The Copyright Act, 1957

Chapter IX
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT
  1. Power to extend copyright to foreign works. -- The Central Government may, by order published in the Official Gazette, direct that all or any provisions of this Act shall apply --
    1. to work first published in any territory outside India to which the order relates in like manner as if they were first published within India;
    2. to unpublished works, or any class thereof, the authors whereof were at the time of the making of the work, subjects or citizens of a foreign country to which the order relates, in like manner as if the authors were citizens of India;
    3. in respect of domicile in any territory outside India to which the order relates in like manner as if such domicile were in India;
    4. to any work of which the author was at the date of the first publication thereof, or, in a case where the author was dead at that date, was at the time of his death, a subject or citizen of a foreign country to which the order relates in like manner as if the author was a citizen of India at that date or time;
    and thereupon, subject to the provisions of this Chapter and of this order, this Act shall apply accordingly:
    Provided that--
    1. before making an order under this section in respect of any foreign country (other than a country with which India has entered into a treaty or which is a party to a convention relating to copyright to which India is also a party), the Central Government shall be satisfied that the foreign country has made, or has undertaken to make, such provisions, if any, as it appears to the Central Government expedient to require for the protection in that country of works entitled to copyright under the provisions of this Act;
    2. the order may provide that the provisions of this Act shall apply either generally or in relation to such classes of works or such classes of cases as may be specified in the order;
    3. the order may provide that the term of copyright in India shall not exceed that conferred by the law of the country to which the order relates;
    4. the order may provide that the enjoyment of the rights conferred by this Act shall be subject to the accomplishment of such conditions and formalities, if any, as may be prescribed by the order;
    5. in applying the provisions of this Act as to ownership of copyright, the order may make such exceptions and modifications as appear necessary, having regard to the law of the foreign country;
    6. the order may provide that this Act or any part thereof shall not apply to works made before the commencement of the order or that this Act or any part thereof shall not apply to works first published before the commencement of the order.

  2. Provisions as to works of certain international organisations.--
    1. Where--
      1. any work is made or first published by or under the direction or control of any organisation to which this section applies, and
      2. there would, apart from this section, be no copyright in the work in India at the time of the making or, as the case may be, of the first publication thereof, and
      3. either--
        1. the work is published as aforesaid in pursuance of an agreement in that behalf with the author, being an agreement which does not reserve to the author the copyright, if any, in the work, or
        2. under Section 17 any copyright in the work would belong to the organisation;
      there shall, by virtue of this section, be copyright in the work throughout India.
    2. Any organisation to which this section applies which at the material time had not the legal capacity of a body corporate shall have and be deemed at all material times to have had the legal capacity of a body corporate for the purpose of holding, dealing with, and enforcing copyright and in connection with all legal proceedings relating to copyright.
    3. The organisations to which this section applies are such organisations as the Central Government may, by order published in the Official Gazette, declare to be organisations of which one or more sovereign powers or the Government or Governments thereof are members to which it is expedient that this section shall apply.

  3. Power to restrict rights in works of foreign authors first published in India.-- If it appears to the Central Government that a foreign country does not give or has not undertaken to give adequate protection to the works of Indian authors, the Central Government may, by order published in the Official Gazette, direct that such of the provisions of this Act as confer copyright on works first published in India shall not apply to works, published after the date specified in the order, the authors whereof are subjects of citizens of such foreign country and are not domiciled in India, and thereupon those provisions shall not apply to such works.

  4. Orders under this Chapter to be laid before Parliament.-- Every order made by the Central Government under this Chapter shall, as soon as may be after it is made, be laid before both Houses of Parliament and shall be subject to such modifications as Parliament may make during the session in which it is so laid or the session immediately following.