CB-CID directed to register Copyright Infringement Lawsuit, Defunct Rapid Share acquitted of Mass Copyright Infringement and Cox Communication ordered to pay compensation of USD 1 Billion.
CB-CID directed to register Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
Novex Communication Pvt. Ltd. (Novex) filed a copyright infringement complaint with the Chief Metropolitan Court, in Egmore, Chennai, which found that a cognizable offence was substantiated in the complaint. In an event for release of ‘Master’ movie, various songs were played, over which Novex claimed to hold copyrights on-ground performance. Owing to inaction on the complaint filed by Novex, it moved to file a copyright infringement suit before the Egmore Chief Metropolitan Magistrate.
Novex claimed that it holds the copyright for on-ground performance of certain songs from Tamil movies and therefore, alleged that, playing of such songs in the event required permission from the company.
The Egmore Metropolitan court subsequently directed Intellectual Property Rights and Copyrights wing of CB-CID (Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department) to register an infringement complaint based on the complaint of Novex.
Defunct Rapid Share acquitted of Mass Copyright Infringement
‘Rapid Share’, which once dominated the tech world in terms of facilitating easy storage and sharing of files including the copyrighted ones, was subjected to pressures from copyright holders and governmental trade bodies such as the United States Trade Representative (USTR). Notwithstanding its claims that the entity had nothing to do with material uploaded on the platform, it was forced to shut-down in 2015.
Three years post the Rapid Share’s closer, a criminal prosecution was pursued against its operators and lawyers for mass violation of copyrights in Switzerland.
The prosecutors contended that the Rapid Share derived financial gains at the cost of the content owners, hence the entity should be made to pay 700,000 Swiss Franc.
However, the former operators and the lawyers of Rapid Share were acquitted by the Switzerland court.
Cox Communication ordered to pay compensation of USD 1 Billion
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, upheld the ruling that obligated the Cox Communication to pay a heavy compensation equivalent to USD 1 Billion for mass copyright violation.
The plaintiffs including Sony Music, Universal Music, and Warner Music, preferred an infringement suit against Cox Communication claiming a payment of USD 1 Billion. The plaintiffs alleged that Cox Communication had realized huge profits by facilitating mass copyright violation by its subscribers.
A jury, in 2019 had accepted the plaintiffs’ claim. However, in the judgment released on January 12th, 2021, the court reasoned that “whether the plaintiffs are entitled to statutory damages for derivative works is a question of law, and one that has been answered in the negative by case law persuasive to the Court.” Notwithstanding, it upheld the compensation order for USD1 Billion in respect of all 10,017 works against Cox Communication, as it “did not present evidence of the supposed relationship between the sound recordings and musical compositions at trial.”
Authored and compiled by Neharika Vhatkar (Associate, BananaIP Counsels) and Anoop Kumar (Legal Intern)
The Copyright Law News Bulletin is brought to you jointly by the Entertainment Law and Consulting/Strategy Divisions of BananaIP Counsels, a Top IP Firm in India. If you have any questions, or need any clarifications, please write to contact@bananaip.com with the subject: Copyright Law News
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