The concept of fair dealing is statutorily entrenched in Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957. What fair dealing does is that it permits certain acts with respect to copyrighted works, which otherwise would have constituted as infringement. The concept of fair dealing found in the UK copyright law as well as the Indian copyright law, is much more restrictive that its US counterpart, fair use. While the Indian law provides a specific list of fair dealing acts and purposes,…
The objective of non–voluntary licensing is two-fold. First, to overcome the difficulty of locating the correct owner of the copyrighted work and getting an individual license from him and second is to avoid the creation of monopoly of copyright owners. The result the state looks at achieving from this provision is ensuring public dissemination and authors' compensation and avoiding market monopoly.
The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 has incorporated a new section into Chapter VI of the Copyright Act, which…
In this post we shall be discussing about ‘machinima’, a form of new age cinema. For those of you who are not aware of what machinima is, it is derived from two words, ‘machine’ and ‘cinema’, and as the combination suggests, it refers to the practice of using video games to create original cinematographic films. Machinima films use the virtual environments and the characters within a game to tell stories.
Though a machinima appears to be just like any other…
Social Media comes with a bundle of tools that differentiate it from traditional print and electronic media. Among others, two unique elements of Social Media are: Tools for sharing and dissemination of content and information across the world; and tools to communicate and exchange information. These two elements make Social Media a much more powerful weapon than traditional media.
Access to most social media platforms requires internet, of which there is no dearth in today's context. It is estimated that…
‘Plagiarism’ is not a foreign word to the entertainment industry. It is not uncommon in Bollywood to dress ‘plagiarism’ as ‘inspiration’. Studies show that nearly eight out of every ten Bollywood movies produced is “inspired” by one or more Hollywood films. Bollywood has time and again faced criticism for its “blatant copying” of Hollywood storylines and for having taken undue advantage of the unfamiliarity of the Indian audiences with respect to international films. Although very few western studios attempted to…
In last week’s post, we explored the concept of performer’s rights, which was recognized only in 1994, under the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, after a long delay. The basis for recognition of performer’s rights stems from the need for recognition of rights of performers as well as the need for sharing of the proceeds from the commercial exploitation of the visual or acoustic performances of actors, musicians, singers or dancers.
This week, we shall be discussing the judicial approach in…
Recently, in a US copyright suit against Rapper Jay Z , the issue of ‘moral rights’ took center stage. The copyright suit was with regards to the sampling of an old Egyptian song in Jay-Z’s hit number “Big Pimpin’”. According to Jay Z a.k.a Shawn Carter and producer Timbaland a.k.a Timothy Mosley, the hook or the sample of Khosara Khosara was licensed to them. They paid $100,000 in total to EMI Music Arabia for the license in 2001. However, Osama…
The visual or acoustic performances of actors, musicians, singers or dancers forms a key part of the creative process and the performers who display their talents through their artistic performances must be entitled for certain rights over such performances as well as a share in the proceeds from its commercial exploitation.
However, the rights of the performers were not recognized internationally until the adoption of the Rome Convention of 1961. This international treaty called for protection against unauthorized broadcast of…
Case Title: Sholay Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & Ors.v. Parag Sanghavi & Ors.
Citation: 223 (2015) DLT 152, MIPR 2015 (3) 0096
Brief Facts:
The dispute is centered around the highly popular movie ‘Sholay’ directed by Mr. Ramesh Sippy and produced by Mr. G.P. Sippy and the movie ‘Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag’ directed by Mr. Ram Gopal Verma. Before we go into the particulars of the dispute, one must have an understanding of the ownership of the rights over the…
Known for her creativity and originality, Beyoncé was slammed with a $ 7 million lawsuit for one of her latest singles ‘XO’. The ‘Crazy in Love’ singer found herself facing a lawsuit by Ahmad Javon Lane, a singer, who claimed that Beyoncé allegedly infringed his song ‘XOXO’ after he gave a digital copy of the song to one of her background singers, Chrissy Collins. One of the main questions posed before Judge Paul A. Engelmeyer, District Judge, U.S. District Court…