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Aggrieved by the decision of the Copyright Board, the objectors preferred an appeal under section 72 of the Act to the High Court which allowed the same holding that unless there is a contract to the contrary, a composer who composes a lyric or music for the first time for valuable considera- tion for a cinematograph film does not acquire any copyright either in respect of film or its sound track which he is capable of assigning and that under proviso. (b) to section 17 of the Act, the owner of the film at whose instance, the composition is made, becomes the first owner of the copy- right in the composition. The High Court further held that "the composer can claim a copyright in his work only if there is an express agreement between him and the owner of the cinematograph film reserving his copyright". The High Court also held that "though section 18 of the Act confers power to make a contract of assignment, the power can be exercised only when there is an 'existing or future right to be assigned and that in the circumstances of the present case, assignment, if any, of the copyright in any future work is of no effect". Dissatisfied with this decision, the IPRS has,as already stated, come up in appeal to this Court. The copyright law in our country being fairly complicat- ed because of the involved language in which some of its provisions are couched and the case being of first impres- sion, learned counsel for the parties have tried hard to help us in solving the knotty points by advancing copious and able arguments. Appearing on behalf of the appellant, Mr. Ashok Sen has urged that the author (composer) of a literary or musical work has copyright which includes inter alia the exclusive right (a) to perform the work in public 'and (b) to make any cinematograph film or a record in respect of the work; that copyright in a literary or musical work is infringed by any person if without a licence granted to him by the owner of the copyright, he makes a cinematograph film in respect of the work or performs the work in public by exhibiting the cinematograph film; that if a person desires to exhibit in public a cinematograph film containing a musical work, he has to take the permission not only of the owner of the copyright in the cinematograph film but also the permission of the owner of the copyright in the literary or musical work which is incorporated in the cinematograph film, as according to section 1. 3 (4) of the Act, the copyright in a cinematograph film or a record does not affect the separate copyright in any work i.n respect of which or a substantial part of which, the film, or as the case may be, the record is made; that the provisions of section 17(b) of the Act have no application to a literary or musical work or the separate copyright therein and do not take away the copyright in a literary or musical work em- bodied in a cinematograph film; that the only modes in which the author of a literary or musical work ceases to be the owner of copyright m the work are (a) by assignment, '(b) by relinquishment and (c) by the composer composing the work in 'the course of his employment under a contract of service with an employer in which case, the employer becomes the owner of the copyright in the musical work; that in the case of an assignment of copyright in future work and the employ- ment of the author to produce a work under a contract of service, the question of priorities will be decided ac- cording to the principle "where equities are equal, the first in time shall prevail".

We have given our earnest consideration to the submis- sions made by learned counsel for the parties. So far as the first part of the question reproduced above is con- cerned, there is no dispute between the parties. Both sides are agreed that in view of the provisions of section 18 of the Act, the material portion of which lays down that--"(1) the owner of the copyright in an existing work-or the prospective owner of the copyright in a future work may assign to any person the copyright either wholly or partial- ly and either generally or subject to limitations and either for the whole term of the copyright or any part thereof; provided that in the case of the assignment of copyright in any future work, the assignment shall take effect only when the work comes into existence, (2)where the assignee of a copyright becomes entitled to any right comprised in the copyright, the assignee as respects the rights so assigned, and the assignor as respects the rights not assigned, shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as the owner of copyright and the provisions of this Act shall have effect accordingly", the first part of the question should be answered in the affirmative. It is accordingly held that an existing and future right of music ...... composer and lyricist in their respective 'works' as defined in the Act is capable of assignment subject to the conditions mentioned in section 18 of the Act, as also in section 19 of the Act which requires an assignment to be in writing, signed by the assignor or by his duly authorised agent.