Copyright Registration in India
A step-by-step guide to registering a work, with official fees
Aparna Pandharkar · Registered Patent Agent, IN/PA 5313
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Aparna Pandharkar · Registered Patent Agent, IN/PA 5313
Copyright is the one right you already have. It comes into existence the moment an original work is created and fixed in some form — no application, no fee, no registration.
So the honest question is not how to get copyright, but whether to register it. Registration is entirely optional in India. What it gives you is evidence: an entry in the Register of Copyrights is admissible in court and is treated as prima facie proof of the particulars entered in it. When ownership or the date of creation is disputed — which is exactly when copyright matters — that entry saves you from having to prove from scratch what you made and when.
Any rupee amounts shown are the government (official) fees payable to the Copyright Office. Unlike patents, designs and trade marks, the copyright fee does not vary with who you are — it varies with the kind of work.
Any amounts shown on this page are official government fees only — the statutory charges payable to the Copyright Office. They are not the cost of the work.
Professional fees for preparing the statement of particulars, filing, and replying to any discrepancy or objection are charged separately and in addition. Please get in touch for a quote for your work.
Copyright subsists automatically in original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, and in cinematograph films and sound recordings. India is a member of the Berne Convention, so a work created here is protected in the other member countries without any formality there either.
What registration adds is proof. In an infringement suit, or in a dispute with a former collaborator, an employer or a client, the entry in the Register is evidence of who owns what and from when. That is worth having before a dispute arises, not after.
The application, the documents required and the fee all follow from how the work is classified. Software is registered as a literary work, filed with source code — commonly the first and last pages of the listing. A logo is an artistic work, but if it is used in relation to goods or services it falls into a separate, higher fee category and needs an extra step (see below).
Where the artistic work is used, or is capable of being used, in relation to goods or services — which covers most logos, labels and packaging artwork — the Copyright Office additionally requires a search certificate from the Trade Marks Registry confirming that no identical or deceptively similar mark is already on the trade marks register.
This is the step that most often delays a logo registration, and it is worth starting early. It also raises a useful question: if the artwork is functioning as a brand, a trademark registration may be the right protection to pursue alongside it.
The application is filed online at the Copyright Office along with a statement of particulars, a copy of the work, and a no-objection certificate from any other author, owner or publisher where the applicant is not the sole author. Where the work has been assigned or licensed, the deed goes in too.
On filing you are issued a diary number immediately. That number is your dated record that the application exists, which is itself useful evidence long before the registration comes through.
After the diary number issues there is a mandatory waiting period of 30 days during which any person may object to the registration. Nothing can be done to shorten it. If no objection is received, the application moves to scrutiny.
If an objection is filed, both sides are given a hearing before the matter is decided, and the timeline extends accordingly.
An examiner then scrutinises the application. Where something is missing or inconsistent — an unsigned no-objection certificate, an incomplete statement of particulars, source code that does not match the described work — a discrepancy letter issues and a reply is required within the period stated in it.
Discrepancies are routine and are usually document problems rather than objections to the work itself.
The work is entered in the Register of Copyrights and you are issued an extract of the Register, which is the document you produce in court. There is nothing to renew — a copyright registration lasts as long as the copyright itself, and no maintenance fee is ever payable.
Government fees only. Copyright fees do not vary by applicant — an individual and a large company pay the same. The fee depends on the class of work.
| Class of work | Registration |
|---|---|
| Literary, dramatic, musical or artistic workIncluding software | ₹500 |
| Artistic work used in relation to goods or servicesLogos, labels, packaging | ₹2,000 |
| Cinematograph film | ₹5,000 |
| Sound recording | ₹2,000 |
| Change in particulars — standard work | ₹200 |
| Change in particulars — artistic work used on goods | ₹1,000 |
| Change in particulars — cinematograph film | ₹2,000 |
| Change in particulars — sound recording | ₹1,000 |
| RenewalThere is none — registration does not expire | Nil |
The diary number is immediate, the 30-day waiting period is fixed, and everything after that depends on the queue. In practice a straightforward application is registered in 6 to 12 months. A logo needing a trade marks search certificate, or an application drawing a discrepancy letter or an objection, takes longer.
Because protection exists from the moment of creation, none of this waiting leaves you unprotected. The registration is evidence you are putting in place for later — which is why it is worth filing when the work is made, rather than when a dispute starts.
About these figures. The fees shown are the official fees prescribed in the Second Schedule to the Copyright Rules, 2013, as published by the Copyright Office. Fees are revised from time to time — the amounts here were checked in August 2026, and we will confirm the current figures before any step is taken on your behalf. Professional fees are additional to all of the above.
This page is a general guide to the procedure and is not legal advice on any particular work. Timelines other than the statutory 30-day waiting period are indicative and depend on the class of work and the workload at the Copyright Office. Please get in touch to discuss your work.