Garima Singh, University School of Law & Legal Studies, GGSIPU & Srishti Roy Barman, HNLU, Chattisgarh
INTRODUCTION
We have different justifications as to why intellectual property needs protection under law. Sometimes the labour and hardwork involved in creating an original work becomes the factor, sometimes the notion that it resembles personality or the economic benefits are looked upon to provide protection to intellectual properties. But where did this all begin? We clearly have statutory provisions across the globe for these intellectual properties but it is to be noted that the discussions, debates, most importantly the modern shape intellectual property laws root back to a “conflict”. These roots are nothing but historical events that took place. To understand and appreciate characteristic of a subject one needs to dive into its history. Likewise to understand copyright we need to analyse how copyright laws were drafted? What led to creation of this subject? Which legislation first addressed the copyright issue and in which country or which statute provided punishment for infringement? This assignment will deal with aforesaid questions along with a deep discussion on various copyright legislations internationally and later turn to the national scenario and development of copyright laws in India. The pedestal on which we are standing today is outcome of long and challenging history, we started with minimal literacy rate worldwide but look at us now. We witness new astonishing inventions or creations almost daily, and these certainly add a lot to nation’s economy hence to protect their exploitation we require strong laws, this brings us to a conclusion that Technological advancement is directly proportional to the evolution of copyright regime. Similarly copyrights were born only after printing. Before that copying was done via hand and even with great skill in copying no two scripts could be identical. The topic of this assignment is “History and evolution of copyright: national and international perspective”. For effective understanding this assignment is divided into four chapters. The first chapter titled “Introduction” will present a rough idea as to why going into primitive history is important and will discuss in brief the concept of “Copyright”.
