Section 79 of the Copyright Act, 1957 - Repeals, Savings and Transitional Provisions
Section 79 is the transitional provision of the Copyright Act, 1957. It repealed the earlier copyright enactments applicable in India while preserving specified accrued rights, interests and lawful acts existing before the 1957 Act commenced.
What Section 79 covers
| Sub-section | Subject |
|---|---|
| 79(1) | Repeal of the Indian Copyright Act, 1914 and the UK Copyright Act, 1911 as applied to India. |
| 79(2) | Protection of valuable rights or interests arising from pre-commencement expenditure or liabilities connected with reproduction or performance. |
| 79(3) | No revival of copyright in a work where copyright did not subsist immediately before commencement. |
| 79(4) | Transition of subsisting copyright to the rights specified in Section 14, including ownership of newly conferred rights. |
| 79(5) | Continuation of specified pre-existing copyright rights and interests, subject to the Act. |
| 79(6) | A pre-commencement act is not retrospectively made an infringement if it was not otherwise an infringement. |
| 79(7) | Preserves the operation of the General Clauses Act, 1897 concerning the effect of repeals. |
Section 79 - statutory provision
(1) The Indian Copyright Act, 1914 (3 of 1914), and the Copyright Act of 1911 passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom as modified in its application to India by the Indian Copyright Act, 1914 (3 of 1914), are hereby repealed.
(2) Where any person has, before the commencement of this Act, taken any action whereby he has incurred any expenditure or liabilities in connection with the reproduction or performance of any work in a manner which at the time was lawful or for the purpose of or with a view to the reproduction or performance of a work at a time when such reproduction or performance would, but for the coming into force of this Act, have been lawful, nothing in this section shall diminish or prejudice any rights or interests arising from or in connection with such action which are subsisting and valuable at the said date, unless the person who, by virtue of this Act, becomes entitled to restrain such reproduction or performance, agrees to pay such compensation as, failing agreement, may be determined by the competent court in accordance with the law currently in force.
(3) Copyright shall not subsist by virtue of this Act in any work in which copyright did not subsist immediately before the commencement of this Act under any Act repealed by sub-section (1).
(4) Where copyright subsisted in any work immediately before the commencement of this Act, the rights comprising such copyright shall, as from the date of such commencement, be the rights specified in Section 14 in relation to the class of works to which such work belongs, and where any new rights are conferred by that section, the owner of such rights shall be:
(a) in any case where copyright in the work was wholly assigned before the commencement of this Act, the assignee or his successor-in-interest;
(b) in any other case, the person who was the first owner of the copyright in the work under any Act repealed by sub-section (1) or his legal representatives.
(5) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, where any person is entitled immediately before the commencement of this Act to copyright in any work or any right in such copyright or to an interest in any such right, he shall continue to be entitled to such right or interest for the period for which he would have been entitled thereto if this Act had not come into force.
(6) Nothing contained in this Act shall be deemed to render any act done before its commencement an infringement of copyright if that act would not otherwise have constituted such an infringement.
(7) Save as otherwise provided in this section, nothing in this section shall be deemed to affect the application of the General Clauses Act, 1897 (10 of 1897), with respect to the effect of repeals.
Editorial note: The wording above is presented for reader-friendly current-law use. Older consolidated copies of Section 79(2) may still refer to the "Appellate Board". That institution was abolished under the Tribunals Reforms legislation in 2021. For authoritative wording and amendment history, use the official sources below.
Meaning and legal effect of Section 79
Repeal does not erase every pre-existing legal consequence
Sub-section (1) replaced the earlier statutory copyright regime. The remaining sub-sections operate as savings and transitional rules. Their purpose is to determine how rights, assignments, interests, expenditures, liabilities and acts originating before commencement of the 1957 Act are treated after the new Act took effect.
Protection for pre-commencement investment
Sub-section (2) addresses a person who, before commencement, incurred expenditure or liabilities in reliance on reproduction or performance that was then lawful. It protects subsisting and valuable rights or interests arising from that action, subject to the compensation mechanism contemplated by the provision.
No revival of copyright that had already ceased
Sub-section (3) prevents the 1957 Act, merely by coming into force, from creating copyright in a work in which copyright did not subsist immediately before commencement under the repealed law.
Existing copyright and Section 14 rights
Under sub-section (4), copyright that subsisted immediately before commencement is expressed through the rights specified in Section 14 for the relevant class of work. The provision also identifies who owns any new rights conferred in the transition, distinguishing a work wholly assigned before commencement from other cases.
Earlier lawful acts are not made infringements retrospectively
Sub-section (6) is an express protection against retrospective infringement liability for an act done before commencement where that act would not otherwise have constituted copyright infringement.
General Clauses Act savings remain relevant
Sub-section (7) preserves, except where Section 79 otherwise provides, the application of the General Clauses Act, 1897 to the legal effect of repeal. This connects the Copyright Act's specific transitional rules with the general statutory rules governing repeal and savings.
Official legal resources
For authoritative and updated statutory material, refer to the India Code and the Copyright Office, Government of India. The Copyright Office also publishes rules, notifications, forms and other copyright administration material.