Indian copyright law

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The Indian copyright law is governed by the Copyright Act, 1957. The Copyright Act was based on the Copyright Act of 1911, framed by the British during the Colonial rule and also borrowed extensively from the 1956 Copyright Act of the United Kingdom.

The Act, with five amendments, in 1983, 1984, 1992, 1999 and a substantial one in 1994, adheres to the treaties of the Berne Convention, the Universal Copyright Convention, the Rome Convention and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement. ^[1]

The Copyright Act is now in full conformity with the TRIPS obligations.

The other important development during 1999 was the issuance of the International Copyright Order, 1999 extending the provisions of the Copyright Act to nationals of all World Trade Organization (WTO) Member countries. ^[2]

[edit] Summary

Literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works (other than photographs) - Sixty years from the beginning of the calendar year following the year in which the author dies. Please note that this will usually be more than sixty years as the time frame starts subsequent to the author's death.
Anonymous/Pseudonymous/Posthumous works, Photographs, Movies, Sound recordings, - Sixty years from the beginning of the year following the year in which it was published.
Section 32 states that anyone can apply to the copyright Board for a license to translate works seven years after first publication. Royalties will need to be paid to the copyright owner and the royalty is determined by the Copyright Board and not the author. There are several conditions that have to be met before this applies and there are automatic termination clauses, so please read the full-text carefully.
All government work is under copyright unlike in the Work of the United States Government. This means that even information collected under the Right to Information Act may not be copied and disseminated by the recipient of such information.