Question:medium

Section ____ of the Copyright Act grants an author "special rights," which exist independently of the author‘s copyright, and subsists even after the assignment (whole or partial) of the said copyright.

Updated On: Jul 13, 2026
  • 77
  • 66
  • 57
  • 87
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The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

This question tests knowledge of the moral rights provision inside the Copyright Act, 1957. Moral rights are personal to the author, separate from the economic right of copyright, and they don't disappear just because the author sells or licenses the copyright to someone else. Section 57 is the home of these rights in Indian law.

  1. 77: this section is about the Registrar of Copyrights summoning witnesses, a purely procedural power with no link to an author's personal rights.
  2. 66: this section covers entries made in the Register of Copyrights, again an administrative matter for the Copyright Office.
  3. 57: this is the special rights of the author clause. It lets an author claim authorship and object to any distortion or mutilation of the work that hurts their reputation, and it says these rights live on even after the copyright itself is assigned away.
  4. 87: this deals with the Copyright Board's rule-making power, unconnected to individual author rights.

Let's summarize:

  • Moral rights, paternity and integrity, sit in Section 57 of the Copyright Act, 1957.
  • They survive an assignment of copyright because they protect the author's personal reputation, not the economic exploitation of the work.

The correct section is 57.

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