Expression in the form of films is unique and special in many ways. Films merge life-like moving pictures, sounds, and other effects to tell a story, or send a message unlike any other form of expression. When the film is shown to a captive audience in a closed, dark environment, with the aid of advanced technology, its impact is heightened substantially. It is believed that one does not experience the same euphoria, emotion and engagement if the same film is…
Quick bite: Dear readers, the following post is brought to you by the Media and Entertainment law experts of BananaIP (BIP)Counsels. This post is the first in its series and promises to engage your grey matter. This post will essentially help you understand the Entertainment Law and Copyrights surrounding Royalty Rights in Sound Recordings, Lyrical & Musical Works.
Colloquially used word music/song is more than melody or harmony reduced to print, writing or graphic form[1]. Music is a language with a…
The Union Government has launched a new scheme in order to protect Intellectual Property Rights. As a part of the scheme, the Indian Government is providing special knowledge toolkit to Indian Police to identify and prosecute IPR violations. This step was taken by Commerce and Industry Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman for management of IP Rights. To prepare this toolkit, the Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have worked…
Hello readers, 2016 has been a year full of exciting changes. Almost too many. In this post and subsequent posts we will bring to you events that made headlines in the field of copyright law.
Restriction of three Copyright Societies from granting licenses until April 2017
In an order issued by the Justice Endlaw of the Delhi High Court in December, Saregama India Ltd. was asked to deposit Rs.20 lakhs in Court in a copyright infringement suit filed by Zee…
Hello Readers!! There has been a lot that has been brewing over the past few weeks with respect to Trademarks. We have decided to recapitulate the trademark news which have recently hit the headlines in our segment, Weekly Trends. Let us take a quick look at what happened in the past weeks, with this weekly update.
Dish Tv India restrained from operating in Middle East and North Africa
As you may or may not know Dish TV India Ltd.was…
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…
The Indian Singers Rights Association v. Chapter 25 Bar and Restaurant
Citation:CS (OS) 2068/2015 & IA No. 14261/2015
Facts
The Defendant in this case, Chapter 25 Bar and Restaurant during the month of April 2015 had been illegally communicating to the public numerous songs containing performances of various member singers of the Plaintiff copyright society, Indian Singers Rights Association (ISRA), without obtaining appropriate clearance from ISRA and paying the requisite royalty fee. ISRA had issued a legal notice against the Defendant…
The makers of the movie 'Mohenjo Daro' heaved a sigh of relief when the Bombay HC on August 2nd,2016 (Tuesday) dismissed a plea for an interim relief by the plaintiff who had alleged that the director of the movie had supposedly infringed his copyright in the script. The plaintiff, Akashaditya Lama had sent a legal notice to the producers of the movie Mohenjo Daro,director Ashutosh Gowariker and Hrithik Roshan, seeking a stay on the film’s production and release. He alleged…
The latest development in the copyright dispute between the makers of short films 'Kriti' and 'Bob' is discussed in this post. To know more about this copyright dispute which was published in an earlier post, please click here.
The turbulence between Shirish Kunder’s 'Kriti' and Aneel Neupane’s 'Bob' finally seems to have reached its climax with the comeback of KRITI on YouTube. Neupane’s allegations of copyright infringement had infuriated Kunder, who claimed that there was no scope for any such copy…
Krishika Lulla & Ors. vs Shyam Vithalrao Devkatta & Anr.
[Criminal Appeal No. 258 & 259 of 2013 SC (Decided on 15.10.2015)]
Facts
Shyam Vithalrao Devkatta (Respondent), had authored a story named ‘Desi Boys’ and had registered the same with the Film Writers Association on 25.11.2008. Mr. Devkatta forwarded the synopsis of the story to his friend Mr. Ramesh Bhatnagar who further forwarded it one Mr. Ahsaan Sagar on 15.10.2009. Subsequently, Mr. Devkatta saw the promos of a…