Renunciation Of Copyright? Not Really, Says Delhi HC

Can a sanyasi (renunciate) own copyright in the literary works authored by him? Does renunciation of all worldly desires fall within its ambit a creation of intellectual labour, knowledge and skill? The Delhi High Court has settled the said question, in a recent judgment of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust of India v. www.friendwithbooks.co.

The Copyright Act, 1957 does not draw a distinction between a work by an ordinary person and the work by a sanyasi. In such a case, who is the owner of a work having copyright protection once the person creating such work renounces the world? Furthermore, the very logic behind according copyright protection to a work, apart from safeguarding the interests of the owner/author, is that such work can be assigned or licensed to a third party in future; the same consequentially creates a loop for commercial piggy-banking of the works. At present, there is no law or regulation dealing with the copyright protected works of a sanyasi;