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THE COPYRIGHT RULES, 2013

[As amended by the Copyright (Amendment) Rules, 2021]

11. Application and grant of licence —

(1) An application for a licence under Section 31A to publish or communicate to the public the work or translation thereof, in any language, any unpublished work or any work published or communicated to the public and the work is withheld from the public in India, the author is dead or unknown or cannot be traced, or the owner of the copyright in such work cannot be found, shall be made by any person in Form III and shall be accompanied by the fee specified in the Second Schedule:
Provided that in case the desired author is dead such application for publication of the work can be made only if there is failure to publish the work within the time specified by the central government as provided in sub-section (6) of section 31A.
(2) Every such application shall be made in respect of one work only and in respect of translation of a work into one language only.
(3) The application other than an application under sub-section (7) of section 31A shall be accompanied by a newspaper containing the publication issued under sub- section (2) of section 31A and published in one issue of a daily newspaper in the English language having circulation in the major part of the country and where the application is for the publication of a translation in any language, in one issue of any daily newspaper in that language.
(4) If the Board is satisfied that the licence for publication or communication to the public or translation in any language of the work, applied for may be granted to the applicant, or if there are more applicants than one, to such applicants, as, in the opinion of the Board, would best serve the interest of the general public, it shall direct the Registrar of Copyrights to grant the licence accordingly.
(5) Every such licence shall be subject to the conditions provided in sub-section (7) of section 31A, and shall specify —
(a) the period within which such work shall be published, translated or communicated to the public;
(b) the price at which the copies of such work are to be sold or charges to be collected for communicating the work to the public;
(c) the amount of royalty to be deposited and the account in which it has to be deposited;
(d) in case of translation of the work, the language in which the translation shall be produced and published; and
(e) in case of communication to the public of the work the medium in which it is to be communicated to the public.
(6) The grant of every such licence shall, as soon as possible, be published in journal and on the website of the Copyright Office and the Board and a copy of the licence shall be sent to the other parties concerned.

12. Manner of determining royalties.—

The Board shall determine the amount of royalty to be deposited by the applicant. The Board may while determining the royalty shall take into consideration the following-
(a) the prevailing standards of royalties with regard to such works; and
(b) such other matters as may be considered relevant by the Board.

13. Extension of the period of licence.—

The Board may, on the application of the licensee, if it is satisfied that the licensee was for sufficient reasons unable to produce and publish the translation or reproduce the work or communicate the work to the public within the period specified in the licence, extend such period.

14. Cancellation of licence. —

The Board may, after giving an opportunity to the licensee of being heard, cancel the licence on any of the following grounds, namely:—
 
(a) that the licensee has failed to produce and publish such work or communicate to the public the work within the time specified in the licence or within the time extended on the application of the licensee;
(b) that the licence was obtained by fraud or misrepresentation as to any essential fact;
(c) that the licensee has contravened any of the terms and conditions of the licence.

15. Notice for termination of licence. —

Notice for termination of licence under proviso to sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of section 32B shall be served on the person holding the licence by the owner of copyright in Form IV.

16. Notice for publication of a work in case of death of original owner.-

The Central Government, as required under sub-section (6) of section 31A, shall specify a minimum period of six months and a maximum of one year for publication of work by the heirs, executors or legal representatives of the author of work.

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