Copyright legislation is said to be part of the wider body of law known as intellectual property. In ancient period authors wrote for fame and recognition and it was not their bread and so the question of copyright never arose. The need for copyright protection arose after the introduction of printing as it enabled reproduction of books in large quantities. It came to be regarded as a property right and hence required protection.
Copyright in a given country is regulated by the national law it has in existence. National laws are, however, generally concerned only with the acts accomplished or committed in the country where the law is enacted. Since this applies also in the field of copyright, hence protection provided by a national law on copyright is effective only in the country concerned. It has no effect in other countries. The principle on which the provisions of these legislations are made, is that a person who creates something in the field of literature, printing, painting, sculpture, architecture or any other craft should have the right of getting financial benefit as well as recognition of the same. If and when it is copied the author should be approached for permission to do so. For such permission, he may or may not ask for a price. If any person entertains doubt that the work produced by him will be used by others without making payment of royalties to him, then he will be discouraged and either will stop putting labor to produce a new work or will not disclose it in public for the benefit of society. In recent times, the subject of copyright has become very significant. It has to play a vital role in the modem economic and industrial world. The copyright protection is an important means to promote, enrich and disseminate the national cultural heritage. The newly developed technologies have made it more important. The higher the level of protection, the greater the encouragement for authors to create; the greater the number of a country's intellectual creations, the higher its renown. Due to enormous development in transportations and telecommunications, the fear of the works produced by authors being copied with impurity has increased. Hence, it is considered by international community to extend the protection of their copyright acts to areas beyond the territorial limits of a country. Almost all the countries in the world have joined and decided to extend the benefit of their national legislations to other countries. In pursuance of these resolutions and needs, the different countries have been amending their laws from time to time.
The aim of copyright protection is to make conducive environment for creativity which further motivates others to create, the continuance of which paves way for the economical, and social development of society. Copyright ensures certain minimum safeguards to the right of authority over their creation. The law of copyright has necessary exception and limitations in order to maintain a balance between the interest of creator and community.
It provides the strongest protection for individual authors of creative works, advocates the provision of appropriate compensation in case of infringement of right in a given legal system, copy right enable us to distinguish between those moral principles that can be justly enforced and also controls the exploitation by others of the works created by the authors.
The concept of right expresses the idea that something is owed to individual and a certain performance or certain form of non-interference are his due or that he is entitled to them without a system of rights, individuals could only make request or beg or ask favors, but cannot demand certain treatments from others.
To be sure, copyright law and policy in different places may emphasize one or another particular object over another. An emphasis on consumer welfare is the hallmark of copyright jurisprudence in common law countries such as the UK, USA and India, just as an emphasis on author's rights is the hallmark of the continental regimes. But viewed globally, and in the round, it is authorship that provides the cohering theme.
Copyright in fact means the sole right to produce or reproduce whole the work or any substantial part thereof in any material form whatsoever and the ‘copyright in a work’ shall be deemed to be infringed by any person who, without the consent of the owner of the copyright, does anything, the sole right to do which is conferred on the owner of the copyright. Copyright law is, in essence, concerned with the negative right of preventing the copying of physical material existing in the field of literature and the arts. Its object is to protect the writer and artist from the unlawful reproduction of his material. It is concerned only with the copying of physical material and not with reproduction of ideas and it doesn't give a monopoly to any particular form of words or design. It is, thus, to be distinguished from the rights conferred by patent, trade mark and design legislations, which give to the registered proprietor an exclusive right to the registered material, even as against a person who has reproduced such material innocently and from an independent source.