Civil Remedies for Infringement

In one line

An owner gets every civil remedy the law knows: an injunction, damages, an account of profits and whatever else, unless the defendant proves he did not know copyright subsisted, in which case he gets an injunction and a share of the profits only.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: section 55(1) of the Copyright Act, 1957 provides that where copyright in any work has been infringed, the owner of the copyright shall, except as otherwise provided by the Act, be entitled to all such remedies by way of injunction, damages, accounts and otherwise as are or may be conferred by law for the infringement of a right.

Why the law has this at all

Because a right without a remedy is nothing. Section 51 says what infringement is; section 55 says what happens.

Because the ordinary law of remedies already exists. Rather than list remedies, the section imports "all such remedies ... as are or may be conferred by law", which keeps the section current as the general law develops.

And because an innocent defendant should not pay damages. A printer who had no reason to think the work was protected has done wrong but not knowingly, and the proviso reflects that.

The provision itself

Section 55(1). "Where copyright in any work has been infringed, the owner of the copyright shall, except as otherwise provided by this Act, be entitled to all such remedies by way of injunction, damages, accounts and otherwise as are or may be conferred by law for the infringement of a right."

The proviso, the innocent infringer. "If the defendant proves that at the date of the infringement he was not aware and had no reasonable ground for believing that copyright subsisted in the work, the plaintiff shall not be entitled to any remedy other than an injunction in respect of the infringement and a decree for the whole or part of the profits made by the defendant by the sale of the infringing copies as the court may in the circumstances deem reasonable."

Section 55(2), the presumption of authorship. Where, in the case of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, or, subject to section 13(3), a cinematograph film or sound recording, a name purporting to be that of the author or the publisher appears on copies of the work as published, or, for an artistic work, appeared on the work when it was made, that person "shall, in any proceeding in respect of infringement of copyright in such work, be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to be the author or the publisher of the work, as the case may be".

Section 55(3), costs. The costs of all parties in any proceedings in respect of infringement "shall be in the discretion of the court".