Filing Copyright Online

E-filing or online filing system at Indian Copyright Office was introduced back in 2009 and continued to function until the late 2011 or early 2012 when it came to a halt.  At least for the whole year of 2013 it was almost nonfunctional. During that period, the Indian Copyright Office had been accepting applications only in paper form, up until a few days when it went online again.

Copyright e-Filing System goes user friendly

Unlike the e-Filing system deployed by patent and trademark registry, it does not require any form of special encryption such as a digital signature certificate to use the e-filing system.  All one needs is a bona-fide intent to apply for copyright (pun intended), an active email ID, phone number, a valid physical address and going through the registration process, and you are done.

Although this is quite debatable as to whether it goes easy on users or increases risks of abuse, many countries such as USA, other than a few European countries and WIPO for PCT e-filing, do not require any special form of encryption.

E-governance revolution – Are we prepared?

It is certainly a good gesture from both Centre and State Government to migrate the existing paper-based administrative processes to a computer-based system.  Having said that, what many cyber security advocates worry about are the lack of adequate data security laws, IT training and education among public servants.  Aaadhar Card is the classic example of how sensitive data is being handled in the existing system.