India has always been a strong believer of doing what’s right. Naturally, we have laid great emphasis on upholding the copyright of creative works of authors, copyrights holders and publishers. Even the Indian Copyright Law of 1957 has been widely emulated by other countries.

Indian Reprographic Rights Organisation (IRRO) is a non-profit copyright society in the field of published literary works, incorporated in the year 2000. It represents the rights owners of literary works, namely authors and publishers, and also provides licenses to the users on their behalf.

The owner of a copyright is typically the creator of a ‘work’ – writers, composers, artists, producers, publishers and the like, and these rights owners have both economic and moral rights. Economic rights cover acts that only the copyright owner can do or authorise, like the right to copy work, distribute copies of it, rent or lend it, perform or show it, communicate it to the public or adapt it. Moral rights include the right to be identified as the author of a work, to not have any work falsely attributed to them, and to object to the derogatory treatment of their work. Moral rights can be waived, but not licensed or assigned.

With technological advancements and the advent of photocopying, copyright infringement has become quite prevalent in the last few decades, and hence, the need to get a reprographic license is imperative. Licenses issued and granted by IRRO cover books, newspapers, magazines, journals and other periodical publications in electronic and paper format for reprography for a period of 1 year.

An IRRO license is important for organisations photocopying, scanning or reproducing material from copyrighted publications. It helps ensure legal compliance, and reduces the risk and potential cost of copyright infringement. It also eliminates the probability of commercial exploitation, while keeping in mind the interests of publishers and authors. Let’s study the benefits of having an IRRO license from the point of view of both content creators and copiers.

Benefits for Creators:

• Gives content creators ownership and control over their work.
• Provides fair reward to authors and publishers for the copying of their work.
• Encourages and sustains creativity in the ecosystem.

Benefits for Copiers:

• Allows the copying of content from Indian and international publications.
• Reduces the risk and potential cost of copyright infringement.
• Offers blanket cover, so you don’t have to seek permission from owners individually.
• Provides the convenience and certainty of a single transaction with one annual fee.

Choose to do the right thing. Get Licensed with IRRO. To know more, visit: irro.org.in