Question

Read the following statements and choose the correct option. Under the Copyright Act, 1957: Statement I: In the case of a posthumous literary work, copyright subsists for sixty years from the beginning of the calendar year next following the year in which the work is first published. Statement II: For such works, publication refers to making the work available to the public by issue of copies or by communication to the public.

• A. Both Statements I and II are true
• B. Both Statements I and II are false
• C. Only Statement II is true
• D. Only Statement I is true

Hint:

For copyright duration questions, always identify whether the work is ordinary, anonymous, pseudonymous, cinematographic, or posthumous because each category has a separate computation rule.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Concept: The Copyright Act, 1957 protects the rights of authors and creators over their original works. The Act not only protects works published during the lifetime of the author but also grants protection to posthumous works, that is, works published after the death of the author. The duration of copyright protection varies depending upon the nature of the work and the circumstances of publication.

Step 1: Examining Statement I.
A posthumous work is a work that is published after the death of its author. The Copyright Act provides that copyright in such works shall subsist for: \[ 60 \text{ years} \] calculated from the beginning of the calendar year following the year of first publication. Therefore, Statement I correctly states the duration of protection granted to posthumous works.

Step 2: Examining Statement II.
The Act defines publication as making a work available to the public. This may occur through:

• Distribution of copies.

• Communication of the work to the public.
Hence, Statement II correctly reflects the statutory meaning of publication.

Step 3: Determining the correct option.
Since Statement I is legally correct and Statement II is also legally correct, \[ \boxed{\text{Both Statements I and II are true}} \] Therefore, option (A) is the correct answer.

Answer 2

This question bundles two statements about posthumous literary works under the Copyright Act, 1957, and asks which combination is correct, so each statement needs to be checked against the statute independently before matching it to the answer choices.

1. Statement I: Section 22 of the Act gives an ordinary literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work a copyright term running for the author's lifetime plus sixty years from the beginning of the calendar year following death. Posthumous works are treated differently under Section 24, because there is no fixed reference point in the author's lifetime once a work is published after death; instead, the sixty-year term runs from the beginning of the calendar year following the year in which the work is first published. This is exactly what Statement I describes, so it is accurate.
2. Statement II: Section 3 of the Act defines publication as making a work available to the public by issuing copies or by communicating the work to the public, and this general definition governs how first publication is read into Section 24 as well. Statement II restates this definition correctly.
3. Option A (both true): Since both statements independently match the statutory text of Sections 24 and 3, this combination fits.
4. Option B (both false): This would require both statements to misstate the law, but neither does, so this combination is ruled out.
5. Option C (only Statement II true): This would require Statement I to be wrong, but the sixty-year-from-publication rule for posthumous works is exactly what Section 24 provides, so this combination is ruled out.
6. Option D (only Statement I true): This would require Statement II to be wrong, but the publication definition it describes is a verbatim match with Section 3, so this combination is ruled out.

Because both statements independently hold up against the statute, the combination that fits is the one saying both are true.

Hence, the correct answer is Option A: Both Statements I and II are true.