The Protection of Fictional Characters

The central character of literature has more than often been a fictional character around which the entire work revolved. The author treats and portrays the character as per his own preferences and demand of the work to ardently ascertain the thought which he conceived and wished to disseminate. These thoughts have no limitations and the character which is conceived by the author reflects the ideas of the author. This fictional character becomes analogous to a real living character having all the traits and mannerism of a real person and these fictional characters may not only be humans but they may be non-humans or animals. There are numerous such fictional characters which have become so popular that the element of fiction in its personality has been long way given with and it has assumed the position of a real human in the society. People sometime begin to believe them to be real humans and tend to identify themselves with such characters. The popularity of such fictional characters establishes its marketability and thus it assumes characteristics of a property. Once the element of profitability creeps in debate over its ownership and protection begins. In this paper an attempt is made to discuss fictional characters, their creation, ownership, and protection if any under the Indian copyright laws.