Copyright is a privilege granted to the creator to safeguard how their ideas are expressed. It is seen as being property of the mind. A wide range of rights is protected by copyright laws, including those relating to literary and creative creations like books, plays, movies, musical compositions, paintings and drawings, photos, sculptures, and architectural plans, among others.
Nepal’s applicable legislation
The responsible government agency in Nepal for overseeing and monitoring copyright-related matters is the Nepal Copyright Registrar’s Office (NCRO).
In Nepal, the following laws apply to copyrights:
The 2059 Copyright Act (2002)
2061 Copyright Regulations (2004)
The Nepal Copyright Registrar’s Office’s 2061 process
international agreements, pacts, and organizations
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS)
Organization for World Intellectual Property (WIPO)
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, World Trade Organization (WTO), 1886
1952 International Copyright Convention
The topics covered by Nepal’s copyright legislation
The following list of areas and works covered by the 2002 Copyright Act includes some of them:
Articles, books, pamphlets, theses, seminars, etc. Dramas, dramatic music, silly performances, and works designed for such performances
Music notation, whether it contains words or not
Architectural designs and audiovisual works
photographs, fine art, lithographs, woodcarvings, paintings, sculptures, works of applied art, illustrations, maps, and plans, among other things.
software programs
The Copyright Act’s rights are
Copyright is a collection of rights that can be explored separately and is not a single right. The Copyright Act grants the following rights:
financial rights
Moral principles
financial rights
The rights granted to the creator under Section 7 of the Copyright Act, 2002 are referred to as economic rights. Economic rights are assignable ownership rights that can be transferred by the creator entering into a contract with the users. The creator is free to exercise his or her economic rights alone or to grant others permission to utilize their works to make money.
According to the provision, the following exclusive economic rights belong to the creator:
replicating the work
Translation of the work
to make changes to the work
To arrange things and make additional changes to the work
To offer the original and a copy of the work for sale, distribution, or public rental
To lend, sell, or lease any audiovisual works, sound recordings, computer programs, or musical works that were created by that author or owner.
to bring in duplicates of the work
to display a work’s original or replica in a public setting
public performance of the work
To publicize the work
To spread awareness of the project among the public
Moral principles
The moral rights of the creator on the specific creations are further detailed in Section 8 of the Copyright Act, 2002. The following is a list of the moral rights that the act mentions:
to have his or her name included in public works that are copies of the work or in the work itself
If someone uses a pseudonym in their writing instead of using their real name, they should be sure to mention that pseudonym when sharing their work in public.
To avoid doing things like damaging his or her name or goodwill by mutilating their work or presenting it in an unflattering way
to modify or revise the work as necessary.
theft of intellectual property
Infringement on intellectual property is discussed in Section 25 of the Copyright Act, 2002. According to the clause, the following actions would constitute copyright infringement:
To make copies of a work or sound recording and to sell, distribute, publicly broadcast, or rent those copies for any reason, whether for profit or not, without the author’s or the copyright owner’s consent or by violating the terms of an agreement or license
to use another person’s work as a model for an advertisement or other form of promotion in order to capitalize on the notoriety that work has attained
to create a work of a different subject or type while altering the format and language of another person’s work with the intent to profit financially
to make an effort to profit by directly or indirectly altering any work with the goal of misleading the listener, reader, or viewer into thinking it is a different work through marketing or through any other methods
To import, create, or rent any machinery or apparatus made with the goal of getting around a barrier intended to prevent unauthorized duplication
Produce or import devices that allow for the encryption of broadcasts in a code language with the intention of selling them.
bringing into the country mechanical equipment made with the sole intent of violating copyright, selling it, giving it away, or using it
Penalties for violating copyright
According to Section 27 of the Copyright Act of 2002, anyone found engaging in the aforementioned behaviour will be subject to a fine ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 100,000, up to six months in jail, or both. If the same person is found guilty a second time, they could face fines ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 200,000 or even both.
Materials that have been published, copied, or distributed, as well as the tools used to copy those materials, must be confiscated.