The Copyright Act, 1957

Section 51. When copyright infringed.

The Copyright Act, 1957

Bare Act

Copyright in a work shall be deemed to be infringed--

(a) when any person, without a licence granted by the owner of the copyright or the Registrar of Copyrights under this Act or in contravention of the conditions of a licence so granted or of any condition imposed by a competent authority under this Act--

(i) does anything, the exclusive right to do which is by this Act conferred upon the owner of the copyright, or

1[(ii) permits for profit any place to be used for the communication of the work to the public where such communication constitutes an infringement of the copyright in the work, unless he was not aware and had no reasonable ground for believing that such communication to the public would be an infringement of copyright; or]

(b) when any person--

(i) makes for sale or hire, or sells or lets for hire, or by way of trade displays or offers for sale or hire, or

(ii) distributes either for the purpose of trade or to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright, or

(iii) by way of trade exhibits in public, or

(iv) imports 2*** into India, any infringing copies of the work:

3[Provided that nothing in sub-clause (iv) shall apply to the import of one copy of any work for the private and domestic use of the importer.]

Explanation.-- For the purposes of this section, the reproduction of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work in the form of a cinematograph film shall be deemed to be an "infringing copy".

Judgments on Section 51

  • Gramophone Company Of India Ltd vs Birendra Bahadur Pandey & Ors — Supreme Court of India, 21 Feb 1984. 'Import' means 'bringing into India from outside India' and is not limited to importation for commerce only, but includes importation for transit across the country.
  • Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. vs Mr. Santosh V.G. — Delhi High Court, 13 Apr 2009. Hiring or renting in India copies of a cinematograph film authorized for sale or rental only in a territory outside India, without the copyright owner's authorization, infringes copyright under Section 51(b)(iv) of the…