Copyright and Ownership of Physical Copies

A physical book is a tangible copy that its purchaser owns as personal property. Copyright is a separate intangible legal right over the literary work embodied in that copy; purchasing the book does not transfer the copyright.

Rights of the owner of the copy

The owner may ordinarily possess, read, lend, resell, gift or dispose of that particular lawful copy. Under Section 14(a)(ii) of the Copyright Act, 1957, the copyright owner's right to issue copies concerns copies not already in circulation, which supports exhaustion of control over further circulation after lawful sale.

• Ownership of one copy does not confer ownership over the text as an intellectual creation.
• Disposal or destruction of the particular copy does not, by itself, transfer or extinguish the copyright.

Rights of the copyright owner

Copyright is a statutory bundle of exclusive rights defined by Section 14. For a literary work, it includes reproduction, issuing new copies, public performance or communication, translation and adaptation.

• Under Section 17, the author is generally the first copyright owner, subject to statutory exceptions.
• A valid assignment of copyright must satisfy Section 19, including being in writing and signed by the assignor.
• The copyright owner may license uses while retaining ownership of the copyright.

Practical boundary

A buyer may use and transfer the purchased object, but cannot ordinarily reproduce or commercially exploit the protected work. Scanning the whole book, printing additional copies, uploading it publicly, translating it or adapting it may require permission unless a specific exception under Section 52 applies.

• Permitted uses include specified fair-dealing purposes, such as private or personal use including research, criticism, review and reporting current events.
• The key distinction is between control over a particular physical copy and control over reproduction or exploitation of the underlying work.

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