THE MEANING OF COPYRIGHT

ABSTRACT:

      Copyright is the bundle of law which seeks to protect the author’s idea which have

been expressed in whatever form from further transmission or reproduced by

 unauthorized Third  parties.

Copyright being the intellectual property and making of the copyright owner, should be

Protected so as to promote development and ingenuity in the realm of artistic work.

Copyright is protected by every country of the world, it is hoped that copyright, though it

has suffered  much infringement, prima facie by virtue of ignorance, would enjoy better

protection for its owners.

              Copyright, derived from Latin “COPIA”, meaning plenty or to make plenty, now

 defines a bundle of legal prerogatives granted by national legislations that include the

right to make copies, to prepare derivative works, to distribute protected works, as well as

the right to display or perform them. The first statutory recognition of the right to copy

was in the “Statute of Ann”, enacted by parliament in 1710, which vested a property right

or interest in literary works in there authors, to “encourage learned men to compose and

write useful books”. Although originating in the technology of printing, copyright

protection has been extended to creative activities expressed in other art forms, for

example, choreography,graphic art, architecture, ceramics, photography, sound recording

on records or tapes, motion Pictures,  cable and satellite broadcasting, and computer

programs. Its development followed the technological evolution.

      Copyright deals with the right of intellectual creators in their creation.  Most artistic

 works for example books, paintings or drawings ,exist once embodied in a physical

 object. For example, music or poems are artistic works even if they are not or even

before are written down by a musical notations or in words. Copyright law, however

protects only the form of expression of ideas , not the ideas themselves. The creativity

protected by copyright law is in the choice and arrangement of words, musical notes,

colors, and shapes. Copyright law protects the owner of rights in artistic works against

those who “copy”- those who take and use the form in which the original was expressed

by the author.

       It is the general principle of copyright legislation that modifications of existing

works may support a copyright in modification. There is only a modest copyright

 threshold of creativity. For a work to enjoy copyright protection, however it must be an

 original creation. The ideas in the work need not be new , but the form in which they are

 expressed must be the author’s original creation. Protection is also independent of the

quality attached to the work- it will be protected whether  it is a goodor bad works-even if

the purpose for which it is intended is anti-social. For the use to which a work may be put

has nothing to do with its protection. Copyright protects creators, great and small.