“Akshay Kumar’s Toilet EK Prem Katha in copyright trouble, Copyright Board to be functional by end of this year, Netflix accused of copyright infringement, Game of Thrones premier pirated over 90 million times, and other entertainment law news” is presented by the Copyright and Entertainment law Attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s Premier New Age IP Firm
COPYRIGHT QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Moral rights form the essence of copyright law. When they conflict with economic rights, moral rights must always prevent” – Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala, Renowned IP Attorney, Professor and Novelist.
INDIAN COPYRIGHTS AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW UPDATES
AKSHAY KUMAR’s TOILET EK PREM KATHA ONCE AGAIN IN COPYRIGHT TROUBLE
Earlier we had reported about Film maker Praveen Vyas issuing a legal notice to the makers of Akshay Kumar’s upcoming movie Toilet: Ek Prem Katha alleging copyright infringement. Now, another Jaipur based filmmaker, Pratik Sharma has filed a copyright infringement suit against the producers of the film. Pratik alleges that the plot of the Film Toilet Ek Prem Katha is coped from his film Gutrun Gutargun. In his statement Pratik said “The makers of Toilet Ek Prem Katha have copied the subject of my film and this is an offence under the Copyright Act” . The Jaipur Metropolitan Court directed the producers of Toilet: Ek Prem Katha to file their response before 31st July 2017.
COPYRIGHT BOARD WILL BE FULLY FUNCTIONAL BY END OF THIS YEAR SAYS CGPDTM
While speaking at a conference in Mumbai, the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks, OP Gupta, said that the merging of Copyright Board with Intellectual Property Appellate Board will be completed by end of this year. Moreover, he stated that the government is planning to expedite the copyright registration process in the county. “Currently we are working towards fast tracking copyright approvals under three months. In fact, we expect to approve them in one month going forward,” Gupta said.
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW NEWS
NETFLIX ACCUSED OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
Author, Al Quarles Jr. filed a suit against the online video streaming platform Netflix alleging copyright infringement before the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Quarles claims that the Netflix’s recent production, Burning Sands, is based on his work Burning Sands. Quarles alleges that the streaming giant produced a film based on his work without giving him credit or compensation. Quarles is seeking an injunction against the film as well as statutory damages and profits from the movie.
GAME OF THRONES SEASON 7 EPISODE 1 WAS PIRATED MORE THAN 90 MILLION TIMES
The first episode of the “Game of Thrones” Season 7 aired on 16th July was a massive success among the viewers internationally. According to the piracy analysis company MUSO, the 71st episode of the epic TV series has been illegally viewed more than 90 million times across the world, which it count as large scale piracy. As per the report, most illegal views/downloads came from the United States (15.1 million), followed by the UK (6.2 million), Germany (4.9 million) and India (4.3 million).
ENTERTAINMENT LICENSING AND MERCHANDIZING UPDATES
RELIANCE INDUSTRIES BUYS STAKE IN BALAJI TELEFILMS
Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries has acquired a 24.9% stake in the leading content owner Balaji Telefilms for $64.2 million. It is learned that Balaji will be using Reliance’s investment to develop its digital content platform ALT.
BIP TIP OF THE WEEK
PIRACY AS A TOOL FOR BUSINESS BENEFIT FOR COPYRIGHT OWNERS
While large scale piracy of content could be detrimental to a company’s business interest, it can also be turned in to a valuable business tool with proper planning and implementation. One way of using piracy for business advantage is releasing one episode of a series with no restriction, and allowing it to be copied, shared and viewed on a large scale. Measures and restrictions may be placed on the later episodes in order to control, regulate and restrict the extent of infringement. Such a strategy can help the company gain substantial visibility and viewership from the audience created by piracy of the first episode.
Author: BIP’s Copyright and Entertainment Law Attorneys
Senior Partner, the entertainment law attorneys at BIP are among the well-known lawyers in the field. They work with clients such as Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions, Ananda Audio, Anushka Sharma, Sushant Singh, and Arka Media (Producer of Bahu Bali). BIP’s entertainment law team helps clients protect, manage and effectively license and merchandize their creative works such as films, music, brands and other content, to maximize financial returns.
The weekly copyright and entertainment law news initiative is a part of their pro bono work, and is aimed at spreading entertainment law awareness. You are free to share the news with appropriate attribution and backlink to the source.If you have any questions, you may write to BIP’s Copyright and Entertainment Law Attorneys – contact@bananaip.com
