According to Section 17 of the Copyright Act 1957, the first owner of copyright in a work is the author of the work.

Under Section 2 (d) of the Copyright Act, 1957, the ‘author’ means:
1. in relation to literary or dramatic work, the author of the work;
2. in relation to a musical work, the composer;
3. in relation to an artistic work other than a photograph, the artist;
4. in relation to a photograph, the person taking the photograph;
5. in relation to a cinematograph film, the owner of the film at the time of its completion; and
6. in relation to a record, the owner of the original plate from which the record is made, at the time of the making of the plate.

Section 2 (y) of the Act defines a ‘work’ as including a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work; a cinematograph film; or a record and Section 13 (2) talks about which works it is that copyright subsists in. It says that copyright subsists throughout India in original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works; cinematograph films; and records. Copyright does not subsist in these works unless:
1. in the case of a published work, the work is first published in India, or where the work is at the date of such publication, or in a case where the author was deed at that date, was at the time of his death, a citizen of India;
2. in the case of an unpublished work other than an architectural work of art, the author is at the date of the making of the work a citizen of India or domiciled in India; and
3. in the case of an architectural work of art, the work is located in India.
In the case of a work of joint authorship, the conditions conferring copyright must be satisfied by all the authors of the work.

Further, copyright does not subsist:
1. in any cinematograph film if a substantial part of the film is an infringement of the copyright in any other work;
2. in any record made in respect of a literary, dramatic or musical work, if in making the record, copyright in such work has been infringed.

The copyright in a cinematograph film or a record does not affect the separate copyright in any work in respect of which or a substantial part of which, the film, or as the case may be, the record is made.

In the case of an architectural work of art, copyright shall subsist only in the artistic character and design and shall not extend to processes or methods of construction.

Exceptions:

There are a number of exceptions to the general rule that the author of a work is the first owner of the copyright in the work.

1. Under Section 17 (a), the proprietor of a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical is the first owner of the copyright for the purpose of publication of the literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work made by an author in the course of his employment under a contract of service or apprenticeship but in all other respects, the author is the first owner of the copyright. This, however, is subject to contract.

2. Subject to contract and Section 17 (a), the person who commissions a photograph, portrait, engraving or film is the first owner of the copyright if the work has been made for valuable consideration under Section 17 (b).

3. If Sections 17 (a) and 17 (b) do not apply, the employer is the first owner of the copyright if the work has been made in the course of the author’s employment under a contract of service or apprenticeship.

4. The person who delivers an address or speech in public or the person on whose behalf it is delivered is the first owner of the copyright even if such person id employed by any other person who arranges for such address or speech or on whose premises it is delivered.

5. Subject to contract, the Government is the first owner of the copyright in a government work.

6. Subject to contract, a PSU is the first owner of the copyright in a work first made or published by or under the control of the PSU.

7. An international organisation to which Section 41 of the Copyright Act, 1957 applies is the first owner of the copyright in its works.