Assessing The Assignment Of Copyright: Injunction Denied To Jaypee

Assignment of Copyright is a vital aspect to be considered while deciding the infringement of a copyright. The due assignment of the same may lead to the alteration of a party' standing in the Court. Discussing the viability of an assignment is the case of Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) Ltd. v. Dr. Ramya Raghu & Ors. 2008 (38) PTC 212 (Del.), whereby the nature of an agreement was examined amounting to an assignment or not, specifically in purview of specialized subjects.

Jaypee Brothers instituted the suit for declaration as the owner of copyright in a book, authored by Dr. Ramya Raghu and co-authored with a co-defendant. The claimant publishers are also the defendants by reason and Dr. Ramya had assigned copyright therein to Jaypee even before the book had come into existence. She took the plea that such assignment had taken effect on the book coming into existence. Jaypee also prayed for consequential relief of injunction restraining the Dr. R for damages