How you can Copyright your Graphic Design in India?

Graphic Design
Kandarp Vanita
| Updated: Apr 24, 2021 | Category: Copyright

Copyright is an intellectual property that gives the owner the exclusive right to make copies of his creative work for a very limited time. It protects the owner against unauthorized use of his work by any other person.

 In this article, as a creative, you must know about copyrighting a graphic design and to receive legal protection and the process on how can you copyright your graphic design in India.

What is Graphic Design Copyright?

Graphic design copyright is the process of getting copyright in photographs, illustrations, logos, and graphic designs that the users use, exploit and reproduce for the purposes of dealing with it commercially without the owner’s or the author’s permission or designer and this is a clear violation of their work. Hence, the Copyright law[1] is the law that gives the protection to the creative workers from preventing the copying and unauthorized misuse of their work.

Eligibility for Copyright Protection

For the eligiblity for copyright protection, it is mandatory that the graphic design must be an original work of the author, which should be created by a human author independently, and the graphic design must necessarily possess a minimal degree of creativity by the author.

The copyright protection shall begin at the moment when the author writes their creative work like a poem or a songwriter pens his music in any form, or where in the case of a graphic design, the designer creates a photoshop or makes a logo in Illustration or any other electronic form. Protection starts beginning the moment the work is fixed in the tangible form.

Requirements for Copyright Protection

To receive copyright protection, a graphic design is required to be:

  • An original work of authorship
  • Fixed in tangible form

“Original” is defined as anything having a minimum degree of creativity.  The creativity of the work must be sufficient enough to have a spark of creativity. Hence, the work that does not meet the minimal degree of creativity shall not be given the copyright protection.

The Fixation is only satisfied when the work is executed in the medium in which it will be reproduced, perceived, or communicated. For example: the graphic design can be fixed on the physical object like a sign, paper, or any article of clothing, or in any digital medium.

The graphic designs shall be given protection as the work of visual arts, which shall include both two-dimensional and three-dimensional works of applied art, fine and graphic.

Rights Protected With a Copyright Registration

A graphic design is given various rights under the copyright registration. The owner of the graphic design or any person authorized on behalf of the owner can utilize and reproduce the work through copies and prepare any derivative out of the work or can also distribute the copies to the public by lease, sale, or rent and exhibit or give performance of the work publicly.

Advantages of Registering a Graphic Design

There are several advantages of registering a graphic design:

  • The Registration of graphic design provides a certificate issued by the Registrar of Copyright and the certificates creates a public record of the graphic design in the work and gives the owner the legal protection.
  • Registration is mandatory and then only the copyright owner will be able to claim or bring an action for his copyright infringement.
  • If the work is registered then the owner has the right to enforce against his copyright infringement by suing the infringer and the owner is eligible for an award of damages, fees, and costs.
  • Registration permits a copyright owner to record their copyright with the Registrar and it continues to serve as evidence of such work.

The Registration Process: Copyright for Graphic Design

  1. The first step is to discuss with the copyright expert regarding the category of Copyright registration.
  2. After that the owner shall file the Application for registering the graphic design
  3. The application shall be examined by the examiner of authority.
  4. In case of an objection, the authorities shall send the letters to the concerned parties for correcting the discrepancies.
  5. After the Registration is done from the registrar’s end, the applicant shall receive the certificate of registration and then the owner of that copyright can be able to legally exercise all the available rights of copyright.

Following are the requisite information for the registration of copyright

  • Personal Information: – the applicant shall provide with his full Name, address, and his nationality. Nature of the applicant should be mentioned that whether he is owner or representative of the particular application.
  • Nature of work: – The Class, title and the description of the work. The language regarding the work should be mentioned in the application.
  • Date of Publication:- It is important to mention the possible date of publication.

Conclusion

India has a well-defined and competent regulatory framework for the protection of graphic designs. A substantive criterion of copyright protection has been mentioned in the Act and therefore the author must comply with all the requirements of the registration to get his work protected.

Read our article:What are the Benefits of Copyright Registration in India?

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Kandarp Vanita

Kandarp Vanita has done masters in Corporate and Commercial Law from WB National University of Juridical Sciences. She has 3 yrs of experience in drafting legal documents & dissertations. Being a curious reader, she is also passionately into providing legal backups and comprehensive understandings in every aspect of Law to the firms.

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