SUCCESSION, STEWARDSHIP, AND THE PUBLIC DOMAIN: INTERGENERATIONAL EQUITY IN INDIA’S INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REGIME

This article examines how Indian law allocates intellectual property after an individual creator or proprietor dies, and asks whether succession rules preserve a fair relationship between present owners, future generations, and the public. Using doctrinal analysis of copyright, patent, trade mark, design, plant-variety and geographical-indication statutes, relevant Indian decisions, and international instruments, it distinguishes transmissible economic entitlements from personal, registered, and collectively held interests. The central claim is that inheritance does not itself create a new monopoly: it carries forward only the interest the deceased owned, subject to the original statutory term, public-interest limitations, and the formalities attached to each right. Indian copyright law provides the clearest succession framework, while other regimes rely more heavily on general property and registry rules. This unevenness increases title uncertainty, transaction costs, and unequal access to cultural and scientific works. The article proposes a modest stewardship model: clearer probate and registry procedures, accessible records of ownership and licensing, proportionate support for heirs, stronger safeguards for attribution and integrity, and reliable routes to use orphaned or unexploited works. Such measures can protect.