KSLU Solved Question Papers
Intellectual Property Rights II
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 10
2019 Dec Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 10 Intellectual Property Rights II 2019 Dec Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2019 Dec examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2019 Dec examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2019 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.
Q1What are the qualifying elements to be in existence in a work for its copyrightability ?[16]
Answer
For full marks, cover: copyright as a creature of statute (section 16), so copyrightability means meeting the Act's conditions; four gateways, each with its elements and an authority: (A) the subject matter: a protected class of work (sections 2(y), 13(1)), originality as skill and judgment (University of London Press, Feist, Eastern Book Company), expression, not idea, fact or technique (R.G. Anand, Institute for Inner Studies), a work, not a title or a performance (Krishika Lulla, Fortune Films), material form, with fixation for dramatic works (section 2(h)); (B) the author and the connecting factor: an author (section 2(d), including computer-generated works), a link with India (section 13(2)) or a treaty country (section 40, the International Copyright Order, 1999), international organisations (section 41); (C) the legal exclusions (sections 13(3), 13(4), 13(5), 15); (D) time (sections 21 to 29); what is not required (registration, novelty, merit, publication; Sanjay Soya); a worked example; a checklist table.
Why "qualifying elements"
Section 16 of the Copyright Act, 1957 says there is no copyright "otherwise than under and in accordance with" the Act. Copyright is therefore not a natural right that every creation carries. A work has copyright only if it passes the conditions the Act lays down. Those conditions fall into four gateways. They ask what the work is, and who made it and where. They also ask whether an exclusion applies, and whether the term is running.
Gateway A: the subject matter
1. A protected class of work. Section 13(1) lists the classes:
- original literary works (including computer programmes, tables and compilations, section 2(o));
- original dramatic works (section 2(h));
- original musical works (section 2(p));
- original artistic works, including architecture and artistic craftsmanship (sections 2(b), 2(c));
- cinematograph films (section 2(f)); and
- sound recordings (section 2(xx)).
These are the "works" of section 2(y). Anything outside them, however valuable, gets no copyright.
2. Originality. The first four classes must be original (section 13(1)(a)). The standard has moved over time.
University of London Press Ltd. v. University Tutorial Press Ltd., [1916] 2 Ch 601. A rival copied examination papers set by university examiners.
Held. The papers were original. Originality concerns the origin of the work, not novel ideas: it must not be copied but come from the author.
Feist Publications Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 18 USPQ 2d 1275 (US Supreme Court, 1991). A publisher copied the white-pages listings of a telephone directory.
Held. Originality requires independent creation and at least a minimal degree of creativity. Facts owe nothing to authorship, and an alphabetical list of subscribers had none. Labour alone was not enough.
Eastern Book Company v. D.B. Modak, AIR 2008 SC 809. A law publisher claimed copyright in its edited Supreme Court judgments.
Held. India chose a middle path, the Canadian standard of skill and judgment. It is more than the English "sweat of the brow", less than American creativity. The bare judgments failed it; the publisher's paragraph numbers and editorial notes passed.
Films and sound recordings need no originality, but they must not be made by infringing another work (section 13(3)).
3. Expression, not ideas, facts or techniques. Copyright protects the form in which something is expressed.
R.G. Anand v. Delux Films, AIR 1978 SC 1613. A playwright said a film took the theme of his play.
Held. There is no copyright in an idea, theme or plot. Only the way the idea is worked out is protected.
Institute for Inner Studies v. Charlotte Anderson, Delhi High Court, 10 January 2014. Copyright was claimed in the asanas and techniques of a healing system.
Held. The written literature was protected. The techniques themselves were not a work, and others could teach and perform them.
4. A work, not something too slight or of another kind.
Krishika Lulla v. Shyam Vithalrao Devkatta, Supreme Court, 15 October 2015. A writer complained that a film used the title of his synopsis.
Held. A title alone is not a literary work, so there was no offence.
Fortune Films International v. Dev Anand, AIR 1979 Bom 17. An actor claimed copyright in his performance in a film.
Held. A performance was not a work under the Act as it then stood. Performers now have a separate performer's right (section 38), not copyright.
5. Existence in a material form. The Act protects works that exist, not thoughts. A speech must be delivered or recorded, and a design drawn or made. A dramatic work must be fixed "in writing or otherwise" (section 2(h)).
Gateway B: the author and the connecting factor
6. An identifiable author. Section 2(d) names the author of each class. They are the writer, composer, artist or photographer, and the producer of a film or sound recording. For a computer-generated work, the author is the person who causes it to be created (section 2(d)(vi)).
7. A connection with India (section 13(2)).
- A published work must be first published in India, or, if first published abroad, have an author who was an Indian citizen.
- An unpublished work must have an author who was a citizen of, or domiciled in, India when it was made.
- A work of architecture must be located in India.
8. Or a connection with a treaty country. The Central Government may extend the Act to foreign works by order (section 40). The International Copyright Order, 1999 does so for Berne, UCC and WTO countries, among others. Works of certain international organisations are protected by section 41.
Gateway C: the legal exclusions
9. No copyright where the Act says so.
- A film is not protected if a substantial part of it infringes another work (section 13(3)). Nor is a sound recording made in breach of copyright in a work.
- A film or recording does not affect the separate copyright in the works it contains (section 13(4)).
- In a work of architecture, copyright covers only the artistic character and design, not methods of construction (section 13(5)).
- A design registered under the Designs Act has no copyright. An unregistered registrable design loses it after more than fifty industrial reproductions (section 15).
Gateway D: time
10. A running term. The general term is the author's life plus sixty years (section 22). Anonymous and posthumous works, films, sound recordings, Government works and works of public undertakings get sixty years from publication (sections 23 to 28A). Once the term ends, the work is in the public domain. An author may also give up his rights by notice (section 21).
What is not required
- Registration is optional, and its entries are only prima facie evidence (sections 45 and 48).
- Novelty and artistic merit are not needed (section 2(c): "whether or not" of artistic quality).
- Publication is not needed; unpublished works are protected.
- Notice or deposit is not needed, in line with Berne.
Sanjay Soya Pvt. Ltd. v. Narayani Trading Company, Bombay High Court, 9 March 2021. A defendant argued that an unregistered label carried no enforceable copyright.
Held. Registration is not a condition for a suit for infringement. An earlier Bombay ruling to the contrary was per incuriam.
A worked example
A student in Mumbai takes photographs of the monsoon and writes captions for them.
- The photographs are artistic works, and the captions literary works (Gateway A). Choosing angle, light and moment shows skill and judgment. A one-word caption, like a title, would fail.
- The student is the author and an Indian citizen (Gateway B).
- No exclusion applies (Gateway C).
- Copyright lasts for the student's life plus sixty years (Gateway D).
So the photographs are copyrightable without any registration.
Checklist
| Gateway | Element | Provision or authority |
|---|---|---|
| A | Protected class | Sections 2(y), 13(1) |
| A | Originality | Section 13(1)(a); Eastern Book Company |
| Gateway | Element | Provision or authority |
|---|---|---|
| A | Expression, not idea | R.G. Anand |
| A | A work in material form | Section 2(h); Krishika Lulla |
| B | An author | Section 2(d) |
| B | Indian or treaty link | Sections 13(2), 40, 41 |
| C | No exclusion | Sections 13(3), 13(5), 15 |
| D | Running term | Sections 21 to 29 |
Conclusion. A work is copyrightable only if it passes all four gateways. It must belong to a protected class, be original in the sense of skill and judgment, and be an expression in some material form. It must have an author with an Indian or treaty connection. No exclusion in sections 13 or 15 may apply, and its term must still be running. Registration, novelty, merit, publication and notice are not required.
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