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12. Section 188 of the Act relates to assignment of copyright in an existing work. Assignment can be done by the owner of the copyright in an existing work. Section 18 permits assignment by a prospective owner, i.e. a person who is not the first owner as defined in Section 17, in a future work. However, as per the proviso, parties can enter into an agreement for assignment of copyright in any future work, but the assignment itself takes place only after "the work" comes into existence and not before. Section 18 therefore gives right to a person, who is not owner of copyright within the meaning of the Act to assign his rights in any future work which will come into existence in future by a contract of assignment. Though an agreement for assignment of a future work is permitted by Section 18 of the Act but the same is subject to the condition that the assignment itself will take effect and come into operation only after the work has come into existence. Before the work comes into existence the assignment does not have any affect. This is necessarily a corollary and flows from the object and purpose of law of copyright which is to protect the final expression and not an idea.