The Government of India has notified the Copyright (Amendment) Rules, 2021 with the objective of bringing it in parity with relevant legislations. The Amendment harmonizes the Copyright Rules with provisions of the Finance Act, 2017, merging the Copyright Board with the Appellate Board. New provisions have been introduced to deal with undistributed royalty amounts, and the use of electronic and payment methods. Additions have also been made to improve transparency and accountability, requiring copyright societies to draw up and make public an Annual Transparency Report every financial year.
Compliance requirements for the registration of software has been reduced. Applicants may now file the first and last 10 pages of the source code, or the entire source code if less than 20 pages, with no blocked out or redacted portions. The time limit set for the central government to respond to an application to register a copyright society has been extended to 180 days. The Copyright Office website will make available a copyrights journal, in which publications may be made, eliminating the requirement of publication in the Official Gazette