Under section 31A of the Copyright Act, 1957, a compulsory licence to publish an unpublished Indian work may be granted where the author is

Section 31A of the Copyright Act, 1957 allows a licence to publish an unpublished Indian work, or a translation of it, where the author is dead or unknown or cannot be traced, or the owner of the copyright cannot be found. Each of the three situations is therefore a ground on its own. On an application, the Commercial Court (which replaced the Appellate Board in 2021) holds an inquiry and directs the Registrar of Copyrights to grant the licence.