Copyright in Literary Works: A Study on its Relationship with Authorship and Book Publishing with Reference to Nepal

Abstract

Copyright is an outgrowth of technology. The advent of printing press revolutionized the book trade but it also provided the means by which piracy became profitable. Copyright arose to control this piracy. Historically, it was publishers’ invention to maintain order and control in the book trade. In its origin, copyright has nothing to do with authorship and the promotion of creativity. It has been shaped much by the economics of publishing than by the economics of authorship. It was only much later copyright was introduced as a law of authorship and as a means of ‘encouraging learning’. By the Statute of Anne enacted in 1709 authorship came to be legally established as the source of copyright. Copyright subsists only in original works of authorship. The notion of originality in copyright is derived from the Romantic formulation of authorship and the creative process. All that originality means is that work should originate with the author –it should be an independent creation, not copied from someone else’s work. Copyright involves the adjustment of two equally competing interests with each limiting the other: the private interests of copyright owners, that is authors and those engaged in the production and dissemination of creative works, to earn profit from the market exploitation of their works and the interest of the public to benefit from the free use and sharing of creative works. Thus, the major tension in copyright is to balance these two interests in a way both can be optimized. Copyright seeks to reconcile these twin objectives by securing incentives to the authors through the grant of exclusive rights in exchange for the creation and dissemination of works, Copyright in Nepal is a recent phenomenon. Despite a legal history of over 42 years behind it, copyright came to be implemented as late as 2002 when the new act replacing the 1965 act was enacted. This belated implementation of copyright, as the history of its development demonstrates, is primarily due to the non-existence of the condition precedent for the development of copyright. And this condition is the existence of market for books and other copyrightable products. A sound copyright regime is needed to promote the development of national creativity and culture and to sustain the national cultural industries. Unfortunately, copyright in Nepal is yet to receive any priority in the national agenda. And, given the ongoing political transition in the country, it is most unlikely that any serious attention will be given in the foreseeable future to entrench the regime of copyright. As this transition prolongs, it is the local authors and culture that would sustain an irreparable casualty in want of adequate protection. This study concludes that need for copyright protection arises with the growth and expansion of market for works of local authorship. It is critical to the promotion of local authors and local publishing industry. In short, it is an essential regulatory framework on which are based the whole edifice of modern literary and other cultural productions and their trade. The institution of copyright is therefore deeply rooted in modern economic system.