For literary works (as well as dramatic, musical, and artistic works), Indian copyright law provides protection for the author's lifetime plus 60 years calculated from the year following the author's death. This is among the longest copyright terms globally. For cinematographic films and sound recordings, the term is 60 years from publication. For photographs, it was also lifetime + 60 years after the 2012 amendment. The Berne Convention minimum is lifetime + 50 years, and India exceeds this by 10 years.

1. 1 Pick up Copyright Act, 1957.
2. 2 Go to Section 22 — 'Term of copyright in published literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works.'
3. 3 Read: copyright subsists 'until sixty years from the beginning of the calendar year next following the year in which the author dies.' → Lifetime + 60 years.

The text reads: Section 22 Copyright Act: Copyright in published literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works subsists until sixty years from the calendar year following the author's death.