As reported in our IP News Alert dated April 03, 2017 and August 07, 2017 which can be accessed here and here, the Finance Act, 2017 as a part of its stride to reduce the number of Tribunals, merged the Copyright Board with the Intellectual Property Appellate Board.
In response to the above mentioned developments, the Copyright Office has released a Public Notice dated October 16, 2017 stating relocation of the Copyright Office to the Intellectual Property Office at New Delhi at the below address with effect from October 23, 2017 -
Boudhik Sampada Bhawan
Plot No. 32, Sector-14,
Dwarka New Delhi-110075
Ph: 011-25300200
The present move to bring all Intellectual Property Offices under one building is a welcome step, as it will bring a strong sense of efficiency back into the system and all the procedural hassles previously faced by an applicant will be done away with. As recently as last year, the Government of India announced that Copyright and Semi-Conductors are to be brought under the ambit of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. Such a transfer had the consequence of consolidating all IP related functions under one body, and instill a certain sense of uniformity in decision making at national and international levels. Before such a move Copyright was under the preview of the Human Resource Development Ministry.
The Public Notice dated October 16, 2017 can be accessed here.