Types of Copyright in a Comic Book and an Animation Movie

Although a formal Registration of Copyright with the Copyright Office is not mandatory but a Registration Certificate serves as a prima facie evidence of ownership of Copyright (s. 48 of Indian Copyright Act, 1957). For e.g., in the case of Raja Pocket Books v. Radha Pocket Books, 1997 (40) DRJ 791, the plaintiff through evidence had to prove that they were the true owners of copyright in the character ‘Nagraj’ and it was a very heavy burden to discharge. The Indian Copyright Act chalks out the following categories of copyrightable work:

1.        Artistic
2.        Literary
3.        Dramatic
4.        Musical
5.        Sound Record
6.        Cinematograph
7.        Software

And by the virtue of s. 16 of the Copyright Act, the Copyright Office will grant Registration only if the work falls in any of these categories and the applicant is able to establish the same. At times, a piece of creation may contain more than one of the above elements and a registration of copyright for the work in one of the above categories would not deem that the other elements have also got a protection. For example, the song “Maa Rewa” by the band “Indian Ocean” in their album “Kandisa” has the following elements in which a copyright could subsist: 1. Lyrics, 2. Music and 3. Sound Recording.  A copyright registration certificate in the category of Sound Recording although would be a prima facie evidence that the sound recording is original but could not establish that the copyright in the music (the tune, etc.) and the lyrics lie with the applicant. For these purposes, two separate applications need to be filed- one for the Lyrics (under Literary category) and other for Music and respective Registration Certificates need to be obtained.

The situation becomes more complex when the complexity of the nature of the work also increases and thus it is important to have a very clear understanding of the various underlying copyrightable elements in the work for the purpose of a proper and complete legal copyright protection.

A.     Comic Book

A comic book is a creation where generally a story is told using certain pictures in various frames. These pictures may or may not be accompanied by words, dialogues, etc. Therefore, a comic book contains the following copyrightable elements:

1. Artistic Work in the pictures and characters: The Copyright Office will not accept the entire comic book as one artistic work and therefore each character needs to be registered separately through separate application. Although, it is not necessary to register various moves of one character separately and one application containing one figure of the character is enough but it is advisable to register every unconceivable (by common man) emotion or action associated with that figure (For e.g. it is not necessary to file a separate application under artistic category for a Nagaraj who is kicking when an application for a standing Nagaraj has been made but it is advisable to get a separate registration of a Nagaraj with snakes coming out of his wrist)
2.  Literary work in the dialogues and captions: The dialogues and other captions used in the comic book would fall under Literary Category for Copyright protection. An application under literary category shall be made to the copyright office with the complete Comic book attached (but remember that this application would not be able to cover the artistic elements discussed above).
3. Non Literary Elements to be covered under Literary category: In a comics, the story is told either through a combination of pictures and dialogues/ words/ captions or by the use of pictures alone. When no dialogues/ words/ phrases are used, it is important to protect the underlying story which is the non literal element by writing down the story in a real language on a piece of paper and then applying for a registration under the literary category. In those cases too, where the story is conveyed partly through words and partly through pictures, such type of protection of non literal element is advisable. (For a better understanding of non literal copyrightable expressions, please see R.G. Anand v. Deluxe Films, AIR 1978 SC 1613 and Anil Gupta v. Kunal Dasgupta, AIR 2002 Delhi 379).   

Story partly told through dialogue and partly through pictures

(http://lous-land.blogspot.in/2013/01/new-crocs.html)

Moreover, a comic book, like Raj Comics’ “Nagaraj”, may contain one single story or, like Diamond Comics’ “Billoo”, may contain a set of many stories. It would really not matter whether the literal elements in a comic book with many stories are registered using one application or different applications for different stories however to avoid the 10% permissible infringement (de minimis infringement, please see India TV v. Yashraj, 2013 (53) PTC 586 Del), one might go for separate registrations.

Snakes coming out of Nagraj's wrist- something difficult to conceive

(http://www.2-clicks-comics.com/comic-book-characters-letter-n/nagraj-comics.html)

B.     Animation Movie

An animation movie is a great work of art and per se it comes under the category of ‘Cinematograph’ for the purpose of Copyright. However, there are a number of other copyrightable elements in it and are as follows:

1.       Cinematograph: The complete movie would enjoy a protection under the cinematograph category and as per section 2 (f) of the Copyright Act, cinematograph also includes the Sound Recording, therefore, in my opinion, there is no need to file a separate application for the Sound Recording in the film.

2.       Artistic Work in the character, background, etc.: Just like a comic book, all the characters and even the background (For e.g., the ice castle in the movie ‘Frozen’ by Disney) would come under the Artistic category and it is advisable to file separate applications for all the characters and their distinct moves and any other work whose infringement would harm the true owner.

3.       Literary Category: The dialogues, the commentary, the lyrics of the songs, etc. would come under the Literary Category. It is advisable to file separate applications for the lyrics and the dialogues to avoid any de minimss infringement.

4.       Music: The music in the songs, background score of the movie, etc. would come under the Music category and it is advisable to file separate application for separate score.

5.       Non Literal Elements to be covered under Literary category: Just like a comic book (discussed above), the non literal elements (like the underlying story) should be written down on a paper and filed for Copyright Protection under Literary Category.

Again, Copyright Registration is not mandatory but a Copyright Certificate would serve as a prima facie evidence in case of any future infringement and by its virtue, the infringer has to suffer a very heavy burden of proof.

In reality, the situation is more complex especially in the cases of Animation movies because the authors of various component works are different and thus a proper licensing/ assignment strategy needs to be adopted, but that discussion shall be kept for a separate blogpost. 

A Copyright application as per the current Copyright rules is made through Form XIV.

And finally, a few words from Raja Pocket Books v. Radha Pocket Books, 1997(40) DRJ 791:

Meaning of the word "NAGRAJ" and "NAGESH" is the same, namely, king of snakes. The idea depicted in the comic Nagraj is of a human being (male) with snake like characteristics ,who can climb walls and roofs, can blow poison and kill his enemy, capable of releasing snakes from any part of his body, the snake so released from the body after completing their work return back to the body and merge in the snake like character NAGRAJ. In the comic "NAGRAJ" the character is shown to be a creature of professor Nagmani, an expert and knowledgeable person with respect to snakes with the object of helping criminals and militants in furtherance of their object of creating terrorism etc., which due to intervention of Baba Gorakhnath is transformed into a Harmit, a noble character used for eradication of terrorism from the earth. (Devinder Gupta, J. Del HC, 1996).

(Note: 

1. This post is not a legal advice.
2. I do not own the copyright in the pictures/ comics posted. However, this use will be fair use but further copying might amount to infringement.
3. The copyright in the video has expired.
4. This post may be used for scholarly purpose without my permission. However, the source and the name of the author needs to be mentioned.)

Author - Tanveer Verma