Section 15 of the Copyright Act 1957 - Copyright in Designs
Section 15 of the Copyright Act, 1957 regulates the overlap between copyright protection and design protection under the Designs Act, 2000. It is particularly relevant where an artistic design is registered, or is capable of being registered, as an industrial design.
What Section 15 provides
Section 15(1): Copyright under the Copyright Act does not subsist in a design that is registered under the Designs Act, 2000.
Section 15(2): Where a design is capable of registration under the Designs Act, 2000 but has not been registered, copyright in that design ceases once an article to which the design is applied has been reproduced more than fifty times by an industrial process by the copyright owner or, with the owner's licence, by another person.
The statutory text should be read with the current official text of the Copyright Act, 1957.
Meaning and effect of Section 15
The provision separates ordinary copyright protection from the statutory regime for industrial designs. If a design is actually registered under the Designs Act, copyright protection under the Copyright Act is excluded for that design. If a design could have been registered but was not, Section 15(2) permits copyright protection only up to the statutory industrial-reproduction threshold.
| Situation | Effect under Section 15 |
|---|---|
| Design registered under the Designs Act, 2000 | Copyright under the Copyright Act does not subsist in that registered design. |
| Design capable of registration but not registered | Copyright ceases after the article bearing the design has been reproduced more than fifty times by an industrial process in the circumstances stated in Section 15(2). |
| Work does not fall within the relevant concept of an industrial design | Section 15 does not automatically remove copyright; the nature of the work and the applicable statutory definitions must be examined. |
What is a design under the Designs Act, 2000?
Section 2(d) of the Designs Act, 2000 defines a "design" principally by reference to features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornament or composition of lines or colours applied to an article, whether in two-dimensional or three-dimensional form or both, by an industrial process or means, which in the finished article appeal to and are judged solely by the eye. The statutory definition also contains exclusions, including an artistic work as defined in Section 2(c) of the Copyright Act.
Why the fifty-reproduction rule matters
The threshold in Section 15(2) is triggered only where the design is capable of registration under the Designs Act but has not been registered. Once the article to which that design is applied is reproduced more than fifty times by an industrial process by the copyright owner, or under the owner's licence, copyright in that design ceases under the Copyright Act.
Relationship with the Designs Act, 2000
The Designs Act, 2000 is the principal legislation governing registration and protection of industrial designs in India. Section 2(d) defines "design", while Section 5 deals with applications for registration. Section 11 provides copyright in a registered design for the statutory period, subject to the provisions of that Act.
Legislative note
The earlier reference to the Designs Act, 1911 in Section 15 was substituted by the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 with a reference to the Designs Act, 2000, with effect from 21 June 2012. The historical words "Indian Patents and" had earlier been omitted by the 1983 amendment.
Related provisions
For context, read Section 13 - works in which copyright subsists, Section 14 - meaning of copyright, and Section 16 - no copyright except as provided in the Act.