The Mode of Assignment

In one line

An assignment of copyright must be in writing and signed, must say what work, what rights, how long and where, and if it does not say, the Act says for it.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: section 19 of the Copyright Act, 1957 prescribes the mode of assignment, providing by sub-section (1) that no assignment of the copyright in any work shall be valid unless it is in writing signed by the assignor or by his duly authorised agent, and by sub-sections (2) to (6) the particulars an assignment must contain and the terms the Act supplies when it is silent.

Why the law has this at all

Because copyright is invisible property. Land has a register and goods can be handed over. A copyright can be transferred by a sentence, and years later nobody can say what was transferred.

Because the parties are unequal. The 1994 amendment added sub-sections (2) to (6) precisely because assignments were being taken on one line, for ever, for the world, for nothing.

So the section does two things at once. It sets a formality, and it supplies default terms which fill the gaps in favour of the assignor.

The provision itself

Section 19(1). "No assignment of the copyright in any work shall be valid unless it is in writing signed by the assignor or by his duly authorised agent."

Section 19(2). The assignment "shall identify such work, and shall specify the rights assigned and the duration and territorial extent of such assignment."

Section 19(3). It shall also specify the amount of royalty and any other consideration payable to the author or his legal heirs during the currency of the assignment, and shall be subject to revision, extension or termination on terms mutually agreed upon by the parties.

Section 19(4). Where the assignee does not exercise the rights assigned within one year from the date of assignment, the assignment in respect of such right shall be deemed to have lapsed after the expiry of that period, unless otherwise specified in the assignment.

Section 19(5). "If the period of assignment is not stated, it shall be deemed to be five years from the date of assignment."

Section 19(6). "If the territorial extent of assignment of the rights is not specified, it shall be presumed to extend within India."

Section 19(7). Nothing in sub-sections (2) to (6) applies to assignments made before the coming into force of the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1994.

Section 19(8). An assignment contrary to the terms and conditions of the rights already assigned to a copyright society of which the author is a member shall be void.

Sub-sections (9) and (10) preserve the author's equal share of royalty where the assignment is to make a film, or a sound recording not forming part of a film. They have their own chapter.