What is an assignment?

Assignment of a copyright under section 18 of the copyright Act, 1957 is:

1. The owner of the copyright in an existing work or the prospective owner of the
copyright in a future work may assign to any person the copyright either wholly or
partially and either generally or subject to limitations and either for the whole of the
copyright or any part thereof: Provided that in the case of the assignment of copyright
in any future work, the assignment shall take effect only when the work comes into
existence.
2. Where the assignee of a copyright becomes entitled to any right comprised in the
copyright, the assignee as respects the rights so assigned, and the assignor as respects
the rights not assigned, shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as the owner of
copyright and the provisions of this Act shall have effect accordingly.
3. In this section, the expression assignee as respects the assignment of the copyright
in any future work includes the legal representatives of the assignee, if the assignee
dies before the work comes into existence.

When someone gives copyright assignment, they give them the copyright. When there exists a
copyright assignment, the assignor is no longer the owner of the copyright, the other party does. After
the assignment, if the assignor publishes the copyright, this will amount to copyright infringement,
even if the assignor once was the owner of the copyright.

What are the contents of an assignment agreement?

The mode of assignment is dealt with under section 19 of the Copyrights Act, 1957 which
states the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.

No assignment shall be valid unless it is in writing and shall be signed by the parties.
It shall also specify the Royalty payable.
Shall identity the work, specify the rights, duration and territorial extent.
Where the assignee has not exercised the rights within one year, the agreement is said
to be lapsed.
5. 5 years.
6. Extent to the territories of India.

The deed of assignment must specify the `rights assigned, the duration and territorial extent
of assignment. When duration of assignment is not specified, it is presumed to be for five
years and when territorial extent is not specified, it is presumed to extend within India (this
presumption is applicable to assignments made after 1994).

The registration of a deed of assignment of a copyright is not compulsory.1

1 Mt. Savitri Devi vs Dwarka Prasad Bhatya And Anr (AIR 1939 All 305)

There is no particular form for assignment, it can even be done with letters.2

2 London printing and publishing alliance vs Cox

2