Re: Intellectual property rights in a consultancy organization
I thank you for your mail.
I'm afraid that you may be wrong.
Please see section 17(dd) of the Copyright Act which is reproduced below for your benefit.
"Section 17.First owner of copyright - Subject to the provisions of this Act, the author of a work shall be the first owner of the copyright
therein;
Provided that-
(a) in the case of a literary, dramatic or artistic work made by the author in the course of his employment by the proprietor of a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical under a contract of service or apprenticeship, for the purpose of publication in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical, the said proprietor shall, in the absence of any
agreement to the contrary, be the first owner of the copyright in the work in so far as the copyright relates to the publication of the work in any newspaper, magazine or similar periodical, or to the reproduction of the work for the purpose of its being so published, but in all other respects the author shall be the first owner of the copyright in the work;-----
(d) in the case of a Government work, Government shall, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, be the first owner of the copyright therein ;
(dd) in the case of a work made or first published by or under the direction or control of any public undertaking such public undertaking shall, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, be the first owner of the copyright therein.
Explanation.-For the purposes of this clause and section 28A, "public undertaking" means-
(i) an undertaking owned or controlled by Government; or
(ii) a Government Company as defined in section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956; or
(iii) a body corporate established by or under any Central, Provincial or State Act.]"
Given this, your assumption is wrong. All that you have is a right to demand that the Organization publish your name as the author or designer or inventor when applying for registration as the human being behind the work for you to claim the benefit of such work later for your future employment purposes and as a case of academic excellence for you.
What the Section provides is that unless there is an agreement that clearly specifies that the ownership will be vested with you, it automatically goes to the employer. Here you clearly mention that there is no such clause in the service agreement as regards the owenership of the intellectual work. Hence it must be deemed to belong to the organziation and not be vested with you automatically.
I hope that this helps.
Thank you.
N. Ramaswami
Advocate
