Remedies Against Infringement of Copyright — Intellectual Property Rights II Notes

Remedies Against Infringement of Copyright

Winning on “is it infringement?” is only half the battle; the owner then wants a court order to stop the piracy and pay for it. In practice the most powerful weapon is the interlocutory injunction — often an Anton Piller order letting the owner seize infringing stock overnight, before the pirate can hide it. The Act backs the owner with three tiers of remedy at once.

The three tiers of remedy

A. Civil remedies — s.55

The owner may sue for:

Injunction — the primary remedy: a court order restraining further infringement (temporary/interlocutory and permanent).
Damages — compensation for the loss caused.
Account of profits — surrender of the profits the infringer made (alternative to damages).
Delivery-up of infringing copies and plates; the owner is deemed the owner of infringing copies (s.58 — conversion damages).

An innocent infringer (who did not know and had no reasonable ground to believe copyright subsisted) may escape damages, but an injunction and account of profits still lie (s.55 proviso).

B. Criminal remedies — ss.63–70

s.63 — knowing infringement is punishable with imprisonment of six months to three years and a fine of ₹50,000 to ₹2,00,000.
s.63A — enhanced penalty for a second and subsequent conviction (minimum one year).
s.64 — a police officer (not below Sub-Inspector) may seize infringing copies without warrant.
s.65 — penalty for possession of plates for making infringing copies.

C. Administrative / border remedies — s.53

s.53 — the owner may apply to the Commissioner of Customs to prohibit the importation of infringing copies; the copies may be detained and treated as prohibited goods.
s.53A — resale share right in original manuscripts and artworks.

Section 55(1): where copyright is infringed, “the owner of the copyright shall … be entitled to all such remedies by way of injunction, damages, accounts and otherwise as are or may be conferred by law for the infringement of a right.”

In Simple Terms: Three doors open at once — civil (injunction + damages/accounts), criminal (jail + fine under s.63), and administrative (stop imports at Customs under s.53). Injunction is the workhorse; damages put money in the owner’s pocket; criminal action deters pirates.

🧩 WORKED EXAMPLE — the pirated e-book

Facts. Lisa, a novelist, finds an e-book copy of her book distributed on a website without consent.

Rule. Reproducing and communicating the work online is infringement (s.51); remedies lie under s.55 (civil) and s.63 (criminal).

Apply. Lisa owns the copyright; the website copied and communicated a substantial part (the whole book) without licence.

Conclusion. Lisa may obtain an injunction (including takedown), damages or account of profits, and, if the infringement is knowing, initiate criminal prosecution under s.63.

flowchart TD
    ROOT["Remedies for infringement"]:::root
    ROOT --> A["Civil (s.55): injunction, damages, account, delivery-up"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> B["Criminal (s.63): 6 months-3 yrs jail + fine 50k-2 lakh"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> C["Administrative (s.53): Customs ban on imports"]:::leaf
    classDef root fill:#FFF8DC,stroke:#000,stroke-width:1px,color:#000;
    classDef leaf fill:#E6F3FF,stroke:#1E3A8A,color:#000;
    linkStyle default stroke:#888,stroke-width:1px;

Case Laws

Microsoft Corporation v Yogesh Papat (2005) — damages and injunction for software piracy.
Super Cassettes Industries v Myspace Inc. (2011) — injunctive relief against an online intermediary hosting infringing content.

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