Sec 63 to 70 Chapter XIII (Offences) The Copyright Act, 1957

63. Offences of infringement of copyright or other rights conferred by this Act.—

Any person who knowingly infringes or abets the infringement of—

(a) the copyright in a work, or

(b) any other right conferred by this Act ¹[except the right conferred by section 53A],

²[shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to three years and with fine which shall not be less than fifty thousand rupees but which may extend to two lakh rupees]:

Provided that ¹[where the infringement has not been made for gain in the course of trade or business] the court may, for adequate and special reasons to be mentioned in the judgment, impose a sentence of imprisonment for a term of less than six months or a fine of less than fifty thousand rupees.]

Explanation.—

Construction of a building or other structure which infringes or which, if completed, would infringe the copyright in some other work shall not be an offence under this section.

³[63A. Enhanced penalty on second and subsequent convictions.—

Whoever having already been convicted of an offence under section 63 is again convicted of any such offence shall be punishable for the second and for every subsequent offence, with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year but which may extend to three years and with fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees but which may extend to two lakh rupees:

Provided that ⁴[where the infringement has not been made for gain in the course of trade or business] the court may, for adequate and special reasons to be mentioned in the judgment, impose a sentence of imprisonment for a term of less than one year or a fine of less than one lakh rupees:

Provided further that for the purposes of this section, no cognizance shall be taken of any conviction made before the commencement of the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1984 (65 of 1984).]

⁵[63B. Knowing use of infringing copy of computer programme to be an offence.—

Any person who knowingly makes use on a computer of an infringing copy of a computer programme shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than seven days but which may extend to three years and with fine which shall not be less than fifty thousand rupees but which may extend to two lakh rupees:

Provided that where the computer programme has not been used for gain or in the course of trade or business, the Court may, for adequate and special reasons to be mentioned in the judgment, not impose any sentence of imprisonment and may impose a fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees.]

64. Power of police to seize infringing copies.—

⁶[(1) Any police officer, not below the rank of a sub-inspector, may, if he is satisfied that an offence under section 63 in respect of the infringement of copyright in any work has been, is being, or is likely to be, committed, seize without warrant, all copies of the work, and all the plates used for the purposes of making infringing copies of the work, wherever found, and all copies and plates so seized shall, as soon as practicable be produced before a Magistrate.]

(1. Ins. by Act 38 of 1994, s. 21 (w.e.f. 10-5-1995.)

(2. Subs. by Act 65 of 1984, s. 5, for “shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both” (w.e.f. 8-10-1984.)

(3. Ins. by Act 65 of 1984, s. 6 (w.e.f. 8-10-1984.)

(4. Ins. by Act 38 of 1994, s. 22 (w.e.f. 10-5-1995.)

(5. Ins. by s. 23, ibid. (w.e.f. 10-5-1995.)

(6. Subs. by Act 65 of 1984, s. 7, for sub-section (1) (w.e.f. 8-10-1984.)

(2) Any person having an interest in any copies of a work ¹[, or plates] seized under sub-section (1) may, within fifteen days of such seizure, make an application to the Magistrate for such copies ⁷[, or plates] being restored to him and the Magistrate, after hearing the applicant and the complainant and making such further inquiry as may be necessary, shall make such order on the application as he may deem fit.

65. Possession of plates for purpose of making infringing copies.—

Any person who knowingly makes, or has in his possession, any plate for the purpose of making infringing copies of any work in which copyright subsists shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to ²[two years and shall also be liable to fine.]

³[65A. Protection of technological measures.—

(1) Any person who circumvents an effective technological measures applied for the purpose of protecting any of the rights conferred by this Act, with the intention of infringing such rights, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to two years and shall also be liable to fine.

(2) Nothing in sub-section (1) shall prevent any person from,—

(a) doing anything referred to therein for a purpose not expressly prohibited by this Act:

Provided that any person facilitating circumvention by another person of a technological measure for such a purpose shall maintain a complete record of such other person including his name, address and all relevant particulars necessary to identify him and the purpose for which he has been facilitated; or

(b) doing anything necessary to conduct encryption research using a lawfully obtained encrypted copy; or

(c) conducting any lawful investigation; or

(d) doing anything necessary for the purpose of testing the security of a computer system or a computer network with the authorisation of its owner; or

(e) operator; or

(f) doing anything necessary to circumvent technological measures intended for identification or surveillance of a user; or

(g) taking measures necessary in the interest of national security.

65B. Protection of Rights Management Information.—

Any person, who knowingly, —

(i) removes or alters any rights management information without authority, or

(ii) distributes, imports for distribution, broadcasts or communicates to the public, without authority, copies of any work, or performance knowing that electronic rights management information has been removed or altered without authority,

shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to two years and shall also be liable to fine:

Provided that if the rights management information has been tampered with in any work, the owner of copyright in such work may also avail of civil remedies provided under Chapter XII against the persons indulging in such acts.]

66. Disposal of infringing copies or plates for purpose of making infringing copies.—

The Court trying any offence under this Act may, whether the alleged offender is convicted or not, order that all copies of the work or all plates in the possession of the alleged offender, which appear to it to be infringing copies, or plates for the purpose of making infringing copies, be delivered up to the owner of the copyright ⁴[or may make such order as it may deem fit regarding the disposal of such copies of plates].

(1. Ins. by Act 65 of 1984, s. 7 (w.e.f. 8-10-1984.)

(2. Subs. by s. 8, ibid., for “one year, or with fine, or with both” (w.e.f. 8-10-1994.)

(3. Ins. by Act 27 of 2012, s. 37 (w.e.f. 21-6-2012.)

(4. Ins. by s. 38, ibid. (w.e.f. 21-6-2012.)

67. Penalty for making false entries in register, etc., for producing or tendering false entries.—

Any person who,—

(a) makes or causes to be made a false entry in the Register of Copyrights kept under this Act, or

(b) makes or causes to be made a writing falsely purporting to be a copy of any entry in such register, or

(c) produces or tenders or causes to be produced or tendered as evidence any such entry or writing, knowing the same to be false,

shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

68. [Penalty for making false statements for the purpose of deceiving or influencing any authority or officer.] Omitted by the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provision) Act, 2023 (18 of 2023), s. 2 and the Schedule (w.e.f. 1-8-2024).

¹[68A. Penalty for contravention of section 52A.—

Any person who publishes a 2[sound recording] or a video film in contravention of the provisions of section 52A shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine.] 69. Offences by companies.—(1) Where any offence under this Act has been committed by a company, every person who at the time the offence was committed was in charge of, and was responsible to the company for, the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company shall be deemed to be guilty of such offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:

Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any person liable to any punishment, if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company, and it is proved that the offence was committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any negligence on the part of any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Explanation.—

For the purposes of this section—

(a) “company” means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of persons; and

(b) “director” in relation to a firm means a partner in the firm.

70. Cognizance of offences.—

No Court inferior to that of 3[a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Judicial Magistrate of the first class] shall try any offence under this Act.

(1. Ins. by Act 65 of 1984, s. 9 (w.e.f. 8-10-1984).

(2. Subs. by Act 38 of 1994, s. 2, for “record” (w.e.f. 10-5-1995.)

(3. Subs. by Act 23 of 1983, s. 22, for “a presidency magistrate or a magistrate of the first class” (w.e.f. 9-8-1984.)