SUBJECT Formatted: Font: 11 pt

LEGAL ASPECTS OF BUSINESS

TOPIC
COPYRIGHTS AS A PART OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS WITH REFERENCE
TO RELEVANT CLAUSES OF TRIPS

Sheeba Khan (81)

Rohit Khandre (83)
Sheetal Kokani (85)
Tajas Kokate (87)
Harshal Kothari (89)
Devuka Kudupudi (91)
Somya Kumar (93)
Deepanjan Lamture (95)
Krushali Mahapadi (97)
Aishwarya Manjrekar (99)
INDEX Formatted: Font: 11 pt

 Introduction To Intellectual Property Rights……………………………….….…3 Formatted: Font: 11 pt

 Types Of Intellectual Property Rights……………………………………….…….5

 Conventions, Organizations And Agreements……….….…………………….…..8

 TRIPs………………………………………………….……………………….……12

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  Rental Rights……………………………………………………………………….15

 Protection Of Performers, Producers Of Phonograms (Sound Recordings) And

Broadcasting Organisation…………………….………………………….……….16

 The Indian Copyright Act, 1957……..……………………………………….……17

 Rights Protected Under Copyrights……………………………………….………21

 Copyright Licensing………………………………………………………………..24

 Copyright Infringement…………………………………………………………….27

 Copyright Society………………………………………………………….………..33

 Copyright Board…………………………………………………………………….37

 Internet And Copyright Issues……………………………………………………..40

 Digital Rights Management………………………………...………………………42

 The Digital Millennium Copyright Act………………………………...………….44

 How Internet Fights Piracy?.....................................................................................47

 Cases…………………………………………………………………………..……..53

 Conclusion………………………………………………………………….………..56

INTRODUCTION TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

In a nutshell, Intellectual Property Rights are the rights that protect what you create using your
mind. IPR are exclusive legal rights over the creations of the mind. IPR allows the person /entity holding
the right to control how it is used. It mainly comprises of copyrights, patents and trademarks, and also
includes trade secrets, moral rights, publicity rights and rights against unfair competition. They allow
creators, or owners to benefit from their own work or investment in a creation. IPRs do not protect ideas
but the expression of the idea. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has defined
Intellectual property as “Creations of the mind, such as inventions, literacy and artistic works, designs,
names, images and symbols used in commerce”

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 The intangible nature of intellectual property presents difficulties when compared with
traditional property like land or goods. Unlike traditional property, intellectual property is indivisible –
an unlimited number of people can "consume" an intellectual good without it being depleted.
Additionally, investments in intellectual goods suffer from problems of appropriation – a landowner
can surround their land with a robust fence and hire armed guards to protect it, but a producer of
information or an intellectual good can usually do very little to stop their first buyer from replicating it
and selling it at a lower price. Balancing the Rights so that they are strong enough to encourage the
creation of intellectual goods but not so strong that they prevent their wide use is the primary focus of
modern Intellectual Property law.

Objectives of the Intellectual Property Law

Intellectual property law deals with the rules for securing and enforcing legal rights to
inventions, designs, and artistic works. Just as the law protects ownership of personal property and real
estate, it also protects the exclusive control of intangible assets. The purpose of these laws is to give an
incentive for people to develop creative works that benefit society, by ensuring they can profit from
their works without fear of misappropriation by others.
Copyrights apply to writings, music, motion pictures, architecture, and other original
intellectual and artistic expressions. Patents give inventors the right to use their product in the
marketplace, or to profit by transferring that right to someone else. Trademarks protect symbols, names,
and slogans used to identify goods and services. The purpose is to avoid confusion, deter misleading
advertising, and help consumers distinguish one brand from another.

Importance of Intellectual Property Rights

The progress and well-being of humanity rests on its capacity to create and invent new works
in the areas of technology and culture. Also, the legal protection of new creations encourages the
commitment of additional resources for further innovation. In today’s knowledge based economy,
returns on investment for knowledge are higher than returns on other factors of production and
Intellectual property rights contribute to ensuring profitability from knowledge. Coupled with this is
the fact that in the digital, globalized era it is much easier to reproduce creations than ever before. A
song, film or book in digital form can be transmitted globally and instantaneously via the internet.
Ensuring that The Intellectual Property Rights are in place, it provides a legal base to prevent copying.

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TYPES OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

1. Patent
A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention – a product or process that
provides a new way of doing something, or that offers a new technical solution to a problem. A
patent provides patent owners with protection for their inventions. A patent is a title which
provides its owner the right to prevent others from exploiting the invention mentioned in the
patent. It does not allow by itself making or selling an invention but it rather gives the right to
exclude others from making, using, selling or importing the patented invention. This monopoly

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 is granted for a specific field, in a defined country and for a maximum of 20 years in return for
the full disclosure of the invention with the publication of its technical details.

2. Trademark
A trademark is a distinctive sign that identifies certain goods or services produced or
provided by an individual or a company. It can be distinctive words, marks or other features. Its
purpose is to establish in the mind of the customer a link between all the different products
and/or services that the company offers, and then distinguish them from those supplied by
competitors. The system helps consumers to identify and purchase a product or service based on
whether its specific characteristics and quality – as indicated by its unique trademark – meet
their needs. A trade mark may consist of any signs capable of being represented graphically,
particularly words, including personal names, logos, letters, numerals, and the shape of goods
or of their packaging.

3. Industrial design
An industrial design refers to the ornamental or aesthetic aspects of an article. A design
may consist of three-dimensional features, such as the shape or surface of an article, or two-
dimensional features, such as patterns, lines or color. Industrial designs are applied to a wide
variety of industrial products and handicrafts: from technical and medical instruments to
watches, jewelry and other luxury items; from house wares and electrical appliances to vehicles
and architectural structures; from textile designs to leisure goods.
Registration of design confers on the owner (for a limited time) the exclusive right to use the
design and to authorise others to use it. It also includes the right to make, offer, put on the market,
import, export, or use a product in which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied, or
to stock such a product for those purposes. The maximum duration of design protection varies
from country to country from 5 to 25 years.

4. Trade secret
It is a formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, commercial method, or
compilation of information which is not generally known, and by which a business can obtain
an economic advantage over competitors or customers. Trade secrets concern secret or
proprietary information of commercial value. These are not covered by specific statutory
provisions as other types of IP are, although there could be aspects of contract law, or
employment law that might be relevant in a particular case. The level of protection conferred to
trade secrets varies significantly from country to country. Indeed, trade secret represents an
interest for its holder, which is often a competitive advantage. Trade secrets do not receive any

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 prote`ction from intellectual property rights, even though a doctrinal discussion exists on this
issue and some authors consider trade secrets themselves as an IP right.

5. Geographical Indication (GI)

It is a name or sign used on certain products which corresponds to a specific

geographical location or origin (e.g. a town, region, or country). The use of a geographical
indication may act as a certification that the product possesses certain qualities, is made
according to traditional methods, or enjoys a certain reputation, due to its geographical origin.
A recent example is of Indian variety of Basmati rice getting GI tag. From above points, it is
clear that IPR is a very sensitive issue in terms of businesses different kinds and international
relations as well.

5. Copyright
Copyright is a form of intellectual property protection granted under Indian law to the
creators of original works of authorship such as literary works (including computer programs,
tables and compilations including computer databases which may be expressed in words, codes,
schemes or in any other form, including a machine readable medium), dramatic, musical and
artistic works, cinematographic films and sound recordings. Copyright law protects expressions
of ideas rather than the ideas themselves. Under section 13 of the Copyright Act 1957, copyright
protection is conferred on literary works, dramatic works, musical works, artistic works,
cinematograph films and sound recording. For example, books, computer programs are protected
under the Act as literary works. Copyright protection is conferred on all Original literary, artistic,
musical or dramatic, cinematograph and sound recording works. Original means, that the work
has not been copied from any other source. Copyright protection commences the moment a work
is created and its registration is optional. However, it is always advisable to obtain a registration
for a better protection. “Indian work” means a literary, dramatic or musical work,
 The author of which is a citizen of India: or
 which is first published in India: or
 The author of which, in the case of an unpublished work, is, at the time of the making
of the work, a citizen of India.
Dramatic work” includes any piece for recitation, choreographic work or entertainment in dumb
show, the scenic arrangement or acting form of which is fixed in writing or otherwise but does
not include a cinematograph film; “Government work” means a work which is made or
published by or under the direction or control of:
 the Government or any department of the Government:
 any Legislature in India;

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  any court, tribunal or other judicial authority in India;
Copyright registration is invaluable to a copyright holder who wishes to take a civil or criminal
action against the infringer. Registration formalities are simple and the paperwork is least. In
case, the work has been created by a person other than employee, it would be necessary to file
with the application, a copy of the assignment deed.

CONVENTIONS, ORGANIZATIONS AND AGREEMENTS

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 • Paris Convention
1883

• Berne Convention
1886

• Universal Copyright Convention (UCC)

1952

• Rome Convention
1961

• The Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRS)

1969

• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

1970

• World Trade Organization (WTO)

1995 • Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)

1. Paris Convention

The Paris Convention, adopted in 1883, applies to industrial property in the widest sense,
including patents, trademarks, industrial designs, utility models, service marks, trade names,
geographical indications and the repression of unfair competition. This international agreement was
the first major step taken to help creators ensure that their intellectual works were protected in other
countries.

2. Berne Convention

The Berne Convention, adopted in 1886, deals with the protection of works and the rights of their
authors. It provides creators such as authors, musicians, poets, painters etc. with the means to
control how their works are used, by whom, and on what terms. The three-step test set out in the
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. Briefly stated, the Berne
Convention provides that an exception or limitation to copyright is permissible only if:
 it covers special cases

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  it does not conflict with the normal exploitation of the work; and

 It does not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author.

Standard exceptions and limitations vary from country to country in their number and scope.

3. Universal Copyright Convention

Universal Copyright Convention, (1952) was adopted at Geneva and was developed by United
Nation Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which for several years had been
consulting with copyright experts from various countries. The convention came into force in 1955.
Its main features are the following:
 No signatory nation should accord its domestic authors more favorable copyright treatment than
the authors of other signatory nations, though no minimum protection for either domestic or
foreign authors is stipulated.
 A formal copyright notice must appear in all copies of a work and consist of the symbol ©, the
name of the copyright owner, and the year of first publication; a signatory nation, however,
might require further formalities, provided such formalities do not favor domestic over foreign
works.
 The minimum term of copyright in member nations must be the life of the author plus 25 years
(except for photographic works and works of applied art, which have a 10-year term).
 All adhering nations are required to grant an exclusive right of translation for a seven-year
period, subject to a compulsory license under certain circumstances for the balance of the term
of copyright.

4. Rome Convention

The Rome Convention (October 26, 1961) secures protection in performances for performers,
in phonograms for producers of phonograms and in broadcasts for broadcasting organizations.

5. The Indian Performing Right Society Limited

The work of IPRS is to issue Licenses to users of music and collect Royalties from them, for
and on behalf of its Members i.e. the Authors, the Composers and the Publishers of Music and
distribute this Royalty amongst them after deducting its administrative costs. The IPRS came into
existence on 23rd August 1969. The IPRS is a representative body of Owners of Music, viz. The
Composers, Lyricists (or Authors) and the Publishers of Music and is also the sole Authorized Body
to issue Licenses permitting usage of Music within India by any person. Composers are those who

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 are better known as Music Directors, Authors are better known as Lyricists, Publishers of Music
are the Producers of Films and Music Companies, or those who hold Publishing Rights of the
Musical Works. The Society is a non-profit making Organization and is a Company Limited by
Guarantee and Registered under the Companies Act, 1956.
IPRS has been granted Registration by the Central Government on 28th November, 2017 and is
accordingly now a Copyright Society registered under Section 33 of the Copyright Act, 1957 and
Copyright Rules, 2013.
The term Intellectual Property, can be found used in an October 1845 Massachusetts Circuit Court
ruling in the patent case Davoll et al. v. Brown., in which Justice Charles L. Woodbury wrote that
"only in this way can we protect intellectual property, the labors of the mind, productions and
interests are as much a man's own...as the wheat he cultivates, or the flocks he rears. Until the early
2000s the global IP regime used to be dominated by high standards of protection characteristic of
IP laws from Europe or the United States, with a vision that uniform application of these standards
over every country and to several fields with little consideration over social, cultural or
environmental values or of the national level of economic development. Morin argues that "the
emerging discourse of the global IP regime advocates for greater policy flexibility and greater
access to knowledge, especially for developing countries." Indeed, with the Development Agenda
adopted by WIPO in 2007, a set of 45 recommendations to adjust WIPO’s activities to the specific
needs of developing countries and aim to reduce distortions especially on issues such as patients’
access to medicines, Internet users’ access to information, farmers’ access to seeds, programmers’
access to source codes or students’ access to scientific articles. However, this paradigm shift has is
yet manifested itself in concrete legal reforms at the international level.

6. World Intellectual Property Organization

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is one of the 17 specialized agencies of the
United Nations. WIPO was created in 1967 "to encourage creative activity, to promote the
protection of intellectual property throughout the world"
WIPO’s Strategic goals:
 Balanced evolution of the International Normative Framework for IP.
 Provision for Premier Global IP services.
 Facilitating the use of IP for development.
 Coordination & development of global IP infrastructure.
 Addressing IP in relation to Global Policy Issues.

7. National Intellectual Property Organization

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 The National Intellectual Property Organization is an association of creators, users and owners
of Intellectual Property. It is dedicated to developing policy initiatives in the area of Intellectual
Property. It provides information regarding Intellectual Property matters to all their stakeholders
through publications, meetings and conferences to educate the public on Intellectual Property
enforcement, trade and exchange, Intellectual Property managements, litigation and related issues.
It is also responsible for providing the right environment for efficient development, use and
exchange of Intellectual Property rights thus fostering economic and social development.
Mission & Objectives:
 Creates awareness about the rights of intellectual property owners and regulates through
the professional conduct of the Members, arranges social activities for Members of the
Organization and promotes knowledge of intellectual and industrial property law by
lectures, discussions etc.
 Supports development of infrastructural facilities for registration of intellectual property by
ensuring improvement of legal, institutional and administrative framework.
 Fosters ties of mutual friendship and understanding among those who are practicing in the
field of intellectual property law.
 Carries out Research and Development activities for development and protection of
Intellectual Property Rights and encourages innovation of Intellectual Property Rights by
interacting and keeping pace with developments outside the country.

In 1873, foreign exhibitors refused to attend an International Exhibition of Inventions in Vienna.

They were afraid that their ideas would be stolen and exploited commercially in other countries.
This led to the creation of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of 1883 as
well as the need to protect Intellectual Property internationally arose. It was the first initiative, in
the form of industrial property rights, designed to help people of one country obtain protection in
other countries for their intellectual creations. In 1886, copyright entered the international arena
with the Berne Convention. The aim of this Convention was to help nationals of its Member States
obtain international protection of their rights to control, receive payment for, the use of literary and
artistic works. Both the Paris Convention and the Berne Convention set up International Bureaus to
carry out administrative tasks which are today known as the World Intellectual Property
Organization or WIPO. WIPO is a specialized agency of the UN, with a mandate to administer
Intellectual Property matters recognized by the UN Member States.
TRIPs

Introduction To TRIPs

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 The agreement on trade related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) included in the
World Trade Organization (WTO) is known as TRIPS Agreement or simply TRIPS. It is one of the most
important agreements of all the WTO Agreements.
This agreement was negotiated was a part of multilateral trade negotiations in the year 1986-
94 under General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which is also known as Uruguay Round. The
purpose of the GATT is mainly reduction in tariffs and other trade barriers for mutual advantages. The
Uruguay Round introduced Intellectual Property Rights into multilateral trading system through all
disciplines.
The TRIPS Agreement is part of the “single undertaking” (agreement on all multiple issues)
resulting from Uruguay Round negotiations. This means that TRIPS Agreement applies to all WTO
members, mandatorily. This also means the provisions of agreement are subject to WTO dispute
settlement mechanism which is contained in the Dispute Settlement Understanding (understanding rules
and procedures governing the Settlement of Disputes).

IPRs Covered Under TRIPS

The WTO provides that the intellectual property should be protected when trade is involved.
Through TRIPS the WTO makes it mandatory for all member nations to follow the minimum standards
of IPR provided under TRIPS Agreement.
The IPRs covered under TRIPS Agreements are:
1. Copyrights and related rights
2. Trademarks
3. Geographical indications
4. Industrial designs
5. Patents
6. Layout designs of integrated circuits
7. Undisclosed information

Inclusion of TRIPS in WTO

Before WTO the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) addressed the issues related
to international trade in goods. The main purpose of GATT was to reduce tariffs in international trade.
Due to this the developed countries like United States started facing increasing competition in exports
from Newly Industrializing Countries (NICs) of Asia.
Due to automation and advancement in manufacturing, technologies became more important in
goods and commodities. Having inventions and design (intellectual creativity) in their value,
Intellectual Property Rights became more important in international trade. Thus for issues related to
intellectual property more clarity in GATT provisions was needed. An appropriate new rules and

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disciplines needed to establish in order to reduce distortions and obstructions in international trade. As
a result, in the Uruguay Round negotiations, the IPRs dominated the discussions which ultimately
resulted into formation of TRIPS Agreement.

Annexure 1C in TRIPS
The Annex 1C of Marrakesh Agreement is the name for main WTO Agreement.
It includes the following:
1. General provisions and basic principles
2. Standards concerning the availability, scope and use of Intellectual Property Rights
 Copyright and related rights
 Trademarks
 Geographical indications
 Industrial designs
 Patents
 Layout designs of integrated circuits
 Protection of undisclosed information
 Control of anti-competitive practices in contractual licenses.
3. Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights
 General obligations
 Civil and administrative procedures and remedies
 Provisional measures
 Special requirements related to border measures
 Criminal procedures
4. Acquisition and maintenance of Intellectual Property Rights and related inter-parties
procedures.
5. Dispute prevention and settlement
6. Transitional arrangements
7. Institutional arrangements; Final provisions Commented [AA1]: .
Formatted: Font: 11 pt

Objective
The protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRs) should contribute to the
technological advancement, creativity, innovation and its promotion. They should be widely spread for
mutual benefit of the producers and users of technological knowledge and creative’s in such a way that
they benefit social and economic welfare. They must balance the rights and obligations adhered with it.

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Principles:
1. Members while amending (make changes to make it accurate or according to circumstances) their
laws and regulations, may adopt measures which are necessary to
 Protect public health and nutrition
 Promote public interests in important sectors (socio-economic)
 Technological development
Provided these measures are compatible with the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement.
2. Appropriate measures, consistent with Agreement must be taken while amending laws and
regulations to prevent
 Abuse of IPRs by right holders
 Adopting practices that restrain in trade
 Adversely affecting international transfer of technology

Relation to the Berne Convention

1. TRIPS Agreement excludes moral rights (right to object to any distortion or modification of work
that would affect the authors honor or reputation) of the author. The level of protection of moral
rights is lower than that in the Berne Convention.
2. Copyright protects the expression and not the ideas. There is no protection for ideas, methods of
operation, procedures or mathematical concepts.

Computer Programs and Compilation of Data

1. Computer programs and compilation of data is not mentioned in the Berne Convention. Hence it is
introduced in TRIPS. It is classified as “literary works”.
2. The computer programs and codes whether machine readable or not are covered in this clause, as
long as its contents are intellectual creations.

RENTAL RIGHTS
It is important for at least computer programs and cinematographic works that the members
shall provide authors and their successors in title of the right to - Authorize/prohibit commercial rentals

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to the public of originals/copies of their copyright works. If there is a widespread copying of
cinematographic works which has led to damage in quality and is not allowed to reproduce. Then such
works are exempted from rental rights. In computer programs, if the program itself is not the essential
object of the rental than this obligation does not apply on it.

Terms of Protection
According to TRIPS Generally copyright of work lasts for the lifetime of the author and a
minimum of 50yrs after his/her death. In case the term of protection is not based on life of a natural
person, than such term shall not be less than 50yrs from the end of the calendar year of authorized
publication/making of the work. Is it as per TRIPs OR Indian Copyright Act???.

Limitations and Exceptions

1. Certain categories of works are excluded from copyright protection..
E.g.: Choreography can only be protected once they are written in dance notations
2. Certain particular acts of exploitation which may require right owner’s permission may under some
consideration of law would not require the right owner’s permission.
E.g.: use of works for teaching purposes or news reporting

PROTECTION OF PERFORMERS, PRODUCERS OF PHONOGRAMS (SOUND

RECORDINGS) AND BROADCASTING ORGANISATION

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 These are the related rights. The works belong to owner but they are regarded as intermediaries’
delivery for the work to come in some form.
E.g. dancers perform steps choreographed by choreographer

1. Protection of performers
Performers have the right to prevent acts when undertaken without their authorization: fixation,
reproduction of fixation, broadcasting and communication with the public.

2. Protection producers of phonograms

Producers of phonograms have the right to authorize/prohibit the direct/indirect reproduction
of their phonograms.

3. Protection of broadcasting organizations

Broadcasting organizations have the right to prohibit the following acts when undertaken
without authorization:
 Fixation
 Reproduction of fixation
 Rebroadcasting by wireless means of broadcasts
 Communication to the public about television broadcasts

If members do not grant such rights to the broadcasting organizations, they shall provide owners of
copyright in the subject matter of broadcasts for preventing above acts. This is mentioned in the
provisions of Berne Convention (1971). The terms of protection available for performers and producers
of phonograms shall last at least 50yrs completed from the year of calendar in which the fixation/
performance took place. While in case of term of protection granted for broadcasting organization is at
least 20yrs from the year of calendar in which the broadcast took place.

THE INDIAN COPYRIGHT ACT, 1957

.The Copyright Act, 1957 came into effect from January 1958. This Act has been amended six times till
date since then i.e., in 1983, 1984,1991,1994,1999 and 2012.The amendments were made to bring the
Act in conformity to the Work Contract Tax (WCT) and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty
(WPPT) although India is a member of the Berne Convention of 1886, the Universal Copyright
Convention of 1951 and the Agreement on Trade and Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS).
The Act aims

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  to protect the Music and Film Industry and address its concerns;
 to address the concerns of the physically disables to protect the interests of the author of
any work; incidental changes;
 to remove operational facilities;
 and enforcement of rights.

Some of the important amendments to the Copyright Act in 2012 are extension of copyright protection
in the digital environment such as penalties for circumvention of technological protection measures and
rights management information, and liability of internet service provider and introduction of statutory
licenses for cover versions and broadcasting organizations; ensuring right to receive royalties for
authors, and music composers, exclusive economic and moral rights to performers, equal membership
rights in copyright societies for authors and other right owners and exception of copyrights for
physically disabled to access any works.

Ownership of Copyright

The author of the work is said to be the owner of the copyright of that work.
Author means,
1. In relation to a literary or dramatic work, the author of the work;
2. In relation to a music work, the composer;
3. In relation to artistic work other than a photograph, the artist;
4. In relation to photograph, the person taking the photograph;
5. In relation to a cinematograph film or sound recording, the producer; and
6. In relation to any literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work which is computer generated,
the person who causes the work to be created.

Provided that:
1. In the case of a literary, dramatic or artistic work made by the author in the course of his
employment by the proprietor of a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical under a
contract of service, for the purpose of publication in a newspaper, magazine or similar
periodical, the said proprietor shall, be the first owner of the copyright in the work. Example:
Photographs clicked by a photographer employed with Times of India newspaper whether
published or not in the newspaper, the owner of such photographs is Times of India and not
the photographer.
2. In the case of a photograph taken, or a painting or portrait drawn, or a cinematograph film
made, for valuable consideration at the instance of any person, such person shall, be the first
owner of the copyright therein.

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 Example: A portrait made of a famous personality by a painter will belong to that personality
and not the painter of the portrait.
3. In the case of any government work. The government shall be the first owner of the
copyright therein.

Assignment of Copyright

1. A copyright is said to be assigned when the owner of the copyright for any of his existing
or future works assigns the entire or partial rights of the work for the term of copyright or
for a specific period of time.
2. Provided that in the case of the assignment of copyright in any future work, the assignment
shall take effect only when the work comes into existence.
3. Where the assignee of a copyright becomes entitled to any right comprised in the copyright,
the assignee as respects the rights so assigned shall be treated as the owner of copyright.

Mode of Assignment

The requirements for an assignment to be enforced are as follows:

1. It must be in writing.
2. It should be signed by the Assignor or his/her duly authorized agent.
3. It should specify the rights assigned and the duration and territorial extent of such
assignment.
4. It should specify the amount of royalty payable, if any, to the author or his legal heirs
during the currency of the assignment and the assignment shall be subject to revision,
extension or termination on terms mutually agreed upon by the parties.
5. In the event the Assignee does not exercise the rights assigned to him within a period of
one year, the assignment in respect of such rights is deemed to have lapsed unless
specified in the Agreement.
6. If the period of assignment is not stated, it is deemed to be five years from the date of
assignment, and if no geographical limits are specified, it shall be presumed to extend
within India. Example: A book author assigns publication rights of his work to ABC
Publications Ltd. The book author needs to give a deed of assignment of copyright
specifying the extent of the publication rights, the amount of royalty agreed upon by the
publisher and the author. If the author does not specify the period of the assignment in
the deed it is taken as 5 years also the geographical jurisdiction of this assignment is
taken as India unless specified. In case ABC did not exercise the right to publish the book
of the author within a period of one year then the assignment will lapse.

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Disputes with respect to assignment of copyright

1. If an assignee fails to make sufficient exercise of the rights assigned to him, and such
failure is not attributable to any act or omission of the assignor, then, the Copyright Board
may, on receipt of a complaint from the assignor and after holding such inquiry as it may
deem necessary, revoke such assignment.
2. If any dispute arises with respect to the assignment of any copyright the Copyright Board
may, on receipt of a complaint from the aggrieved party and after holding such inquiry
as it considers necessary, pass such order as it may deem fit including an order for the
recovery of the royalty payable
3. Every complaint received with respect to assignment shall be dealt with by the Copyright
Board as far as possible and efforts shall be made to pass the final order in the matter
within a period of six months from the date of receipt of the complaint.

Term of copyright

1. The general rule is that copyright lasts for 60 years.

2. In the case of original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works the 60-year period is
counted from the year following the death of the author.
3. In the case of cinematograph films, sound recordings, photographs, posthumous
publications, anonymous and pseudonymous publications, works of government and
works of international organizations, the 60 year period is counted from the date of
publication.
Example: Mr. A was an author of various famous books and he passed away on 25th of
November 2001. The copyrights of his book will expire on 60 years from 1st January
2002. That is his copyrights will expire on the 31st December 2061. Till the said date his
legal heirs will continue to receive the benefits of his copyrights.

Registration of Copyright

1. In India, the registration of copyright is not mandatory.

2. The registration does not create any new right and is not a prerequisite for initiating action
against infringement.
3. There is no prescribed time limit within which registration of a copyright can be obtained.
4. The registration of the copyright may take a period of 1 to 1 ½ years.

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 5. E-filing facility is also available which started on 14th February, 2014.
The registration process of copyright is given below:

THE INDIAN COPYRIGHT ACT, 1957

Short Title, Extent and Commencement Commented [AA2]: R uwriting a book?

Formatted: Font: 11 pt

1. As per the provisions of the Berne Convention and the TRIPs, India has its own law in line with
the International agreements whereby Copyrights are governed.

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2. The Copyright Act, 1957 came into effect from January 1958
3. It extends to the whole of India.
4. This Act has been amended six times till date since then i.e., in 1983, 1984,1991,1994,1999 and
2012. Commented [AA3]: How does it add value??
Formatted: Font: 11 pt

Scope of The Indian Copyright Act, 1957

1. The Copyright Act, 1957 protects original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and
cinematograph films and sound recordings from unauthorized uses.
2. Unlike the case with patents, copyright protects the expressions and not the ideas. There
is no copyright in an idea.
3. Copyright does not ordinarily protect titles by themselves or names, short word
combinations, slogans, short phrases, methods, plots or factual information. Copyright
does not protect ideas or concepts.
4. To get the protection of copyright a work must be original.
5.
Ownership of Copyright

The author of the work is said to be the owner of the copyright of that work.
Author means,
1. In relation to a literary or dramatic work, the author of the work;
2. In relation to a music work, the composer;
3. In relation to artistic work other than a photograph, the artist;
4. In relation to photograph, the person taking the photograph;
5. In relation to a cinematograph film or sound recording, the producer; and
6. In relation to any literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work which is computer
generated, the person who causes the work to be created.

Provided that:
1. In the case of a literary, dramatic or artistic work made by the author in the course of his
employment by the proprietor of a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical under a
contract of service, for the purpose of publication in a newspaper, magazine or similar
periodical, the said proprietor shall, be the first owner of the copyright in the work.
Example: Photographs clicked by a photographer employed with Times of India newspaper

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 whether published or not in the newspaper, the owner of such photographs is Times of
India and not the photographer.
2. In the case of a photograph taken, or a painting or portrait drawn, or a cinematograph film
made, for valuable consideration at the instance of any person, such person shall, be the
first owner of the copyright therein.
Example: A portrait made of a famous personality by a painter will belong to that
personality and not the painter of the portrait.
3. In the case of any government work. The government shall be the first owner of the
copyright therein.

Assignment of Copyright

1. A copyright is said to be assigned when the owner of the copyright for any of his existing
or future works assigns the entire or partial rights of the work for the term of copyright or
for a specific period of time.
2. Provided that in the case of the assignment of copyright in any future work, the assignment
shall take effect only when the work comes into existence.
3. Where the assignee of a copyright becomes entitled to any right comprised in the
copyright, the assignee as respects the rights so assigned shall be treated as the owner of
copyright.

Mode of Assignment

The requirements for an assignment to be enforced are as follows:

1. It must be in writing.
2. It should be signed by the Assignor or his/her duly authorized agent.
3. It should specify the rights assigned and the duration and territorial extent of such
assignment.
4. It should specify the amount of royalty payable, if any, to the author or his legal heirs
during the currency of the assignment and the assignment shall be subject to revision,
extension or termination on terms mutually agreed upon by the parties.
5. In the event the Assignee does not exercise the rights assigned to him within a period
of one year, the assignment in respect of such rights is deemed to have lapsed unless
specified in the Agreement.

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 6. If the period of assignment is not stated, it is deemed to be five years from the date of
assignment, and if no geographical limits are specified, it shall be presumed to extend
within India. Example: A book author assigns publication rights of his work to ABC
Publications Ltd. The book author needs to give a deed of assignment of copyright
specifying the extent of the publication rights, the amount of royalty agreed upon by
the publisher and the author. If the author does not specify the period of the
assignment in the deed it is taken as 5 years also the geographical jurisdiction of this
assignment is taken as India unless specified. In case ABC did not exercise the right to
publish the book of the author within a period of one year then the assignment will
lapse.

Disputes with respect to assignment of copyright

1. If an assignee fails to make sufficient exercise of the rights assigned to him, and such
failure is not attributable to any act or omission of the assignor, then, the Copyright
Board may, on receipt of a complaint from the assignor and after holding such inquiry
as it may deem necessary, revoke such assignment.
2. If any dispute arises with respect to the assignment of any copyright the Copyright
Board may, on receipt of a complaint from the aggrieved party and after holding such
inquiry as it considers necessary, pass such order as it may deem fit including an order
for the recovery of the royalty payable
3. Every complaint received with respect to assignment shall be dealt with by the
Copyright Board as far as possible and efforts shall be made to pass the final order in
the matter within a period of six months from the date of receipt of the complaint.

Term of copyright

1. The general rule is that copyright lasts for 60 years.

2. In the case of original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works the 60-year period
is counted from the year following the death of the author.
3. In the case of cinematograph films, sound recordings, photographs, posthumous
publications, anonymous and pseudonymous publications, works of government and
works of international organizations, the 60 year period is counted from the date of
publication.

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 Example: Mr. A was an author of various famous books and he passed away on 25th of
November 2001. The copyrights of his book will expire on 60 years from 1st January
2002. That is his copyrights will expire on the 31st December 2061. Till the said date his
legal heirs will continue to receive the benefits of his copyrights.

Registration of Copyright

1. In India, the registration of copyright is not mandatory.

2. The registration does not create any new right and is not a prerequisite for initiating action
against infringement.
3. There is no prescribed time limit within which registration of a copyright can be obtained.
4. The registration of the copyright may take a period of 1 to 1 ½ years.
5. E-filing facility is also available which started on 14th February, 2014.
The registration process of copyright is given below:

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RIGHTS PROCECTED UNDER COPYRIGHTS need live example for each of this

The rights of authors of literary and artistic works (such as books and other writings, musical
compositions, paintings, sculpture, computer programs and films) are protected by copyright. Also
protected through copyright and related (sometimes referred to as “neighboring”) rights are the rights
of performers (e.g. actors, singers and musicians), producers of phonograms (sound recordings) and
broadcasting organizations. The main social purpose of protection of copyright and related rights is to
encourage and reward creative work.

1. Rights in a Dramatic work

In the case of a dramatic work, copyright means one can reproduce the work and communicate
the work with public. One can issue the copies of the work to the public and include in any
cinematograph film. One can make translation of the work.

2. Rights in an Artistic work

In the case of an artistic work, copyright means one can reproduce the work and can
communicate the work to the public. The artist can issue the copies of the work to the public.

3. Rights in a Musical work

In the case of a musical work, copyright means one can reproduce the work and can
communicate the work to the public. The artist can issue the copies of the work to the public. The work
can also be included in any cinematograph film or sound recording. One can also make any translation
and adaptation of the work.

4. Rights in a Cinematograph film

In the case of a cinematograph film, one can copy the film including a photograph of any
image. One can sell or give a copy of the film on hire. One can also offer a copy for sale or hire a copy
of film. One can also use the copy to communicate the cinematograph film to the public.

5. Rights in a Sound Recording

In the case of sound recording, copyright can be used to make any other sound recording
embodying it. One can sell or give a copy of the film on hire. One can also offer a copy for sale or hire
a copy of film. One can also use the copy to communicate the cinematograph film to the public.

6. Rights of Reproduction, Distribution, Rental and Importation

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 The right of copyright owners to prevent others from making copies of their works without
permission is the most basic right protected by copyright legislation. The right to control the act of
reproduction – be it the reproduction of books by a publisher or the manufacture by a record producer
of compact discs containing recorded performances of musical works – is the legal basis for many forms
of exploitation of protected works.

7. Right of Broadcasting
The right of broadcasting covers the transmission for public reception of sounds, or of images
and sounds, by wireless means, whether by radio, television or satellite. When a work is communicated
to the public, a signal is distributed by wire or wireless means for reception only by persons who possess
the equipment necessary to decode the signal. Cable transmission is an example of communication to
the public.
Example: Amazon is going to take first step of live sports broadcasting.

8. Translation and Adaptation Rights

Translating or adapting a work protected by copyright also requires permission from the right
owner. Translation means the expression of a work in a language other than that of the original version.
Adaptation is generally understood as the modification of a work to create another work, for example
adapting a novel to make a film, Translations and adaptations are themselves works protected by
copyright. In order to publish a translation or adaptation, permission must be obtained from both the
owner of the copyright in the original work and the owner of copyright in the translation or adaptation.
Example: “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho is translated into 56 languages.

9. Right to Follow
A special right granted to authors is the right to obtain a percentage in the subsequent sales of
his work and is called Right to Follow. The right is also available to artists on resale of their work.
Example: Arjit Singh receives royalty on sale of his CDs.

10. Right to Publicly Perform

The copyright owner also has the right to publicly perform his works. Example, he may perform
plays based on his work or perform at concerts.
Example: Live concert of Justin Bieber in DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai on 10th may, 2017

11. Right to Enforce other Rights

This right makes all the other rights meaningful is the Right to Enforce Protected Rights. Under
this, the copyright holder can institute infringement proceedings against any violated work.

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12. Sui Generis Rights
A new set of right (sui generis rights) have been introduced to protect databases on the whole.
A database involves an arrangement or compilation of information and though this may not be creative,
it still requires effort and hence protection from unauthorized copying.

13. Right to make Derivative Works

It is the right to modify the work to create a new work. A derivative work involves a type of
transformation, such as the transformation of a novel into a motion picture.
Example: Two states film was directed by Abhishek Varma on the novel of the same name written by
Chetan Bhagat.

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COPYRIGHT LICENSING

License is basically an agreement between the Licensor who is the owner of the copyright and
the licensee who wants to use the copyright so they enter into an agreement on the basis of which the
licensee gets to use the technology and the licensor gets money or some other consideration. For
example: For converting the Harry Potter book into a movie the production company must enter into a
licensing agreement with the author. Here J K Rowling is the licensor and the Warner Bros. Warner
Bros acquired the rights from J K Rowling in 1999. Another example is when a Television serial puts a
song in their show they must do it after getting a license from the singer, composer etc and give them
some amount in exchange. This licensing agreement spares the licensee from a claim of infringement.
Through a licensing agreement the copyright owner may grant some or all the powers of the copyrighted
content to the licensee to use his or her work for monetary benefits, in exchange for a consideration.

Voluntary License
The copyright owner of an existing work or the future owner of a copyrighted work may grant
license to the company who wants to use the content for monetary benefit. Although in case of future
copyrighted work the license is not effective till the work comes into existence. The above mentioned
examples are the examples of voluntary licensing. If the person who owns the copyright dies, his legal
representative is entitled to the benefits.

The License agreement must mention the following particulars:

1. Identification of the work and rights licensed: The agreement should mention which work of
the owner has been licensed to the company and whether they have been granted complete
rights over the work or partial rights. For example: If J K Rowling has licensed only the first
book in the Harry Potter series to the Warner Bros. than this information should be
specifically mentioned in the agreement. Warner Bros. will not have any rights over any other
books in the series unless and until an agreement is made for them too.

2. Duration of the License: The agreement should also specify the duration for which the
licensee will have the right to use the copyrighted work. If the agreement mentions 12 months
than the licensee does not have the right to use it for a moment longer. For example when a
television show uses a song in their show, they have a time period till when they can use the
song and later on the song is removed from the clip and some other music is inserted in its
place.

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 3. Territorial extent of the License: The territories where the licensed work can be used should
also be mentioned in the agreement. There can be no territorial limits as well. An example
where territorial limits can be specified is while taking the rights of publishing a book by an
author the author can set territorial limits where the books will be distributed on the basis of
the consideration he or she with gain in exchange.

4. Amount of royalty payable: Royalty is the cash consideration of the licensor. The license
agreement must mention the amount the royalty a company is entitled to pay for using their
work.

5. Conditions regarding revision, extension or termination of the agreement: It must contain the
details regarding the date of revision of the agreement or conditions under which the
agreement can be extended. And if certain conditions are not met then the termination of the
agreement.

Any disputes regarding licensing agreement will be settled by the copyright board.

Compulsory Licensing

A compulsory license is the type of license which is provided by the copyright board without
the prior permission of the copyright owner. The board has the right to issue license for work which is
withheld from public. The primary objective of compulsory licensing is to make available the
copyrighted work to the general public. The copyrights give protection to the work of writers, artists,
etc. so that they can benefit from the results of their hard work and creativity. However, according to
the law, such work should be available to the people for access. Sometimes, the owners of copyright are
not willing to part from their work so in such a case, in order to make the work available to the people
and for free flow of ideas and information without infringing the rights of the copyright owner,
compulsory licensing becomes a necessity. Compulsory license is issued in the following cases:
1. If the owner has refused to republish or allow republication of his or her work or has refused
to allow performance of the work thus withholding the work from the public
2. If the owner does not allow broadcasting of the work to the public or in case of sound
recording he or she refuses to broadcast the recordings.
After providing sufficient time to the copyright owner to say his part, the copyright board can conduct
investigation may order the registrar of copyrights to issue a compulsory license to the complainant so
that he or she can republish the work or broadcast and communicate the work to the public

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Exclusive and Inclusive Licenses

Exclusive license is the kind of license which gives the licensee complete right over the
copyrighted work. Person having an exclusive license can determine who can use the copyrighted work.
Here even the owner cannot use the copyrighted work for himself. Only the licensee and the person
allowed by him or her have the right to use the work for their benefit.
In the inclusive license, the owner of the copyright is not deprived of his right to grant a license
to persons other than the licensee. He may use the copyright himself as well.
The license can be for defined period of time or it can be for an indefinite period of time. In
case of literary works publication, the publisher cannot be restrained from selling the books published
during the period of his license even after the license expired.

Validity of a License
If the licensee does not exercise the right granted to him in the license deed within one year,
then the license will be deemed to be lapsed after the expiry of one year unless otherwise specified in
the license deed. If the period of the license is not mentioned in the deed, then it will be deemed to be
for five years.
In the case of any dispute between the licensor and licensee, the aggrieved party can file a
complaint with the Copyright Board, which will hold an inquiry and pass suitable orders which may
include an order for any royalty payable.
An order for the revocation of the license cannot be passed before the expiry of a period of five
years unless the terms of the agreement mention that the licensor has the right to do so if the licensee
does not follow the rules. A Copyright can have more than one owner. In such case, if a joint owner
grants a license of the copyright or any part of it without the consent of other owners/co-owners, then
the co-owner can sue that joint owner and the licensee to whom such right has been granted.
Consideration forms an important part of granting a license for copyright. If there is not a
consideration, then the license is revocable, however, if there is some consideration then it is irrevocable
as interest is created in the copyright

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

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Copyright infringement is the use of works protected by copyright law without permission. Copyright
infringement occurs when a work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed or made
into a derivative work without permission. The copyright holder is typically the work's creator, or a
publisher or other business to whom copyright has been assigned. The words piracy and theft are often
associated with copyright infringement, but that area of law is considerably different from piracy and
theft. This is so because the latter are only related to tangible property and theft solely focuses on
commercial loss.
Examples:

1. Downloading movies and music without proper payment for use

2. Recording movies in a theatre
3. Using others’ photographs for a blog without permission

Primary Infringement
For primary infringement to occur there must have been a direct infringement by a
person/organization of an exclusive right. To determine whether there was in fact a direct infringement,
you must determine whether the defendant himself, and without permission,
reproduced/performed/displayed, etc., the copyright holder’s work. If the answer is yes, then it is a
direct or primary infringement.

Secondary Infringement
Secondary infringement occurs when a person/organization facilitates another person or group
of people to infringe upon a copyright. It involves aiding a primary infringer in selling the pirated work.
There are two types of secondary infringement:
1. Contributory Infringement
The infringer is liable to the copyright holder if it is proved he/she engaged in
personal conduct that encouraged or assisted the infringement. In this level of liability, the
infringer must have actual knowledge or “reason to know of the direct infringement.” The
infringer must also contribute to the infringement in a material way.
2. Vicarious infringement
The copyright holder has to prove that the infringer had the right and ability to
supervise the activities that infringed the copyright and had a financial interest in the
activities. This is the level of liability that a university incurs by hosting an Internet service. If
any users or subscribers of the Internet service infringe copyrights online, the university is
vicariously liable for the copyright holder’s damages. In fact, any Internet Service Provider is
vicariously liable for infringement that subscribers engage in.

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MOTIVES FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
1. Pricing – unwillingness or inability to pay the price requested by the legitimate sellers.
2. Unavailability – no legitimate sellers providing the product in the country of the end-user, not yet
launched there, already withdrawn from sales, never to be sold there, geographical restrictions
on online distribution and international shipping.
3. Usefulness – the legitimate product comes with various means of restricting legitimate use or
comes with non-skippable advertisements and anti-piracy disclaimers, which are removed in the
unauthorized product making it more desirable for the end-user.
4. Shopping experience – no legitimate sellers providing the product with the required quality
through online distribution and through a shopping system with the required level of user-
friendliness.
5. Anonymity – downloading works does not require identification whereas downloads directly from
the website of the copyright owner often require a valid email address and/ or other credentials.
6. Freedom of information – there are numerous people who do not believe in the idea of copyright.
Hence they usually break the idea of copyright.

Civil Law
Any violation of the exclusive rights of the owner leads to the copyright infringement under
civil law. Reproduction, the preparation of derivative works, distributing copies by sale or rental,
and public performance or display are some of those rights of the copyright owner. The confrontation
of copyright infringement is usually done via civil courts, against defaulter who provide services or
software supporting unauthorized copying, or against the alleged infringers directly.

Caselet: Bollywood’s ‘Raabta’ with Copyright Infringement

On May 25, 2017 the producers of the movie Raabta had been sued by the Geeta Arts, the producers of
the Telugu film “Magadheera” over alleged copyright infringement. The entire script of the movie,
‘Raabta’ was filed along with a comparative chart of the two movies. On this count, ‘Raabta’ lawyer
said, “We have filed the entire script of our film along with a comparative chart showing how the two
films are completely different in the their story, treatment and expression, something that the Plaintiff
ought to have done in the first place as part of his pleadings to show comparative similarities.” The
idea-expression dichotomy along with the major technical differences between the plot lines of the two
films, were vehemently argued by Team Raabta. “The lawyers fighting Raabta’s case argued that the
storyline, the background of the characters, the locations, the finale and the role of the villain in the film
are completely different from that of Magadheera.” In addition, “The makers further pointed out the
similiarities, even if there were any, were purely on themes that are generic to every film made on

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reincarnation of two lovers.” On June 9,2017 before the release of Raabta movie on 9th june,2017 the
makers of Magadheera withdrew their case and agreed for an out of court settlement. The facts were
presented in the court of law and it was found that the plaintiff (makers of Raabta) were misguided. As
a final decision Raabta won the case against Magadheera movie.

Criminal Law
Penalties in regards to copyright infringement vary case-by-case across countries. Punishments
may include severe fines and/or jail time for each case of copyright infringement. In some countries
like the US, willful copyright infringement may carry a maximum penalty of $150,000 per instance.
Article 61 of the TRIPs states that signatory countries should establish penalties and criminal procedures
in instances of "willful trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy on a
commercial scale". Over the years, a number of copyright holders have even demanded that
there must be criminal sanctions for all types of copyright infringement.

The Indian Copyright Act provides civil and criminal remedies to the owners of the copyright
on infringement. They are as follows:- why so many are covered? Because readily available/

Offence Penalty Formatted: Font: 11 pt

Imprisonment: Minimum imprisonment of

Whoever knowingly infringes or abets infringement 6 months, which may extend to three years. Formatted: Font: 11 pt

of copyright Fine: Minimum fine of Rs 50,000, which

may extend to Rs 2,00,000.
For the special reasons mentioned in the
judgement,
Where the infringement has not been made for gain in Formatted: Font: 11 pt
Imprisonment awarded may be less than 6
the course of trade of business.
months or the
Fine: imposed may be less than Rs 50,000.
Imprisonment: Minimum imprisonment of
one year, which may extend up to three
For the second and subsequent conviction of Formatted: Font: 11 pt
years
infringement
Fine: Minimum fine of Rs 1,00,000 which
may extend up to Rs 2,00,000.

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For second and subsequent infringement has not been
made for gain in the course of trade of business.
Knowing use of infringed copy of computer
For the special reasons mentioned in the
judgement,
Formatted: Font: 11 pt
Imprisonment awarded may be less than
one year or a
Fine: imposed less than Rs 1,00,000.
Imprisonment: Minimum imprisonment of
7 days which may extend up to 3 years and Formatted: Font: 11 pt

programme Fine: A minimum fine of Rs 50,000 which

may extend up to Rs 2,00,000.
For the reasons to be recorded in writing the
When a computer programme is not used for gain in court, Formatted: Font: 11 pt

the course of trade or business. Imprisonment: NA

Fine: may be up to Rs 50,000.
A person in possession of any plate for the purpose of Imprisonment which may extend to two Formatted: Font: 11 pt

making infringing copies of any work in which years and

copyright subsists Fine: Shall also be liable to fine.
Circumvention of an effective technological measure Imprisonment which may extend to two Formatted: Font: 11 pt

applicable for protecting rights with an intention of years and

infringing the rights Fine: Shall also be liable to fine.
Removes or alters any rights management Formatted: Font: 11 pt

information without authority, or distributes, imports

for distribution, broadcasts or communicates to the
public, without authority, copies of any work, or
performance knowing that electronic rights
management information has been removed or altered
without authority.
Making false entries in the register of copyright to
Imprisonment which may extend to two
years and
Fine: Shall also be liable to fine.
Imprisonment: Punished with
imprisonment, which may extend to one Formatted: Font: 11 pt

produces/tenders such writing as evidence. year or

Fine or both.
Imprisonment: Punished with
Making false statements to deceive, influence any Formatted: Font: 11 pt
imprisonment, which may extend to one
authority or officer to procure or omit anything
year or
pertaining to the Act
Fine or both.
Publishing of sound records and/or films without Imprisonment: Punishable with Formatted: Font: 11 pt

publishing the required particulars prescribed by the imprisonment which may extend to three

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 Copyright act years and
Fine: Shall also be liable to fine.

Remedies for Infringement

1. Because the owner loses the value of a copyright when infringement occurs, relief is often sought
through filing a lawsuit in federal court.
2. If infringement is established, the court can grant preliminary and permanent injunctions, or court
orders that restrain the offending party from continuing to infringe the copyright.
3. A court may also award monetary damages as a remedy for copyright infringement.
4. The copyright owner can recover for actual financial losses and any additional profits that the
infringer earned from the infringement.
5. The copyright owner may instead choose to receive statutory damages, which range from a
minimum of $250 to a maximum of $10,000. The court may adjust these limits based on the
innocence or wilfulness of the infringer.
6. Innocent infringer may prove their good faith and may have damages reduced to as little as $100,
whereas willful infringers may be punished by the court with damages as high as $50,000.
7. Courts may also impound or destroy illicit reproductions of copyrighted works.

Fair Use

Fair use is a judicial doctrine that refers to a use of copyrighted material that does not infringe
or violate the exclusive rights of the copyright holder. Fair use is an important and well established
limitation on the exclusive right of copyright owners.
Examples: making of braille copies or audio recordings of books for use by blind people or making of
video recordings of broadcast television programs or films by individuals for certain private, non-
commercial use.
Parody often constitutes fair use of copyrighted material. In cases involving parodies of
copyrighted works, courts typically assess the purpose and intent involved in taking material from the
original expression, and whether or not the author of the parody has borrowed a reasonable amount of
material in producing the parody.

Case: Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc.

Authors Guild v. Google is a copyright case litigated in the United States. It centers on the
allegations by the Authors Guild, and previously by the Association of American Publishers, that
Google infringed their copyrights in developing its Google Book Search database.

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 In late 2005 the Authors Guild of America and Association of American Publishers separately
sued Google, citing "massive copyright infringement." Google countered that its project represented a
fair use and is the digital age equivalent of a card catalog with every word in the publication indexed.
The lawsuits were consolidated, and eventually a settlement was proposed. The settlement received
significant criticism on a wide variety of grounds, including antitrust, privacy, and inadequacy of the
proposed classes of authors and publishers. The settlement was eventually rejected, on March 22, 2011,
and the publishers settled with Google soon after.
The Authors Guild continued its case, and in 2011 their proposed class was certified. Google
appealed that decision, with a number of amici asserting the inadequacy of the class, and the Second
Circuit rejected the class certification in July 2013, remanding the case to the District Court for
consideration of Google's fair use defense.

Case: Copyright Infringment Case By Zee Khana Khazana

Khana Khazana is a popular show aired on Zee Network. It also has a page on Facebook that
goes by the name ZeeKhanaKhazana‘ [referred to as ZKK]. The page is said to be dedicated to food,
and recently the community of food bloggers found that they are also regularly stealing photographs
from food bloggers and websites for their features. When Aparna, Soma, Manisha and Alka, whose
photographs were stolen and featured, complained and asked Khana Khaza to remove the photographs
that belonged to their blogs, ZKK apologized saying this was not cautious action and that they were
using these images to project a visual appeal of their recipes to their fans. For long the food blogging
community have been victims of plagiarism by big and small sites, print and electronic media. The fact
that bloggers are individuals and not in a position to defend their content, makes them easy prey for
such corporate bodies. However, the present incident [with ZKK] showed rampant copyright
infringement. We decided that it was time for food bloggers, those who were victims and those who
were potential victims, to unify and take action. Many of us voiced ourselves on the Facebook page of
ZKK, and reported the page to Facebook also. Some of us were cautious enough to take screen shots of
the posts as evidence. Sensing the agitation, ZKK, and in some cases Facebook, removed the posts
containing the stolen photographs. ZKK then made a feeble apology, reproduced below:

36 | P a g e
COPYRIGHT SOCIETY

Collective administration of copyright by societies is a concept where management and

protection of copyright in works are undertaken by a society of authors and other owners of such works.
No authors and other owner of copyright in any work can keep track of all the uses others make of his
work. When he becomes a member of a national copyright society, that society, because of its
organizational facilities and strength, is able to keep a better vigil over the uses made of that work
throughout the country and collect due royalties from the users of those works. Because of the country’s
membership in international conventions, the copyright societies are able to have reciprocal agreements
with similar societies in other countries for collecting royalties for the uses of Indian works in those
countries. Therefore, it is in the interests of copyright owners to join a collective administration
organization to ensure better protection to the copyright in their works and for reaping optimum
economic benefits from their creations. Users of different types of works also find it easy to obtain
licences for legal exploitation of the works in question, though the collective administrative society.

Copyright Societies in India

A copyright society is a registered collective administration society under Section 33 of the

Copyright Act, 1957. Such a society is formed by authors and other owners. The minimum membership
required for registration of a society is seven. Ordinarily, only one society is registered to do business
in respect of the same class of work. A copyright society can issue or grant licences in respect of any
work in which copyright subsists or in respect of any other right given by the Copyright Act.
The business of issuing or granting license in respect of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic
works incorporated in a cinematograph films or sound recordings shall be carried out only through a

37 | P a g e
copyright society duly registered under this Act. This is a kind of compulsory collective licensing for
managing of performing rights.
The registration granted to a copyright society shall be for a period of five years and may be
renewed from time to time before the end of every five years on a request in the prescribed form and
the Central Government may renew the registration after considering the report of Registrar of
Copyrights on the working of the copyright society.
The renewal of the registration of a copyright society shall be subject to the continued collective
control of the copyright society being shared with the authors of works in their capacity as owners of
copyright or of the right to receive royalty.

Functions of a Copyright Society

Conditions subject to which a copyright society may issue licences, collect fees and distribute
such fees.
1. A copyright society may issue licences and collect fees in accordance with its Scheme of
Tariff in relation to only such works as it has been authorized to administer in writing by the
authors and other owners of rights and for the period for which it has been so authorised.
2. The distribution of fees collected shall be subject to a deduction not exceeding fifteen per cent
of the collection on account of administrative expenses incurred by the copyright society.

Administration of rights of owner by copyright society

 A copyright society may accept from an author and other owner of rights exclusive
authorisation to administer any right in any work by issue of licences or collection of licence
fees or both; and
 an author and other owner of rights shall have the right to withdraw such authorisation
without prejudice to the rights of the copyright society under any contract.
 It shall be competent for a copyright society to enter into agreement with any foreign society
or organisation administering rights corresponding to rights under this Act, to entrust to such
foreign society or organisation the administration in any foreign country of rights
administered by the said copyright society in India, or for administering in India the rights
administered in a foreign country by such foreign society or organisation
Provided that no such society or organisation shall permit any discrimination with
regard to the terms and conditions of licence or the distribution of royalties so collected,
between the Indian Copyright Holders as well as other right holders.
 Subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, a copyright society may
 issue licences under section 30 in respect of any rights under this Act;
 collect fees in pursuance of such licences;

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  distribute such fees among author and other owners of rights after making deductions for
its
 own expenses

Control over the copyright society by the authors and other owner of rights.

1. All fees distributed among the owners of rights shall, as far as may be, be distributed in
proportion to the actual use of their works.
2. Every copyright society shall have a governing body with such number of persons elected from
among the members of the society consisting of equal number of authors and owners ofwmx for
the purpose of the administration of the society as may be specified.
3. All members of copyrights society shall enjoy equal membership rights and there shall be no
discrimination between authors and owners of rights in the distribution of royalties.

Records to be maintained by copyright society

Every copyright society shall maintain the following registers at its registered or administrative
office:
1. A register of authors and other owners to be called the “Register of Authors and Other Owners” in
respect of right or set of rights in the specific categories of works for which the copyright society
has been authorised to issue or grant licences. The register shall contain the names of the authors
and other owners, their addresses, the nature of rights authorised to be administered by the
copyright society, year of publication of the work, the date on which the copyright society
becomes entitled to issue or grant licences and the duration of such entitlement, the territory for
which the authorization has been given and the rights that have been so authorised;
2. A register to be called the “Register of Agreements” containing a copy of every agreement
entered into by the copyright society with the authors and other owners for the purpose;
3. A register to be called the “Register of Royalties” containing particulars of royalties and
mentioning the names of persons or organisations and copy of the licence agreements from whom
the royalties have been realised, and the amount so realised including the date of realisation;
4. A register to be called the “Disbursement Register” containing details of disbursement of royalties
made to each author or other owner of right or set of rights in the specific categories of works,
category wise, mentioning the name of the author or other owner, nature of his right and the date
and amount of disbursement of royalty made to him.

Tariff Scheme by Copyright Society

Every copyright society shall publish its tariff scheme in such manner as prescribed in the

39 | P a g e
Copyright Rules, 2013. Any person who is aggrieved by the tariff scheme may appeal to the Intellectual
Property Appellate Board (IPAB) and the Board may, if satisfied after holding such inquiry as it may
consider necessary, make such orders as may be required to remove any unreasonable element, anomaly
or inconsistency therein. The aggrieved person shall pay to the copyright society any fee as may be
prescribed that has fallen due before making an appeal to the IPAB and shall continue to pay such fee
until the appeal is decided, and the Board shall not issue any order staying the collection of such fee
pending disposal of the appeal. The IPAB may after hearing the parties fix an interim tariff and direct
the aggrieved parties to make the payment accordingly pending disposal of the appeal.

Distribution Scheme
1. A copyright society shall frame a scheme to be called the “Distribution Scheme” setting out the
procedure for distribution of royalties specified in the Tariff Scheme among the members whose
names are entered in the Register of Authors and Owners maintained for the approval of the
General Body of the society, as soon as may be, but in no case later than three months from the
date on which a copyright society has become entitled to commence its copyright business.
2. The distribution shall, reasonably, be in proportion to the royalty income of the copyright society
derived from the grant of licences for right or set of rights in the specific categories of works for
which it is administering each author and other owners of right.
3. There shall be no discrimination between authors and other owners of rights in the distribution of
royalties by the copyright society.
4. While distributing the royalties the copyright society shall inform all members about the basis on
which such amount of royalties are being distributed.
5. The Distribution Scheme shall aim to ensure that all royalty distributions are fair, accurate, cost
effective and without any unknown or hidden cross subsidies.
6. The society shall fix parameters in a transparent manner for determining the share of distribution
of its members and reveal the details of the same in a manner that is easily understandable to its
members.
7. The distribution of royalties shall be based on actual use or reliable statistical data that fairly
represent the commercial exploitation of the licensed rights.
8. The Distribution Scheme shall ensure that the royalties to all members are distributed at least once
in a quarter.
9. The copyright society shall not make any payment in the nature of minimum guarantee to its
members against the share of royalties due to its members.
10. The royalties collected based on the Tariff Scheme for the licensing of the rights in the literary or
musical works included in a cinematograph film or sound recording shall be shared on an equal
basis with the authors of literary or musical works and the owners of rights in cinematograph film
or sound recording.

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COPYRIGHT BOARD

The copyright board is a quasi-judicial body, was constituted in September 1958. It is governed
by the central government of India. The board is assigned with the task of solving disputes related to
copyright registration, assignment of copyright, grant of licences in unpublished Indian works,
production and publication of translations and works for certain specific purposes. It also hears cases
which are under the Indian copyright act, 1957.
It consists of a chairman, registrar and not more than fourteen other members.
Tenure: 5yrs
Eligibility for chairman: the chairman of the copyright board must be a person who is or has been
judge of a high court or is qualified for appointment as a judge of a high court.
The registrar of copyright plays a very important role. The registrar of the copyright board
performs all secretarial functions of the copyright board. The registrar of copyright has powers of the
civil court. Every order made by the registrar of the copyright is executed as a order of high court.

Powers of Copyright Board

The copyright board has been constituted to perform judicial functions. The Registrar of
Copyright and the Copyright Board have the powers of a civil court in respect of the following matters:

1. Summoning & enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath (this jurisdiction
extends to the whole of India)

2. Requiring the discovery and production of any document

3. Receiving evidence on affidavit

4. Issuing commission for the examination of witnesses and document

5. Requisitioning any public record or copy thereof from any court or office

6. Any other matter which may be prescribed

Functions of Copyright Board

The function of the copyright board is to look after whether the provisions of the Indian

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copyright Act are followed without any violation or infringement and to judge certain cases related to
copyrights.

Other than this, the copyright board has been provided direct jurisdiction in relation to matters:

1. To decide the issue of publication and its date in order to determine the term of copyright
2. To decide the term of copyright which shorter in any other country than that provided in respect
of that work under the Act (The decision of the Copyright board on the above question will be
final)
3. To settle disputes related to assignment of copyright
4. To grant compulsory licenses for Indian work
5. To grant compulsory licenses to publish the unpublished work
6. To grant compulsory licenses to produce and publish translation of literary and dramatic works
7. To grant compulsory licenses to reproduce and publish certain categories of literary, scientific or
artistic works for certain purposes
8. To rectify the Register of copyrights on the application of registrar of copyrights or any unfairly
treated persons

Function of Registrar of the Copyright Board

The Registrar maintains a Register of Copyrights containing the names or titles of works and
the names and addresses of authors, publishers and owners of copyright and other particulars as
mentioned. The Register of Copyright will be kept in six parts as follows:

 Part I – Literary works other than computer programs, tables and compilations including
computer databases and dramatic works.
 Part II – Musical works
 Part III – Artistic works
 Part IV – Cinematograph films
 Part V – Sound recordings
 Part VI – Computer programs, tables and compilations including computer databases.

Every entry made in the Register of Copyright should be published in the official gazette.

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Procedure of Copyright Board

The copyright board has power to regulate its own procedure, including the fixation of places
and times of its sittings. Ordinarily it will hear any proceeding instituted before it within the zone in
which the person instituting the proceedings actually and voluntarily resides and carries on business or
personally works for gain. For this purpose the territory of India has been divided into five zones:

1. Northern Zone - Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir, and the
Union Territories of Delhi and Chandigarh.

2. Central Zone - Uttar Pradesh & Madhya Pradesh.

3. Eastern Zone - Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Assam, Manipur and Tripura.

4. Western Zone - Gujarat and Maharashtra, and the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli
and Goa, Daman & Diu.

5. The Southern Zone - Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, and the Union Territory
of Pondicherry.

Now, the Copyright Board functions in five zones. The Board discharges its functions through
the Benches constituted by the Chairman, and the Chairman constitutes benches from amongst its
members, each bench consisting of not less than three members. If there is any difference of opinion
among the members of the Bench, the opinion of majority shall prevail. If there is no such majority, the
opinion of Chairman will prevail.

Reform of Copyright Board

The Copyright Board during the last decade has changed significantly. A provision has also
been introduced for payment of salaries and allowances to the members of the Board. Latest reform that
has come is setup of a permanent copyright board. A permanent copyright Board is being set up to
provide better services to authors, performers and creators of various works. This office will establish
a unique identity and will create a relationship with public. And the interactive copyright web portal
having facility of e-filing of applications with payment gateway is also going to be the major step in
delivering public services in a more efficient and effective manner. This will eliminate wasteful
expenditure and save time and energy on long travels to come to copyright office here to search the
copyright register. Copyright Enforcement Agency Council has also been constituted in year 2013 to
Commented [AA4]: Very procedural. Not required. How
enforce law and stop piracy after the major amendments bought to the Copyright Act in 2012. relevant to u as MBA???? justify
Formatted: Font: 11 pt

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INTERNET AND COPYRIGHT ISSUES
Internet technology is developing faster than the laws that govern it. New laws that apply to the
Internet have been established either by legislation or the courts; copyright laws are among them. A
common myth about the Internet is that anything posted online can be copied or downloaded. In truth,
anything you see on the Internet has the same potential of being protected by copyright as anything you
see in the library or bookstore.

Today it is almost unimaginable to deal without the internet, it connects us to the world through
such varied options, be it E-mail, Facebook, Skype or YouTube, Pinterest, to have an access for any
information. Internet is a means of communication that has bound the world into a global village.
Information is freely available on the internet, but this does not mean it is free to copy. One thing you
must remember is that just because a body of material does not have a copyright mark does not mean it
is not copyrighted. All material on the internet produced originally is copyrighted. There is violation of
right to intellectual property of an individual or a collective. Plagiarism is passing off somebody else’s
work as your own and piracy is reproducing, editing, recording, distributing and ripping off somebody
else’s work has become commonplace in the world of Internet. In the recent years, internet has been in
the talk for all plagiarism and violation of intellectual rights issues. Though it is a public domain, you
are not entitled to use any information or material as and when you please. A lot of information available
on the Internet is misused or used without the permission of the creator. The advent of the internet has
increased piracy issues to a great extent. Legal action can be taken against the person who engages in
copyright infringement. But such legal endeavors are a waste of time and money for the plaintiff himself
and therefore it will be his next to last option.

Presently, the most flagrant copyright-infringing activity on the Internet is sharing music,
movies, or software. The music and movie industries are aggressively pursuing those who are
downloading music or movies in file sharing forums such as peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. Thousands of
lawsuits have been filed around the world. See Downloading or Sharing Files/Software. Students who
use the University’s Internet service to download or upload music, movies, or other unauthorized
materials face consequences including being sued by the RIAA or the MPAA and losing a lawsuit that
costs you thousands of dollars, being charged with criminal violations, or serving prison time. When
copyright infringement, through file sharing or otherwise, occurs on the Internet service, it is in violation

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of the Electronic Publishing and Appropriate Use Policy to download or upload materials from the
Internet without permission.

What we must know about copyright?

A lot of matter is available on the internet for your disposal. If the creator of the matter opens
it to public use by giving his consent, you can freely play with the material. You can edit, copy, record
or use it for your purpose. Many a times, you can just ask the author and he may allow you to use the
material without any cost involved. There are rare cases where an author denies such permission because
if it is on the internet it is quite obvious everybody can access it. However, in case the author denies
permission, just take the material off to avoid any unwelcome issues.

Following aspect should be born in mind while accessing information from internet:
1. There are a number of groups functioning on the internet who have a well-established network
to steal images while there are so many free photo sites out there, graphics, video, music and
text. These groups need to be tracked down immediately and half the problem is solved.
Amongst the more sophisticated users awareness must be spread mutual respect with regard to
the material so as to secure one’s body of work. It is vital to make the internet a more secure
place to post your creations.
2. If you make a link to a copyrighted page it is not against the law since it is not considered a
violation. However, there is a possibility that the owner of the link does not give you the
permission to make a link.
3. You cannot copyright a title or a name or a logo. Moreover, you can use limited parts of a
copyrighted article, e-book or report. Nonetheless, the work cannot be claimed as your original.
The source has to be mentioned.
4. In the court, a civil lawsuit can be filed to get an order asking the person concerned to cease the
usage of the material. You can hire an attorney if you think your material is being used illegally
for profitable gains – and try to either win the case or get a royal lawsuit settlement your way.

Case study: Facebook v. Power Ventures

In Facebook, Inc. v. Power Ventures, Inc. the defendants operated an Internet service
named Power.com that collected user information from Facebook’s website outside of the “Facebook
Connect” application programmer’s interface (API). After a user provided his or her user names and
passwords, the Power.com service used the access information to scrape user data from those
accounts. Facebook alleged that the defendants committed direct and indirect copyright infringement

45 | P a g e
when they made cached copies of Facebook’s web site during the process of extracting user
information. The defendants brought a motion to dismiss the copyright claims. The court denied the
motion, ruling that Facebook’s allegation that the defendants made an unauthorized cache copy of the
web site on each occasion of access to scrape data was sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss.

DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT

Digital rights management (DRM) is a term used for any method used to protect the
copyrighted content in digital media. These methods prevent the owner from changing or
reproducing the content or modify it in anyways without the permission of the copyright owner.
DRM products were developed in response to the rapid increase in online piracy of commercially Formatted: Font: 11 pt

marketed material. Typically DRM is implemented by embedding code that prevents copying,
specifies a time period in which the content can be accessed or limits the number of devices the
media can be installed on. Example: 1.Netflix often uses DRM (Digital Rights Management)
technologies to prevent download and illegal sharing. 2. A company sets its servers to block the
forwarding of sensitive e-mail. 2. An e-book server restricts access to, copying of and printing of Formatted: Font: 11 pt

material based on constraints set by the copyright holder of the content. 3. A movie studio includes Formatted: Font: 11 pt

software on its DVDs that limits the number of copies a user can make to two. Formatted: Font: 11 pt

DRM protection methods

1. Digital Watermarking: Watermarks are words or designs placed on the copyrighted

work in order to discourage the misuse of the content. Its main purpose is to identify the
original owner or author of the content which prevents anyone from misrepresenting the
information as their own. It warns the users from sharing the information illegally with
unauthorized parties.

2. Encryption: Encryption is a method of converting data and information from readable

form to an encoded version in order to prevent unauthorized access. Access will be
provided only to users having the decryption key. Encryption is a very important method
of data protection especially when the data has to be transmitted through networks.
Encryption is widely used on the internet to protect user information being sent between
a browser and a server which includes passwords, payment information and other
personal information that should be considered private. Organizations and individuals
also commonly use encryption to protect sensitive data stored on computers, servers and
mobile devices like phones or tablets.

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 3. License Control: Here when a person buys the right to access a particular information
this technology will provide the buyer with a license email id and key when the user
registers through this he or she can access the documents. This technology prevents the
user from using their login id from multiple desktops. By using an online Administration
system (a permissions server) this technology provides the copyright owners with the
ability to control the number of times documents are printed, the number of times
documents are viewed, stopping viewing after a ‘use-by’ date and verifying that the
recipient is still entitled to make licensed use of the protected information they have
access to.

Disadvantages of DRM

1. Creates compatibility issues: It gives disconnected media experience to the customers.

Since DRM restricts use of multiple desktops the legal owners feel restricted. The
owners are used to play their digital media files such as movies, songs etc on multiple
devices. DRM limits the ability of the purchaser of the content to play it on all/multiple
devices creating compatibility issues
2. It rarely works: It does not take a lot of effort to circumvent most of the DRM
encryption. There’s almost always a way around. DRM doesn't always prevent
copyright infringement. It only makes it slightly less convenient to create the first
"illegal copy" from that specific source.

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THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a United States copyright law that
implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Firstly it
protects access to or copying of a copyrighted work. Secondly, it gives web hosts and Internet
service providers a safe harbor from copyright infringement claims, if they implement certain
notice or takedown procedures.

Key Copyright Owner Provisions:

The DMCA contains provisions that allow a copyright owner to force an OSP (Online
Service Provider) to reveal identifying information about the user who allegedly infringed the
owner’s copyright, through the use of a subpoena issued by a federal court at the owner’s
request.
Criteria:
1. Users must be informed of removed or disabled material. Similarly, copyright holders
must be informed of the receipt of a counter-notice, and disabled material subject to a
counter-notice must be enabled between 10 and 14 days after the receipt of the counter-
notice.
2. OSPs must implement an account termination policy for repeat infringers, must inform
their users of this policy, and must accommodate standard copy protection systems.
3. Copyright owners must attest under penalty of perjury that they are indeed the owner.
4. Counter-claimants must also attest under penalty of perjury.

Online service providers (OSP) are considered safe from litigation if they operate under
specific criteria. The DMCA is intended to protect OSPs from infringement by third parties which
the OSP does not have knowledge of, it will not help in a situation where the OSP itself is accused
of infringement, or where it knows content it hosts infringes a copyright.
Criteria:
1. Have no knowledge of, or financial benefit from, infringing activity on its network.
2. Upon receiving notice from copyright owners or their agents, act to remove the
infringing material.
3. Have a copyright policy and provide proper notification of that policy to its
subscribers.

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 4. List an agent to deal with copyright complaints.
5. The OSP must stop storing the material if it receives proper notice that the material
infringes a copyright, or if it has reason to believe so.

If a service provider qualifies for the safe harbor exemption, only the individual
infringing is liable for monetary damages; the service provider's network through which they
engaged in the alleged activities is not liable.

Process of Takedown Notice

1. Person A puts a video of a TV show on YouTube
2. Person B ( Owner of the content ) finds person A’s copy
3. Person B sends a takedown notice to the designated authority at YouTube
4. YouTube takes the video down and notifies of this to Person A
5. Person A has the option of filing a counter notice if he feels that his content has been
wrongly taken down.
6. YouTube then notifies Person B regarding the counter notice and if it is a valid counter-
notice YouTube has to put the video back up Commented [AA5]: Can be omitted.
Formatted: Font: 11 pt

PROs of DMCA
1. Copyright owner’s POV: DMCA provides the copyright owner with a means to remove
infringing material from a site at a low cost and in a systematic and simple manner.
Hiring a lawyer and suing the person responsible for infringing the material can be very
expensive. Under the DMCA, a copyright holder can simply give notice of the copyright
infringement to the site or service in question. Taking the above example after giving the
notice of violation YouTube MUST take the video down. This process provides a big
benefit to the copyright holder. The infringing material is removed, and they avoid the
cost of a lawsuit.
2. OSP’s POV: By complying with the procedures called forth in the DMCA, the entity is
granted immunity from liability for the offence. The copyright owner cannot sue the
OSP for infringement. Their sole recourse is to sue the member who posted the content.
Furthermore, the member cannot sue the OSP for any copyright issue either. By
following the dictates of the Act, the OSPs place themselves within the “safe harbor”
provisions of the law that protect them from being sued to.
3. Person who infringed POV: The only pro the guilty person has is that they too avoid a
lawsuit in most cases because the owner is mostly satisfies after the content has been
taken down.

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Cons of DMCA
1. Copyright abuse: Individuals, groups and companies use the DMCA takedown
provisions as a hammer against anyone posting their content, even if there is a legal
basis for doing so. Since sites can avoid being sued if they take down the allegedly
offending content, they tend to do so even if there is no merit to the infringement claim.
For example: Person A uses a screenshot of a movie for providing its review and the
owner of the movie does not like the review so he sends a takedown notice to the site.
The owner of the site will take down the review even if the review has legal basis to
avoid a lawsuit.

Case let on filing of a false DMCA takedown notice: 10 Zen Monkeys vs Michael Crook
On September 18, 2006, Lou Cabron, a contributor to the webzine, "10 Zen Monkeys,"
wrote an article about Michael Crook, the operator of "craigslist-perverts.org," a website that
publicized responses to fake personal advertisements posted on Craigslist. In the article, Cabron
posted a still photographic image of Crook from a newscast on Fox News. Cabron's article,
called "In the Company of Jerkoffs," was critical of Crook's controversial tactics.
The next day, Crook sent a DMCA take-down notice to the website's internet service
provider (ISP), claiming that 10 Zen Monkey's use of the photographic image violated his
copyright in it. In response to the notice, the ISP made 10 Zen Monkeys take down the image.
10 Zen Monkeys then changed its ISP and re-posted the image. Crook sent another take-
down notification to the new ISP on September 22, 2006. On October 30, 2006, Jeff Diehl, the
publisher of 10 Zen Monkeys, sent a counter-notification to the ISP requesting that the image be
re-posted. On November 15, 2006, the ISP re-posted the image because Crook had not filed a
lawsuit seeking a court order to restrain the subscriber from engaging in infringing activity
relating to the material on the service provider’s system or network.
Represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Diehl then filed a lawsuit against
Crook in federal court in California, claiming that Crook violated Section 512(f) of the DMCA, Field Code Changed

which imposes liability for making knowing, material misrepresentations in a DMCA takedown
notice. Diehl argued that Crook knowingly misrepresented that he was the owner of the
copyrighted image because the copyright clearly belonged to Fox News. Diehl also contended
that Crook knowingly misrepresented that posting the image infringed his copyright because the
posting of the image was a fair use.
In March 2007, Diehl and Crook agreed to a settlement. As part of the settlement, Crook
agreed to withdraw his DMCA notices, take a copyright law course, and record a video apology.

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HOW INTERNET FIGHTS PIRACY?
Internet piracy is the downloading or distribution of unauthorized copies of intellectual property
such as movies, television, music , games and software programs via the internet.
The terms piracy and theft are often associated with copyright infringement. The original meaning
of piracy is "robbery or illegal violence at sea", but the term has been in use for centuries as a synonym Formatted: Font: 11 pt

for acts of copyright infringement. Theft, meanwhile, emphasizes the potential commercial harm of Formatted: Font: 11 pt

infringement to copyright holders. However, copyright is a type of intellectual property, an area of law Formatted: Font: 11 pt

distinct from that which covers robbery or theft, offenses related only to tangible property. Not all Formatted: Font: 11 pt

copyright infringement results in commercial loss.

Legal measures against online Piracy:-

In India all form of literary and artistic work is protected under the Copyright Act, 1957. The
Indian film industry has strong lobby at both state and union level. The increase in online piracy has led
the government to take strong actions. The recent amendment in the Copyright act is an example of the
various initiatives taken by the government.

The PROTECT IP Act

The PROTECT IP Act (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of
Intellectual Property Act, or PIPA) was a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US Formatted: Font: 11 pt

government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to "rogue websites dedicated to the
sale of infringing or counterfeit goods", especially those registered outside the U.S. The bill was
introduced on May 12, 2011

The PROTECT IP Act says that an "information location tool shall take technically feasible and
reasonable measures, as expeditiously as possible, to remove or disable access to the Internet site
associated with the domain name set forth in the order". In addition, it must delete all hyperlinks to the
offending "Internet site".

In 2012 the Central Government of India added two digital rights management provision
(DRM). The main objective of this amendment was to curb digital piracy and to facilitate the
membership of India in WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Performers and Phonograms
Treaty (WCTT). These amendments were incorporated in the Copyright Act as section 65A and 65B.

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Caselet : The Pirate Bay
In 2009 three administrators of the site and their investor were convicted of copyright offences
in a Stockholm court. They were sentenced to one year in jail each and millions of dollars in fines, but
the website remains online and the four remain free. The case is currently going through the Swedish
appeals process, which could take years.

Caselet : Udta Punjab

In the recent past we saw rampant violation of the copyright policy of the movie ‘Udta Punjab’
when it was distributed via internet before its actual release. The cyber cell of Mumbai Police on
receiving the complaint from the deputy general manager (legal) of the Phantom Films Pvt Ltd. blocked
the pirated version of the movie and arrested a man for illegally uploading the movie on his site. The
movie was apparently uploaded on seven sites before its release.

Companies And Their Anti-Piracy Policies

Facebook profile picture guard is a new tool from the company, designed specifically for the Formatted: Font: 11 pt

Indian market. Profile picture theft is a serious problem in the Indian market and Facebook, which has
over 200 million users in India has decided to do something about it.

With this feature, other people will no longer be able to download, share or send your profile
picture in a message on Facebook. Further, people outside your friend-list will not be able to tag anyone
in your profile picture. Not only that, It also prevent others from taking a screenshot of your profile
picture on Facebook.

Google's search engine is a powerful tool. Without search engines like google, it would be
practically impossible to find the information you need when you browse the web. Google has a huge
role to play when it comes to curbing piracy and hence google is morally responsible to make sure the
search results are free from pirated content. Today, Google’s services provide more content for users,
generate more revenue for rights holders, and do more to battle copyright-infringing activity than ever
before. Google takes the challenge of online piracy seriously and they continue to invest significant
resources in the development of tools to report and manage copyrighted content, and they work with
other industry leaders to set the standard for how tech companies fight piracy.

YOUTUBE
In 2007, YouTube developed and launched Content ID, a proprietary copyright management
system that allows rightsholders to effectively manage their content online. With this system,
rightsholders are able to identify user-uploaded videos that contain their content and choose in advance

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what they want to happen to those videos.
Today, Content ID scans videos uploaded to YouTube against more than 600 years of audio and
visual reference content. Over 98% of copyright issues are resolved via Content ID. Looking at the
music industry specifically, 99.5% of reported sound recording copyright claims are automated through
Content ID meaning that Content ID automatically identifies the work and applies the copyright owner’s
preferred action without the need for intervention by the copyright owner in all but 0.5% of cases.

How it works
Rightsholders deliver reference files (audio-only or audiovisual) of content they own, metadata
describing that content and what action they want YouTube to apply when Content ID finds an
appropriate match. YouTube compares videos uploaded to the site against those reference files. Our
technology automatically identifies the content and applies the rightsholder’s preferred action for that
content.
Rightsholders can choose between several actions when an upload matches their content including:
1. Make money from it
2. Leave it up and track viewing statistics or
3. Block it from YouTube altogether

Caselet
T-Series, one of India’s largest music labels and movie studios embraced YouTube as their primary
online distribution platform for their hit Bollywood music videos, trailers, and playlists. Their
engagement with YouTube has generated over 10 million subscribers on their main channel and over
7.7 billion views, with over 60% of their views coming from outside of India. They even used Content
ID to identify emerging talent on YouTube by seeing who was covering their hit songs on Content ID,
they found and partnered with YouTube singers such as Shirley Setia, Arjun and Zack Knight.

Policies in place designed to discourage copyright infringement and terminate repeat offenders:
1. When YouTube removes a video in response to a valid copyright removal notice, they notify the
user and apply a “strike” to the account of the user who uploaded the video.
2. As strikes accrue, they disable a user’s access to features that can be abused including live
streaming privileges and uploading videos longer than 15 minutes.
3. By completing an online “Copyright School” program, the user can both learn about copyright
and become eligible to have one strike expire from their account.
4. Upon receipt of three strikes, the user’s account will be suspended and all the videos uploaded to
the account will be removed.

GOOGLE WEB SEARCH

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 Worldwide, more than 3.5 billion searches are made each day on Google Search and making it
the most widely used search engine in the world. Search’s popularity has tangible benefits for
rightsholders as it helps more than a billion people worldwide find licensed copies of content. For
example, between our Search and Google News services, Google sends over 10 billion clicks per month
to publishers’ websites.
There are more than 60 trillion addresses on the Web, but only an infinitesimal portion of these
have any connection to piracy. Nevertheless, Google does not want to include any links to infringing
material in their search results, and they make significant efforts to prevent infringing webpages from
appearing. The heart of these efforts can be summarized as follows:
 Clean results for media-related queries users actually type
Thanks to the efforts of Google’s engineers, the vast majority of media related queries
that users submit every day return results that include only legitimate sites.
 Takedown notices and demotion signal
Although the vast majority of media-related queries yield clean results, there are some
infrequent queries where the results do include problematic links. For these “long-tail” queries,
Google collaborates with copyright owners to address the problem in a few ways. First, Google
has developed state of the art tools that allow rightsholders and their enforcement agents to
submit takedown notices efficiently at high volumes (tens of thousands each day) and process
those notices, on average, within six hours. Second, Google then uses those notices to demote
sites for which we receive a large number of valid takedown notices, making them less visible
in search results.
 Presenting legitimate alternatives
As explained earlier, Google believes that providing convenient, compelling,
legitimate alternatives is one of the best means of fighting piracy. Accordingly, Google has
launched a number of initiatives to present legitimate alternatives to users as part of search
results, including providing advertisements on queries for movies and music to link users to
legitimate means of purchasing content. Google also collaborates with copyright owners and
music services to help them understand how to use SEO (search engine optimization)
techniques to get their offerings into search results for “long tail” queries where they may not
be appearing today.

In a survey it was found that , “Star Wars The Force Awakens” was searched 402 more times
than “Watch Star Wars The Force Awakens”. “Taylor Swift” searched 4534x more often than “Taylor
Swift download”
While the search results for the vast majority of media-related queries submitted by actual users
are free of links to infringing material, Google nevertheless continues to focus on the rare, long-tail
queries where the search algorithm alone cannot eliminate all links to infringing material.

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Given how complicated it can be to determine what does and does not violate copyright, Google cannot
identify which links lead to infringing materials without the cooperation of rightsholders. Nearly every
paragraph of text, photograph, video, sound recording, or piece of software is potentially protected by
copyright law. Moreover, copyright laws generally permit some uses, such as parodies and quotation,
even over a copyright owner’s objection. So while Google doesn’t want to include links to infringing
pages in their search results, they need the help of copyright owners to separate the authorized or
unobjectionable uses from infringing ones.
Fortunately, Google has built an efficient, scalable system for receiving copyright removal
notices from copyright owners and their enforcement agents. These notices are submitted through
procedures that are consistent with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and similar laws
that apply to providers of online services. These notices not only let them know what web pages to
remove from their search results, but also provide the data used to apply a search ranking demotion
signal to sites for which Google receives a large number of valid notices.

Current Statistics
Google publishes data in a transparency report comprising of information provided by
copyright owners and their representatives when they submit copyright removal requests. This data is
published on the transparency report website real-time. The statistics sheds light on how laws and
policies affect Internet user. Under the access to information right all users can access to know the flow
of information online.
The following pie-chart depicts the number of URLs affected by copyright infringement and
the action taken by google in the same respect.

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 Google receives volumes of requests everyday reporting copyright infringement. It scrutinizes
all the requests and pushes back on the requests which fail to include the necessary information or the
ones they suspect are fraudulent. The below graph depicts the total number of requests received by
Google till date reporting copyright Infringement.

What is the use ofthsi stats dataifyou don’t analyse. For this purpose u come to the institute.
Try and interpreate.

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CASES

The Chancellor, Masters & Scholars Of The University Of Oxford & Ors.
Vs. Rameshwari Photocopy Services & Anr

Rameshwari Photocopy Service is a tiny shop, located on the campus of the Delhi School of
Economics. The photocopier used to provide photocopies of course packs, which are limited
excerpts(portions) from copyrighted books. These photocopied excerpts were compiled together by the
teaching staff of the University according to the syllabus and teaching plan.
In 2012, three academic publishers, Oxford University Press (OUP), Cambridge University
Press (CUP) and Taylor & Francis, sued the University of Delhi (DU) and Rameshwari Photocopy
Service for copyright infringement for photocopying parts of their textbooks and distributing them in
course packs – collections of assigned reading materials – exclusively to students for a fee. The
publishers sought a ban on all course packs issued by the photocopy vendor in accordance to the Indian
Copyright Act, 1957.
Here the publishers made an argument that the creation of course packs and the photocopying
of academic material for the same amounted to an infringement of the copyrights of the authors and
publishers, whereas the defendants made a counter argument that the reproduction of materials for
educational purposes fell within the exceptions to copyright under Section 52(1) (i) of the Copyright
Act.
The Critical Issue
The nature of Section 52 of the Copyright Act is such that any act falling within its scope will
not constitute infringement. Section 52(1) allows for the reproduction of any work
i) by a teacher or a pupil in the course of instruction
ii) as part of the questions to be answered in an examination
iii) in answers to such questions in the examinations

The dilemma of the dispute was about whether course packs distributed by Rameshwari
Photocopy services fall within this exception. The petitioners tried their best to provide a narrow reading
of the section, claiming that the section allows the provision of materials only in the course of a lecture
and that too restricted to a classroom.

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Judgement
Considering the plaintiff’s(publishers) argument if the distribution of course packs
amounted to infringement of copyrights then Delhi University required obtaining a license from
Reprographic Rights Organisation such as IRRO for preparing course packs. Such order was also
passed however in October 2012, the order was restrained.
This led to two different scenarios.
a) University of Delhi library issuing copies of the book to the public and giving photocopies
of the work.
b) Students issuing books from the University of Delhi Library and photocopying the work.
The court interpreted the case in the following manner-
In the first scenario, if University of Delhi Library itself was issuing material and
providing photocopies of the books by respective publishers by labelling them as notes provided by
‘Delhi University’, then it would definitely have been infringement of copyrights of the works.
In the second situation, if a student trying to get notes from certain books which are
available at the University of Delhi Library goes and gets photocopies of parts of certain books, then
it is considered as fair use, because here the library is only issuing the book it has purchased and
anyway the aim of purchase of books is that it should be used by its students.
In addition to this, the Court also noted that if a student took photographs of pages of a
textbook from the University of Delhi library on one’s cell phone and then proceeded to print the
same that would be protected under fair use as it is merely as advancement in technology of copying
by hand or photocopying.
The Court also took into consideration that the education in DU is heavily subsidized,
which enables students from low-income families to attend the university. Hence, the access to
education cannot be curtailed in such cases. Therefore in a major victory to access to education, and
breaking the stereotype of a common man’s idea about copyrights the Delhi High Court ruled through
a judgment, which recognized the actions of the defendant (Rameshwari Photocopy Service) did not
amount to infringement, that no trial was required and that suit was dismissed.

Deciphering the court’s judgement

1. Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw who was hearing the case concluded that, “Copyright is a
statutory right and not natural right and hence any right that is granted to owners is also
limited by exceptions carved out by law.”
2. Court recognized that copyright is a statutory right, photocopying original literary work is an
exclusive right of the owner of the copyright and that the making of photocopies by DU will
be considered infringement.
3. But the court also noted the difference between DU issuing photocopies and a photocopy
service in the premises of the DU campus issuing photocopies.

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 4. In the court’s opinion, copyright is intended to increase and not to impede the harvest of
knowledge.
5. In this case if the judgment was granted in favour of the publishers then many students would
not have had the access to the books and so it was indirectly limiting the spread f knowledge.
6. Hence the court decided to go in favour with the defendant.
British Singer Ed Sheeran Accused Of Copying Another Singer’s Track

British Singer Ed Sheeran was accused of copying “note-for-note” from a song called
‘Amazing’. This song was sung by Matt Cradle, another English singer, who had recorded the track in
2009. The song was written by Thomas Leonard and Martin Harrington.

Harrington, Leonard and their publishers Halo-Songs filed the lawsuit back in June 2016
alleging that Sheeran’s “Photograph” was too similar to their 2009 track “Amazing”. The songwriters
claimed the chorus of Photograph and Amazing shared 39 identical notes and that the similarities
were “instantly recognisable to the ordinary observer”.

The plaintiff (Halo-Songs) said in their argument that in many instances the defendant has
precisely done note-for-note copying which makes up nearly one half of Photograph. Songwriters
Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard alleged that the song was derivative of their work and sought
$20 million in damages.

Judgement

1. Sheeran was specifically accused of, 'participating in a scheme aiding, inducing, and
contributing to copyright infringement in the U.S.
2. The court noted that there were 39 notes in the chorus that share 'pitch, rhythmic duration, and
placement in the measure.'
3. In addition the court also noted, a similarity of words, vocal style, vocal melody, melody, and
rhythm are clear indicators, among other things, that Photograph copies Amazing.'
4. An undisclosed agreement was done between the parties in an order signed by Judge James
Selna at a California court.

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CONCLUSION

Developed countries like US, Japan, UK etc have a major share in copyrights, trademarks and
patents. Recently we are hearing a lot about ‘Trade War’ crisis that US can create. If a country like US
starts implementing its own decisions by disobeying organisations like WTO and by maintaining their
monopoly in trade organisations then the laws that would be framed by these organisations may be in
favour of these countries which may make it hard for a developing country like ours to proceed towards
development.
So what role do IPR and the bodies governing these IPR play in today’s world, do we really
need them and if yes to what extent are they good when it comes to a developing country like ours.
Let’s have a summarized conclusion on it.
As we know that Intellectual Property is an intangible property that is the produced by the
creativity of human intellect and over which the owner has the right for a defined period. The basic idea
behind introducing these rights was to encourage innovation among innovators, creators and artists.
The TRIPS agreement dilemma
Of all the agreements administered by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Agreement on
Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is undoubtedly the most controversial
with respect to its development-related impacts. The agreement requires all WTO members to agree the
minimum standards of legal protection and enforcement for a number of different forms of intellectual
property rights (IPR). But the developed countries and developing countries with under developed
countries have different views and opinions on the agreement.
Developed countries and business associations, whose members benefit directly from current IPR
system, tend to have a very positive and optimistic approach on IPR. They argue that strong IPR
legislation is necessary as it will enable developing countries to attract more investment since ultimately
it becomes a necessity for foreign companies to invest in a country where their technology is protected.
Hence developing and underdeveloped countries will thereby gain improved access to new technologies
introduced from outside. Developing countries would also be encouraged to generate more innovations
of their own, because of the rewards to inventors and innovators offered by the IPR system.
But many developing country governments are concerned that the legal standards required by
TRIPS, especially for patents, may simply be too high for their countries at the present time. For
example, they worry that having to extend IPR protection to advanced industrial fields such as
biotechnology and information and communications technology will only benefit foreign businesses,

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since their domestic firms lack the capacity to innovate in this field. Being unable to freely copy such
inventions, they feel, may hinder local firms' efforts to enhance their own technological capacity and
become more innovative in the future.
The TRIPS agreement should greatly standardize and improve the situation. After it is fully
implemented, TRIPS should provide alternative standards of intellectual property protection and a
reliable worldwide system of enforcement, so that developing economies may be benefitted from it. It
will take a while, however, for the parties to work through continuing disagreements on TRIPS
implementation.
License
In general, when a license permits a firm/person with intellectual property to use it in another
market then it increases the IPR’s returns. Due to globalisation, this capability of IPR is particularly
useful now.
For example, an Indian company wants to expand their product in Afghanistan, but they have
a very little or no experience in Afghanistan. With the help of IPR the company can have a contract with
someone with the respective experience so that they can exploit the Afghanistan market.
Licensing has pros and cons of its own. Issuing a license can provide instant and guaranteed
revenue for the licensing company. The advantage is that when the licensee pays for the right to hold
the license, it produces or generates revenue to the licensing company. One of the major disadvantages
to issuing a license is that it creates competition. In fact, the license places your competition on a level
playing field because the competitor now has the right to use the same production processes you use,
also the risk with a license is that it increases exposure of your confidential production process. The
more people who know your process, the higher the risk that somebody will breach confidentiality. This
is especially true where the licensing company has no direct control over the employees and contractors
who work with the licensee business.
Normally, the licensor and licensee will negotiate over matters such as conditions and extent of
use, compensation, and confidentiality. However, negotiations between licensor and licensee are not
that simple in the international context. The firm may lose control over the manufacture and marketing
of its goods in other countries. As a mode of international market entry, licensing also may be less
profitable than other choices because returns must be shared between two parties. There even is a risk
that the foreign licensee may sell a similar competitive product after the license agreement expires.
Other risks and issues involve selecting a partner, as well as all of the general uncertainties in doing
business with an international partner, including language, culture, political risk, and currency
fluctuations.
Copyrights
After Independence, India was modernizing gradually and so it needed many new laws and
legal systems which would protect and develop the nations assets. Hence The Indian Copyright Act was
enacted with a motive of protecting the rights of the original authors. It aimed to encourage and provide

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incentives to create original works. Copyright law are enacted with necessary exceptions and limitations
to ensure that the balance is maintained between the interest of the creditors and that of the community.
Copyright law confers exclusive right to the author of the work to reproduce their work and nobody can
copy their work. These rights conferred upon the author is to encourage their creativity.
The supreme task of copyright law has been to motivate the creation of intellectual works for
the public welfare subsequently enriching the public domain and next important object has been to
secure economic recognition to those who are engaged in the thought creation process and also those
who are engaged in the dissemination process. However, due to global recognition and marketable value
addition it is becoming competitive with industries who earn by exploiting the intellectual works of the
creators. Today, copyright is moving from being an author's concern to the concept of 'industrial
property' resulting in the change of the role of copyright. In this IPR legal system the action is
immediate. It moves much more quickly than criminal or civil proceedings against an infringing party,
and it can at least stop additional losses due to copyright infringement.
Concepts such as the fair use doctrine and distinguishing derivative works from original
creations aren’t clearly defined, and they must be decided by a judge or a jury on a case-by-case basis.
Because of this, sometimes a company that owns copyrighted material expends time and money in
pursuing its case, only to discover that the work wasn't infringing by the court's definition. Hence
sometimes the ambiguity may lead to unfair decisions.
Example: Ritika Private Limited v. Biba Apparels Private Limited (2016)
Although ignorance is not a defense, there are some exceptions to the copyright infringement
laws. There is an exception called “fair use,” which is often associated with education. The concept is
that if you are using a photo or an article for educational or non-commercial purposes, then you may be
exempt from infringement.
Overall, it’s important to understand the copyright laws or rights for any original creations
to avoid copyright infringement. Being diverted by fines or legal action can take up valuable time and
resources. The steps to avoiding copyright infringement are quite simple: identify and protect original
works and educate family and/or employees about copyright infringement.

Internet and Copyright Issues

We are in an age where even stealing a meme from a Facebook page is crime, so it becomes
necessary for us to have robust anti-plagiarism systems in place so that creativity is protected and
credited. We are also hoping that the Artificial Intelligence revolution that everyone is waiting for, will
make a huge difference in the IPR sector as laws may get strict and more efficient legal system would
take place.

Digital Rights Management

Let’s say you are a subscriber of Netflix and you want to stream the movies on your newly

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purchased Smart-TV as well as on your phone, but because of DRM Netflix has the right to restrict your
access only on any one of your devices, what would be your reaction?
Deciding whether DRM is good or bad differs on person to person. For people owning the
copyright and who want to protect their content it is good as they have an extra layer of protection.
However enabling DRM does not guarantee that the owner’s content will be safe because DRM never
works. Someone or the other will find a way to breach them. Also, enabling DRM restricts the genuine
buyers too which may annoy them and result in loss of sales. In the end the cons of DRM outweigh the
pros because DRM cannot stop piracy. So it is the decision of the copyright owner whether to implement
DRM and take the risk of losing genuine customers or to willingly choose not to use DRM.
DMCA intends on saving the internet service provider, provided he follows the protocol, and
helping the copyright owner. It is the reason why websites like YouTube still exists without being liable
for the damages. It enables the copyrighted content to be taken down immediately which is beneficial
to the owner. Here the pros definitely outweigh the cons. DRM might not work but DMCA definitely
works in a low cost and efficient manner. Although the cons of DMCA should also be taken into
consideration and ways to prevent such copyright abuse should be introduced. Before taking down any
content from the website on the notice of the owner it must be confirmed that whether the content
actually break any legal aspects or not. DMCA provides too much power on the hands of the owner and
they abuse this power. So the law should also take into consideration the interest of the person posting
on the site and should actually investigate whether the content is copyrighted or not.
Today Google’s services provide more content for users, generate more revenue for rights
holder, and do more to battle copyright-infringing activity than ever before. Through Google, YouTube
and Google Play products, they have helped millions of content creators worldwide generate revenue,
reach a global audience, and manage their content. They have also provided consumers with easy-to-
use platforms for finding licensed copies of their favourite content. Through Google Search, they have
indexed and organized the Web to help everyday users find the information they are searching for, and
they have taken significant efforts to prevent infringing links from appearing in their search results.
Through their advertising services, they help millions of web publishers and businesses advertise on the
web, and they continue to work with other industry leaders to establish best practices meant to raise
advertising standards throughout the industry. Through their work with regulators and other industry
leaders, they have helped set the standard for how tech companies fight piracy, and they look forward
to continuing to raise that standard into the future.
Now concluding for once and all we would like to say that from countries fighting for patents
or youngsters fighting for access for torrent sites, eventually it all comes down to IPR and IPR is
something very important to the global community and for initiatives like Make In India to work, it’s
really important that we work towards improving the guidelines. And this clearly does not mean
succumbing to Western influences and pressure. It means balancing the needs of all in the Indian tailor
made way.

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