An assignment of copyright is valid under Section 19 of the Copyright Act, 1957 if it is in writing and signed by the assignor or by his duly authorized agent.

K. VEERASWAMI, C.J. :- The defendant appeals from a decree of Kailasam, J. granting the first plaintiff-respondent a sum of Rs. 2,500 by way of damages for infringement of the first plaintiff's copyright in the Tamil translation of the autobiography of the late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. It appears that some time in 1936, Thiru Sa. Ganesan had been permitted by Pandit Nehru to translate his autobiography in Tamil. But the relationship between Thiru Sa. Ganesan and the author was far from happy and on account of this fact Pandit Nehru in about 1955 authorised the first plaintiff to translate the autobiography and sell the same. The first plaintiff coming across sales of translations by the defendant exchanged notices in about 1959 complaining of infringement of his copyright and damages which eventually led to the suit. In July 1957 the defendant had printed 1200 copies of which 200 were said to be complimentary copies. Of the remaining 1000, 957 copies were sold by him which resulted in a profit of Rs. 2,000. In November 1957 the first plaintiff had printed 15000 copies of the book and made arrangements to publish the same as a popular edition at Rs. 3 a copy. It has been found that for each set the first plaintiff would have made a profit of Rs. 1.36. The learned Judge found that there was infringement by the defendant of the copyright and allowed damages as we mentioned at the outset.

2. Two points are urged by the appellant, one based on Section 19 read with Section 18 of the Copyright Act, 1957. and the other as to the quantum of damages. On the first, the contention is that whereas Section 19 is specific that no assignment of a copyright in any work shall be valid unless it was in writing signed by the assignor or by his duly authorised agent, there was no such assignment at all by the author to the first plaintiff. The learned Judge held that no particular form of assignment under S. 19 was required and it would suffice if the assignment could be culled out in writing from some document and that the assignment had been authorised by the author is evident from his signature or that of his authorised agent. We do not think that there is any substance on the point based on Section 19.

Among the documents filed for the first plaintiff was Ex. P-28 (a), which in brief contains the entire history of the earlier assignment in favour of Sa Ganesan and the later assignment in favour of the first plaintiff after cancellation of the first. It is evident from this letter that the earlier assignment was cancelled by Pandit Nehru in view of the acrimony following the failure of the assignee to remit the royalty to the author. This document brings out clearly that the author had as a matter of fact given, permission to the first plaintiff to bring out his own translation and that Sa Ganesan or his assignees had no right whatever to publish the autobiography any more. This is what that letter said :

"He (Pandit Nehru) has in fact given the permission to Books (India) Private Ltd., 135 Coral Merchant St., P. B. No. 1, 1803, Madras 1 to bring out a Tamil edition of his autobiography. This was done in the beginning of 1957 and had been brought out, and it is this firm that has the right now and your publishing or selling the book is an infringement of their right. It is open to that firm to take any steps in this matter they consider fit and proper."

This letter was written by Pandit Nehru to the defendant on 4th April 1959 and the letter was signed by Pandit Nehru's Assistant Private Secretary. In our view, the requirement of Section 19 is fully satisfied by this document. That section requires no doubt that an assignment to be valid should be in writing signed by the assignor or by his authorised agent. The argument is that the assignment in its origin should be in writing signed by the author or by his authorised agent. We do not think that is indicated by the section. The only requirement is that the assignment should be in writin