provisions of this section and the other provisions of this Act, copyright shall subsist throughout India in the following classes of works, that is to say,–
- (a) original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works;
- (b) cinematograph films; and
- (c) 1[sound recording].
- (2) Copyright shall not subsist in any work specified in sub-section (1), other than a work to which the provisions of section 40 or section 41 apply, unless–
- (i) in the case of a published work, the work is first published in India, or where the work is first published outside India, the author is at the date of such publication, or in a case where the author was dead at that date, was at the time of his death, a citizen of India;
- (ii) in the case of an unpublished work other than a 2[work of architecture], the author is at the date of making of the work a citizen of India or domiciled in India; and
- (iii) in the case of a 2[work of architecture], the work is located in India. Explanation.–In the case of a work of joint authorship, the conditions conferring copyright specified in this sub-section shall be satisfied by all the authors of the work.
- (3) Copyright shall not subsist
- (a) in any cinematograph film if a substantial part of the film is an infringement of the copyright in any other work;
- (b) in any 3[sound recording] made in respect of a literary, dramatic or musical work, if in making the 3[sound recording], copyright in such work has been infringed.
- (4) The copyright in a cinematograph film or a record shall not affect the separate copyright in any work in respect of which or a substantial part of which, the film, or, as the case may be, the 3[sound recording] is made.–
- (5) In the case of a 3[work of architecture], copyright shall subsist only in the artistic character and design and shall not extend to processes or methods of construction.–
Source: official text of The Copyright Act, 1957 as published on India Code (PDF). All sections of the Copyright Act, 1957.