Joint Authorship Copyright in Nepal: Two Creators, One Work, Who Owns What?
Joint authorship in Nepal: two creators, one work. How the Copyright Act 2059 divides ownership by default and the agreements that prevent the dispute.
Two friends write an album. Two developers build an app. A lyricist and a composer make a song that outlives both friendships. Under Nepal's Copyright Act, the default answer to who owns a jointly created work is not what either creator assumed in the studio.
The default is workable — but it is also the beginning of most joint-creation disputes, because nobody read it before the work succeeded.
In short
Joint authorship copyright in Nepal follows the Act's author-first principle: each joint author of a work holds copyright as a co-owner, and no statute automatically converts the arrangement into equal shares or single ownership — the rights question is what the co-authors agreed, and absent an agreement it is decided by the default rules the Act supplies. Because protection is automatic from creation and registration at the Copyright Registrar's Office is voluntary, the practical work is contractual: a written co-authorship agreement settling shares, use permissions and what happens if one author wants out, signed while the work is still a project rather than an asset.
The default position under Nepal's Copyright Act 2059
The Copyright Act, 2059 (2002) vests copyright in the author — the natural person who created the work — from the moment of creation, with no formalities. Where a work is created by more than one author, each is an author; the Act does not impose a mechanical 50/50 split or hand the work to whoever did 'most' of it. What the co-authors actually hold depends on the agreement they made — and where there is none, the outcome is determined by general principles rather than the arrangement either creator assumed.
Two structural features make the default dangerous in practice. First, economic rights (reproduction, distribution, public communication, adaptation) and moral rights sit separately: moral rights — attribution and integrity — stay with each author and cannot be waived, so even a full economic transfer leaves attribution duties alive. Second, a jointly created work's economic value is hard to use unilaterally: one co-author cannot cleanly license the whole to a publisher, label or platform without the others.
What joint authorship is — and is not
| Situation | How it is treated |
|---|---|
| Two creators collaborate on one work, intending a single whole | Joint authorship — both are authors; ownership per their agreement or the default rules |
| Lyricist and composer on a song | Separate works or a combined work as agreed — each contribution carries its own rights |
| A studio producer polishes a track | Contribution may not create authorship at all — depends on creative substance and agreement |
| A work created for a client by one creator | Not joint authorship — the creator owns it; the client needs a written assignment |
The co-authorship agreement that prevents the dispute
The instrument is short, and every clause in it is cheaper than the litigation it avoids.
- Ownership shares stated — percentages of the economic rights, fixed in writing at the start
- Use permissions — what each co-author may do alone: publish, license, perform, post — and what needs the others' consent
- Revenue handling — how income is collected, split and accounted for; who signs the label or platform deal
- Derivative and future versions — remixes, sequels, translations, new editions
- Exit mechanics — what happens when one author wants to sell their share, stops contributing, or dies (shares pass to heirs)
- Credit and integrity — attribution practice agreed up front, respecting moral rights that cannot be waived anyway
Registration and the evidence file
Copyright protection in Nepal is automatic, so the certificate is not what creates the right — it is what proves it. Voluntary registration at the Copyright Registrar's Office records the work, the authors and (where transferred) the owners at a date certain, creating presumptive evidence that shifts the burden in any later dispute. For a jointly created work, the application should name every author consistently with the co-authorship agreement, so the public record and the private contract tell the same story.
The supporting file matters as much: dated drafts, session notes, message threads showing who contributed what. Joint works are the category where 'who actually wrote this' is asked years later, by strangers, with money attached.
The three disputes the agreement actually prevents
First, the success dispute: the work takes off and one author's share of income is whatever the other feels like accounting for. Second, the control dispute: a platform or publisher wants exclusive rights, one author signs, and the other discovers it after release. Third, the departure dispute: a co-author emigrates, disengages or dies, and the remaining creators cannot clear the rights for the next album or version.
All three are settled by the same three pages of paper — signed before release, filed with the drafts, and registered where the work is worth defending.
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This article is general information, not legal advice.