KSLU Solved Question Papers
Intellectual Property Rights II
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 10
2018 Dec Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 10 Intellectual Property Rights II 2018 Dec Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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Model answers written and edited by the munotes.in editorial desk.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2018 Dec examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2018 Dec examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2018 Dec examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 100 · 13 questions answered
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1Define copyright and explain the nature and subject matter of copyright.[16]
Answer
For full marks, cover: Part A, the definition (section 14) and its key words ("exclusive", "do or authorise", "work or any substantial part"); Part B, the nature of copyright: a statutory right (section 16), intangible property, a negative right of exclusion, a limited monopoly (Entertainment Network), a bundle of separate economic rights, economic and moral rights side by side (section 57), separate rights in a work and in the film or record that uses it (section 13(4); Indian Performing Right Society), temporary and territorial; the justifications (labour, incentive, personality, public interest) and the balance they produce; Part C, the subject matter: the six classes of work (section 13(1)) with definitions and examples, originality for authorial works (Eastern Book Company), expression, not ideas (R.G. Anand), the connecting factors (sections 13(2), 40); what is outside the subject matter; a table.
Part A: the definition
Section 14 of the Copyright Act, 1957 defines copyright as "the exclusive right subject to the provisions of this Act, to do or authorise the doing of" certain acts in respect of a work or any substantial part of it. Three phrases carry its meaning.
- "Exclusive right." Only the owner may do the reserved acts; others need his licence.
- "To do or authorise the doing of." The owner may exploit the work himself or license others, and anyone who authorises an infringement is also liable.
- "A work or any substantial part thereof." Taking a qualitatively important part infringes, even if most of the work is left untouched.
The acts are listed for each class of work, such as reproducing, issuing copies, performing, communicating to the public, translating and adapting.
Part B: the nature of copyright
1. A creature of statute. No person is entitled to copyright except under the Act or another law in force (section 16). There is no common law copyright in India. The section preserves only the jurisdiction to restrain a breach of trust or confidence.
2. Intangible property. Copyright is property in a creation of the mind, not in a physical object. The owner of a book owns the paper and ink. The owner of the copyright owns the right to reproduce the text. The two may belong to different people.
3. A negative right of exclusion. At its core, copyright is a right to stop others from doing the reserved acts. It does not give a right to publish anything; that still depends on other laws. Nor does it stop someone who creates a similar work independently.
4. A limited monopoly.
Entertainment Network (India) Ltd. v. Super Cassettes Industries Ltd., (2008) 13 SCC 30. A music company refused to license its sound recordings to FM radio stations except on terms they found unreasonable.
Held. Copyright is a statutory monopoly. The compulsory licence provision exists so that the monopoly is not used to withhold works unreasonably from the public. The matter was sent back to fix the terms of a licence. The monopoly is real but limited by the public interest.
5. A bundle of separate rights. Each reserved act is a distinct right. Each may be kept, assigned or licensed separately, by territory, period and medium (sections 18, 19, 30).
6. Economic and moral rights. Besides the economic rights in section 14, the author has moral rights (section 57). He may claim authorship, and restrain distortion or mutilation prejudicial to his honour or reputation. They continue after the economic rights are assigned.
7. Layered rights in one product. A film or sound recording has its own copyright. That copyright does not affect the separate copyright in the works it uses, such as the script, lyrics and music (section 13(4)).
Indian Performing Right Society Ltd. v. Eastern India Motion Pictures Association, AIR 1977 SC 1443. Film producers said that once music was composed for a film, the producer owned it, so a performing right society had nothing to license.
Held. A producer who commissions music for a film for valuable consideration becomes first owner of it as part of the film. But the composer's copyright in the music does not perish: the two rights co-exist, and the composer may assert the work outside the film.
8. Temporary and territorial. Copyright lasts for limited terms, generally the author's life plus sixty years (section 22). It operates within India and is extended to foreign works by order (section 40).
Why the law creates copyright
- Labour. An author who creates something by his effort deserves to control it.
- Incentive. Without protection, copying would make creative work unprofitable, and less of it would be produced.
- Personality. A work expresses its author, which is why moral rights exist.
- Public interest. The monopoly is granted to promote learning and culture. So it is limited by exceptions in section 52, compulsory licences in sections 31 to 32B, and a fixed term.
The nature of copyright is the product of these aims: a strong but temporary and limited property right.
Part C: the subject matter
Copyright subsists in six classes of work (section 13(1)).
| Class | Definition | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Literary work | Includes computer programmes, tables and compilations, including databases (section 2(o)) | Novels, articles, textbooks, software, directories |
| Dramatic work | A piece for recitation, choreography or dumb show, fixed in writing or otherwise, not a film (section 2(h)) | Plays, screenplays, ballets |
| Musical work | Music, including its graphical notation, not the words or actions (section 2(p)) | Melodies, film scores |
| Artistic work | Painting, sculpture, drawing, engraving, photograph, architecture, artistic craftsmanship (section 2(c)) | Paintings, logos, maps, buildings |
| Class | Definition | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Cinematograph film | Any work of visual recording, with its soundtrack (section 2(f)) | Films, serials, videos |
| Sound recording | A recording of sounds from which they may be produced (section 2(xx)) | Music albums, podcasts |
Originality. The first four classes must be original (section 13(1)(a)).
Eastern Book Company v. D.B. Modak, AIR 2008 SC 809. A law publisher claimed copyright in its edited versions of Supreme Court judgments.
Held. Originality in India means skill and judgment, more than mechanical labour. The judgments themselves carried no copyright for the publisher. Its paragraph numbering, headnotes and editorial notes did.
Expression, not ideas.
R.G. Anand v. Delux Films, AIR 1978 SC 1613. A playwright said a film copied the theme of his play on provincial prejudice.
Held. There is no copyright in an idea, theme, plot or historical fact. Only the form and manner of expression are protected.
The connecting factors. A work qualifies if it was first published in India, or its author was an Indian citizen. Unpublished works qualify if the author was an Indian citizen or domiciled in India, and architecture if it is located in India (section 13(2)). Foreign works qualify through orders under section 40.
One song, many copyrights: the nature and subject matter together
Take a song in a film. The lyricist owns copyright in the words as a literary work. The composer owns copyright in the tune as a musical work. The producer of the sound recording owns copyright in the recording, and the film producer in the film. The singer has a performer's right (section 38). Each right can be licensed separately: the lyrics to a book, the tune to a cover artist, the recording to a radio station. Each is limited by the Act's exceptions and term. This one product shows how copyright is a statutory, divisible and layered property right over different classes of work.
What is outside the subject matter
- Ideas, facts, methods and systems, which are free for all.
- Titles, names and short slogans, which are too slight to be works.
- Performances and broadcasts, which are not works, though performers and broadcasters have related rights (sections 37, 38).
- Registered designs, and unregistered ones reproduced industrially more than fifty times (section 15).
- Infringing films and sound recordings (section 13(3)), and the construction methods in architecture (section 13(5)).
Conclusion. Copyright is the statutory, exclusive right to do and authorise the acts that section 14 reserves for each class of work. In nature it is intangible, negative and divisible, a limited monopoly with economic and moral rights. It lasts for a fixed term within India and treaty countries. Its subject matter is original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, films and sound recordings. Expression is protected, not ideas, and the work needs an Indian or treaty connection.
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