Re-Examining Section 13 of the Copyright Act, 1957 in the Context of Oral Traditional Cultural Expressions

Section 13 of the Copyright Act, 1957 outlines the classes of works in which copyright exists in India, and this is done in the form of a template, which is designed for the individual, fixed and dated work of authorship. Oral traditional cultural expressions (OTCEs) that are folk songs, oral epics, ritual chants, dance-narratives, and community storytelling traditions are almost by definition outside that template — they are communally authored, intergenerationally transmitted, often not fixed, and without a determinate date of creation or living identifiable author. This paper provides a doctrinal analysis of Section 13 to see if, and how, oral TCEs can be incorporated into the statutory framework. It discusses the fixation and originality requirements in Section 13, in conjunction with Sections 2, 17 and 22 of the Act and how the courts in India, namely, the Academy of General Education v. Malini Mallya, have viewed derivative or reinterpreted traditional forms. It places the Indian position in the international debate regarding the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee, WIPO Treaty on the Rights of Traditional Knowledge and Associated Traditional Cultural Expressions (2024) and other Indian mechanisms like Section 31A, and the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library. The paper concludes that the concept of authorship and fixation as it is currently drafted does not have the capacity to meaningfully protect oral TCEs, and that a sui generis system must be created, which is outside the copyright framework.