What is the definition of fair usage pertaining to entertainment industry in India

backed by judgments and relevant statutory provisions?

In its most general sense, a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited
and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted
work.

Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner. In other words, fair use
is a defence against a claim of copyright infringement. If your use qualifies as a fair use,
then it would not be considered an infringement.

Most fair use falls under two categories:

(1) Commentary and criticism,

(2) Parody.

FAIR USAGE PERTAINING TO INDIA

Under Indian law, the Copyright Act, 1957, section 52 lays down certain acts or works that
cannot be considered as an infringement of copyright namely fair dealing with a literary,
dramatic, musical or artistic work not being a computer program for the purposes of-

 fair dealing with any work, not being a computer programme, for the purposes of—
(i)“private or personal use, including research;
(ii) criticism or review, whether of that work or of any other work;
(iii) the reporting of current events and current affairs, including the reporting of
a lecture delivered in public.
 the transient or incidental storage of a work or performance purely in the technical
process of electronic transmission or communication to the public;
 transient or incidental storage of a work or performance for the purpose of providing
electronic links, access or integration, where such links, access or integration has
not been expressly prohibited by the right holder, unless the person responsible is
aware or has reasonable grounds for believing that such storage is of an infringing
copy:
 the reproduction of any work for the purpose of a judicial proceeding or for the
purpose of a report of a judicial proceeding.

Civic Chandran vs Ammini Amma- 

In this case, the Court considered that a parody did not constitute an infringement of
copyright as long as it has not been misused or misappropriated. In consonance with this
case, the Court established the following three tests which is to be taken into consideration to
determine work to be an infringement of copyright:

1.“the quantum and value of the matter taken in relation to the comments or criticism; 
2.the purpose for which it is taken; and 
3.the likelihood of competition between the two works.”
India TV Independent News Services Pvt. Ltd. vs Yashraj Films Pvt. Ltd- 

The facts of this case state that the defendants that is, India TV broadcasted a show on its
channel documenting the life of the singers wherein the singers were shown to perform their
own songs however, while such performance was being filmed clips of a movie scene were
shown to play in the background. The plaintiff, that is, Yashraj Films Private Limited claimed
that such a scene of the movie in the background amounts to infringement of its Copyright.
The defendants took the defence of fair dealing under Section 52.

The Delhi Court dismissed the defence of fair dealing and restrained the defendants from
the production, distribution and broadcasting or in any way exploiting any cinematograph
film, sound recording or part thereof which is owned by the Plaintiff. This litigation battle
went on for years, where different angles and viewpoints were considered, in an appeal from
the above order, the Hon’ble bench of Delhi High Court also felt the need to overlook the
conventional approach of dealing with Section 52 of the Copyright Act, the bench set
aside the order passed by the single Judge and uplifted the restrictions so imposed. However,
the Appellants were still prohibited from broadcasting any cinematograph film without the
appropriate permission. It was through the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 that fair
dealing as a concept brought within its scope musical recordings and cinematograph
films.

Through this case the Indian legal system made advancement in the field of fair dealing under
Copyright by overlooking the rigid and conventional approach and implementing the
necessary changes.
Can screen shots of movies (Hollywood or Bollywood )for purposes of providing
information be considered as a copyright infringement or will it come within the ambit
of fair use?

As per Section 14 of the Copyright Act, "copyright" means the exclusive right subject to the
provisions of this Act, to do or authorize the doing of any of the following acts in respect of a
work or any substantial part thereof, namely:

in the case of a cinematograph film,-

(i) To make a copy of the film, including-

(A) a photograph of any image forming part thereof; or

(B) Storing of it in any medium by electronic or other means;

As per Section 51 of the Act, inter alia, Copyright in a work shall be deemed to be infringed,
when any person, without a license granted by the owner of the copyright or the Registrar of
Copy rights under this Act or in contravention of the conditions of a license so granted or of
any condition imposed by a competent authority under this Act, does anything, the exclusive
right to do which is by this Act conferred upon the owner of the copyright.

From the reading of the above provisions, it is apparent that using a photograph (or
screenshot) of any image from the film without the consent of the producer will violate
his exclusive right in the work.

Exception

The Section 52 (1) (a) of the Act allows for 'fair dealing with any work' for the purpose of
private or personal use, criticism or review etc. (ref. Fair dealing pertaining to India)