KSLU Solved Question Papers
Intellectual Property Rights II
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 10
2022 Apr Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 10 Intellectual Property Rights II 2022 Apr Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2022 Apr examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2022 Apr 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.
Q1Explain the works in which copyright subsists.[16]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the statutory basis (sections 13(1) and 16) and the meaning of "work" (section 2(y)); originality and the three standards (sweat of the brow, modicum of creativity, skill and judgment) with University of London Press, Feist and Eastern Book Company; each class in turn with its definition, examples, author, term and cases: literary works including computer programmes and compilations (sections 2(o), 2(ffc); Burlington, Ladbroke), dramatic works (section 2(h); Institute for Inner Studies), musical works (section 2(p); Indian Performing Right Society), artistic works and architecture (sections 2(c), 2(b); Rajesh Masrani), cinematograph films (section 2(f); Leo Burnett and MRF), sound recordings (section 2(xx)); the connection with India and foreign works (sections 13(2), 40); what is excluded (sections 13(3) to (5), 15, 16; titles, ideas, performances; Krishika Lulla, Fortune Films).
The statutory basis
Copyright in India is purely a creation of statute. Section 16 of the Copyright Act, 1957 says no person is entitled to copyright "otherwise than under and in accordance with" the Act or another law. Section 13(1) then lists where copyright subsists throughout India:
- original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works;
- cinematograph films; and
- sound recordings.
Section 2(y) calls each of these a "work". The first group are the authorial works, which must be original. Films and sound recordings are entrepreneurial works, protecting the investment of producers.
The originality requirement
"Original" does not mean new or inventive. It means the work was not copied and comes from the author. Three standards have been used:
- Sweat of the brow (England): labour and expense alone are enough.
- Modicum of creativity (United States): some minimal creative spark is needed.
- Skill and judgment (Canada and now India): more than mechanical labour, but no creativity in the artistic sense.
University of London Press Ltd. v. University Tutorial Press Ltd., [1916] 2 Ch 601. Examination papers set by examiners were copied by a rival publisher.
Held. They were original literary works. Originality means only that the work originates from its author and is not copied; setting the papers needed knowledge and judgment.
Feist Publications Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 18 USPQ 2d 1275 (US Supreme Court, 1991). A rival copied the alphabetical listings of a telephone directory.
Held. Originality needs independent creation and at least some minimal creativity. An alphabetical list of names and numbers had none, and facts are never original.
Eastern Book Company v. D.B. Modak, AIR 2008 SC 809. A law publisher claimed copyright in its edited version of Supreme Court judgments.
Held. India follows the skill and judgment test. The judgments' text carried no copyright for the publisher. Its paragraph numbering, cross-references and notes on concurring or dissenting judges were original and protected.
1. Literary works
Meaning. A literary work includes computer programmes, tables and compilations, including computer databases (section 2(o)). It covers any written or printed matter in words, numbers or symbols, whatever its quality. Books, articles, letters, lectures, examination papers, catalogues and source code all qualify.
Computer programmes. A set of instructions in words, codes or schemes that makes a computer perform a task (section 2(ffc)).
Compilations. A collection of data is protected if its selection or arrangement involved skill and judgment.
Burlington Home Shopping Pvt. Ltd. v. Rajnish Chibber, 61 (1995) DLT 6. A former employee took a mail-order firm's customer database.
Held. A compilation of addresses built with time, labour and skill is a literary work. Identical order and identical spelling mistakes proved copying.
Ladbroke (Football) Ltd. v. William Hill (Football) Ltd., [1964] 1 WLR 273. A bookmaker's betting coupon was imitated.
Held. The coupon was an original compilation because of the skill and judgment in its selection and arrangement. The work is looked at as a whole.
Author and term. The writer is the author; copyright lasts for his life plus sixty years (section 22).
2. Dramatic works
Meaning. Section 2(h) says a dramatic work includes a piece for recitation, choreography and entertainment in dumb show. It also includes a scenic arrangement or acting form fixed in writing or otherwise. Plays, screenplays, ballets and mime are examples. A cinematograph film is excluded.
Institute for Inner Studies v. Charlotte Anderson, Delhi High Court, 10 January 2014. The plaintiffs claimed copyright in the asanas and techniques of a healing system.
Held. Copyright subsisted in their written literature, but not in the asanas or the technique as a dramatic work or compilation. A method of doing something is not a dramatic work.
3. Musical works
Meaning. A musical work is music, including its graphical notation, but not the words or actions sung or performed with it (section 2(p)). The tune of a song is a musical work; its lyrics are a literary work.
Indian Performing Right Society Ltd. v. Eastern India Motion Pictures Association, AIR 1977 SC 1443. IPRS claimed fees for public performance of film songs.
Held. A composer commissioned for a film gives the producer first ownership of the music as part of the film. But the musical work is a separate work, and the composer keeps it outside the film. The Court also noted that a singer, as distinct from the composer, had no copyright under the Act as it then stood.
4. Artistic works and architecture
Meaning. An artistic work is (section 2(c)):
- a painting, sculpture, drawing (including a diagram, map, chart or plan), engraving or photograph, whether or not it has artistic quality;
- a work of architecture, meaning a building or structure with an artistic character or design, or a model of one (section 2(b)); and
- any other work of artistic craftsmanship.
Logos, cartoons, labels, technical drawings and fashion sketches qualify. In architecture, copyright covers the artistic character and design, not methods of construction (section 13(5)).
Rajesh Masrani v. Tahiliani Design Pvt. Ltd., AIR 2009 Del 44. A designer's drawings and the patterns printed on her garments were copied.
Held. The drawings and patterns were artistic works. As they had not been applied industrially more than fifty times, section 15(2) did not take away their copyright.
5. Cinematograph films
Meaning. Any work of visual recording, by any process, including its accompanying sound recording (section 2(f)). Feature films, television serials and online videos are films. The producer is the author (section 2(d)(v)). Copyright lasts sixty years from publication (section 26).
Star India Pvt. Ltd. v. Leo Burnett (India) Pvt. Ltd., 2003 (27) PTC 81 (Bom). An advertisement was said to imitate scenes from a television serial.
Held. A film's copyright is infringed only by making a copy of the film itself, not by a different film that resembles it.
MRF Ltd. v. Metro Tyres Ltd., (2019) 262 DLT 734. A tyre maker said a rival's commercial copied its own.
Held. On the law, the Delhi High Court differed from Leo Burnett. A film is also infringed by a later film that is substantially and materially similar to it. On the facts, no injunction was granted.
6. Sound recordings
Meaning. A recording of sounds from which sounds can be produced, whatever the medium or method (section 2(xx)). The producer is the author. Copyright lasts sixty years from publication (section 27). A sound recording is separate from the music and lyrics recorded in it.
The connection with India and foreign works
- A published work must be first published in India, or have an author who was an Indian citizen when it was published (section 13(2)(i)).
- An unpublished work needs an author who is an Indian citizen or domiciled in India (section 13(2)(ii)).
- A work of architecture must be located in India (section 13(2)(iii)).
- Works from Berne, Universal Copyright Convention and WTO countries are protected through section 40 and the International Copyright Order, 1999.
What is excluded
- A film that infringes another work in a substantial part, and a sound recording made by infringing the underlying work (section 13(3)).
- The film's or recording's copyright does not displace the separate copyright in the story, script or music (section 13(4)).
- A design registered under the Designs Act, 2000 (section 15(1)).
- Ideas, facts, titles, slogans and methods, which are not works.
- Performances and broadcasts, which have neighbouring rights instead (sections 37 to 39A).
Krishika Lulla v. Shyam Vithalrao Devkatta, Supreme Court, 15 October 2015. A writer said a film's title copied the title of his synopsis.
Held. A title is not a literary work, and the criminal case was quashed.
Fortune Films International v. Dev Anand, AIR 1979 Bom 17. An actor claimed copyright in his film performance.
Held. A performance was not a "work". Performers today have a separate right under section 38.
Conclusion. Copyright subsists only in the works section 13(1) names. Original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works are protected for the author's skill and judgment. Films and sound recordings are protected for the producer's investment. Each must have an Indian connection or treaty protection, and ideas, titles, methods, performances and registered designs lie outside the list.
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