Indian Copyright Statistics, Saregama and Eros’ copyright tussle, Trailers and Film, Termination of Transfer Tool for Copyright, Copyright Claims Board, Zee Entertainment to Launch its New OTT Platform and more 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
“Assignment of a copyright does not necessarily transfer copyright absolutely and perpetually” – Kalyan
INDIAN COPYRIGHT STATISTICS
There was a decrease of 49% in the total number of copyright filings compared to the last week. A total of 152 applications were filed for copyright registration during the last week. While most of the applications were filed for literary works no applications were filed for registering Sound Recordings.
| Sr. No | Types of work | Number of Applications previous week | Number of Applications this week | Percentage change |
| 1 | Literary Works | 234 | 98 | A decrease of 58% |
| 2 | Musical works | 9 | 10 | An Increase of 11% |
| 3 | Artistic works | 23 | 28 | An Increase of 22% |
| 4 | Cinematograph Films | 11 | 1 | A decrease of 90% |
| 5 | Sound Recordings | 4 | 0 | A decrease of 100% |
| 6 | Software | 18 | 14 | A decrease of 22% |
| Total | 299 | 152 | A decrease of 49% |
INDIAN COPYRIGHTS AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW UPDATES
Delhi High Court dismissed Saregama’s infringement suit against Eros Digital
Recently, Saregama India Limited has filed a copyright infringement suit against Eros Digital alleging copyright infringement and non-payment of dues, as per the content license agreement signed between the companies. Saregama alleges that, Eros had repeatedly failed to pay the streaming fees agreed between the Parties and owes it Rupees 6.12 Crores plus interest. The Delhi High Court found that the dispute is purely contractual in nature and dismissed the petition on the ground that the agreement mentions High Court of Kolkata as the jurisdiction in any disputes arising thereunder.
Trailers and films: Is non-inclusion of a song unfair trade practice?
In a recent judgment The Aurangabad Circuit bench of the Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission held that not including a song that was shown in a film trailer in the final version of the Film amongst to deficiency of service and unfair trade practice by the producer. The case relates to the movie Fan starring Shah Rukh Khan, produced by Yashraj Films. The Consumer forum came to the said conclusion irrespective of the fact that a press statement that the song will not be included in the film was issued by Shah Rukh Khan and Manish Sharma, the Director of the Film, which was extensively reported by the media.
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW NEWS
New Tool to assist authors for reclaiming copyrights from publishers
The Creative Commons and the Authors Alliance have teamed up to develop a Termination of Transfer tool called Rightsback. The tool would require authors to answer a set of questionnaire about their published works to figure out whether they can reclaim their copyrights. “This tool is designed to raise awareness of the termination of transfer provisions, to encourage authors to figure out whether the termination rights of US Copyright law may be relevant to their works, and to help people understand how termination of transfer works” says a statement issued by Creative Commons.
Bill introduced for creating Copyright Claims Board
US Congressmen Hakeem Jeffries and Tom Marino have introduced an amendment to the US copyright act to establish a simple and cost-effective mechanism to enforce copyrights. This proposed amendment would create a Copyright Claims Board for overseeing cases with damages caps of $15,000.00 per infringed work.
LICENSING AND MERCHANDISING UPDATES
Zee Entertainment to launch its new OTT platform ZEE5 next year
Zee entertainment enterprises will be launching its new digital entertainment platform Zee5 in the second half of the financial year 2018. The new platform is intended to replace its existing subscription and ad based platforms DittoTV and OZEE.
BIP TIP OF THE WEEK
Termination of copyright transfers
It is important for authors to be aware of different circumstances that could result in termination of copyright transfers such as assignments and licenses by operation of law, voluntary termination. The tool developed by creative commons will be useful in helping authors understand termination nuances under the US Copyright law.
