Originality Test

Sir, "originality test " is to give time before granting the copyright protection to the owner bt checking whether same material has been published or performed through any mediaum of communication earlier by anybody else. If the subject matter of copyright has been already published, then the subject matter is not "original".

let me add more fuel to suchitra's understanding....

In copyright law, the visual connection is the real test of originality. In order to qualify for copyright protection a work must be 'original', in the legal sense that it is not 'substantially derived' from the earlier work of another artist, and 'substantial' in this context means qualitatively, not quantitatively.

The requirement of originality in copyright For literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, there is a requirement of ‘originality’ in order to obtain copyright in the work. 

In the leading case of University of London Press v London Tutorial Press (1911) the Court stated that “the word ‘original’ does not mean that the work must be an expression of original or inventive thought…the originality that is required is related to the expression of thought”. 

In Ladbroke v William Hill (1964) by Lord Pearce, who said that “the word ‘original’ does not demand original or inventive thought, only that the work is not copied and derives from the author.”  In this same case, Lord Reid stated the test is most commonly used today as whether the author of the work has expanded skill, judgment and labour in creating the work.  This is ‘sweat of the brow’ test, i.e. a very low standard of originality. 

there is one more test called as sweat of mind test which is high standard of originality For example, in the Ladbroke v William Hill case itself, football coupons were held to be original, a rather absurd result.

enjy

A work in order to qualify for copyright must be “Original” which means not new, novel or non-obvious. It simply means that work must not have been copied from any other source and the author must have employed his time, labor or skill in the creation of the work

The United States Supreme Court held that the sine qua non of copyright is originality. To qualify for copyright protection, a work must be original to the author. Original, as the term is used in copyright, means only that the work was independently created by the author (as opposed to copied from other works), and that it possesses at least some minimal degree of creativity.

Our Supreme Court in the recent celebrated case of Eastern Book Company v. D.B. Modak2008-(001)-SCC -0001 –SC has discussed in detail the “Originality Test” and adopted the Indian-Canadian test of “skill and judgment with flavour of creativity” and held that to claim copyright in a derivative work, the author must produce the material with exercise of his skill and judgment with a flavor of creativity which may not be creativity in the sense that it is novel or non-obvious, but at the same time it is not a product of merely labour and capital.

the “Originality test” under the Copyright Law is the work is the first of it's kind by the author.

I disagree that work should be first of its kind to be original. The copyright is not concerned with artistic merit of the work. However as per the latest Supreme Court judgment, the work should be the result of labor, skill of the author coupled with some flavour of creativity.