Coming, a law which gives directors film copyright :1957 Act Only Recognizes A Producer’s Ownership

Call it the director’s cut. The HRD ministry has come up with a bill which confers copyright of a film not just upon the producer, but also on the director. For films made after the proposed law comes into force, the producer and director will be ‘‘treated jointly as the first owner of copyright’’. Thus, the director is finally getting his due as the creator.

The joint ownership redresses an anomaly in the Copyright Act 1957, which in the case of books, confers copyright on the author leaving out the publisher but in the case of films, on the producer leaving out the director. The existing law treats a director as an employee of the producer and consequently denies him any intellectual right over the film he creates. Since the proposed clause equating the director with the producer will apply prospectively (from the day the law is enacted), the directors of films already produced will not get the full benefit of this reform. The bill seeks to compensate them by extending the copyright term for such films from 60 years to 70 years after the death of their first copyright owners.

The additional copyright term of 10 years is however ‘‘subject to the principal director entering into a written agreement with the owner of the copyright in the film during the subsistence of copyright’’. The accompanying note explains that this is meant ‘‘to extend the copyright term for the producer for another 10 years if he enters into an agreement with the director’’.

The implication is that for the additional term of 10 years, the producer and director will jointly enjoy copyright on films already made. The intention, clearly, is to confer some benefit on the director even in the case of films made before the commencement of the proposed law.

The proposed Copyright Act Amendment Bill 2009 is now being vetted by law ministry. Later, after Cabinet clearance, it will be introduced in Parliament. Law ministry is now examining the bill to see if is valid to increase the copyright term by 10 years only for films, discriminating against other artistic and literary works.

The note prepared by the HRD ministry justifies the preferential treatment arguing that ‘‘old Indian classical films, especially Bollywood films, are falling into public domain and these are being exploited by TV channels’’. This is part of a slew of amendments being made to the 1957 act affecting the business of films, music, radio and TV.

While much as its attempt to give the director his due is laudable, the bill is not clear on how the term of the copyright for the new films will be computed when both the director and producer are the ‘‘first owners’’. It is not clear whether it will be 60 years after the death of the director or the producer, or whoever dies last.
Source:- The Times of India 2 December 2009 Page No.15 Delhi

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