In today’s edition of Weekly Trends, we bring to you copyright law related news. Let us see the trending headlines for the past couple of weeks.
Section 31D of the Copyright Act, 1957 (as amended) to include internet broadcasting organizations
Section 31D of the Copyright Act, 1957 titled “Statutory license for broadcasting of literary and musical works and sound recording” was inserted vide the 2012 Copyright Amendment Act. The Section mainly lays down certain mandatory compliances for the broadcasting organizations desirous of communicating to the public by way of broadcast or by way of performance of a literary or musical work and sound recording, which has already been published. Recently DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) released an office memorandum clarifying that the any broadcasting organizations desirous of communicating to the public as stated in Section 31D covers not only TV and Radio broadcasting but also includes internet broadcasting. DIPP in the memorandum stated that the definition of “broadcast” read with “communicating to the public” appears to include all kinds of broadcasting including internet broadcasting.
Misleading website “Copyright.in” to be blocked by the Government
The Government recently took note of the website Copyright.in which has been misrepresenting itself as the official website of the Copyright Office. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) stated that the matter has been referred to the concerned ministries to block the impugned website and take necessary legal action. DIPP stated that the website has been inviting application for the protection of various works. It has also urged everyone not to apply to this website seeking any registration or make any payments.
Note: Well we too looked up the website. To begin with the website is called “Copyright.in : Copyright Registration Office in India”, which is definitely deceptive and confusing to any internet user . They also have copyright registration offers starting from Rs. 770 going upto Rs.18,000. The website has a stark resemblance to a government website and seems highly unreliable and dubious.
To all readers of IP News Centre, the official website of the Indian Copyright office is http://copyright.gov.in/
Authored by- Anchita Sharma
Image source/ Attribution here, Governed BY Creative Commons License CC BY- SA 3.0
