This week’s copyright, media, and entertainment law updates are as below-
Delhi HC issues summons to Bear Grylls in Copyright Infringement Case
The High Court of Delhi issued summons to British television presenter Bear Grylls and others including NBC Universal Inc and its Vice President Tom Shelly, Warner brothers Discovery, OTT platform Hotstar, The Walt Disney, and Net Geo India, on a suit filed by Indian script writer Arrmann Shankar Sharma, who claimed that the former’s show has infringed upon his original literary work. The suit sought a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from infringing upon the Plaintiff writer’s copyright and also sought damages. Plaintiff has claimed that all 8 episodes of Defendant’s show are an exact copy of his copyrighted work.
USCO reverses granting of copyright to comic book created using AI
The US Copyright Office has reversed the granting of a copyright to a comic book that was created using Artificial Intelligence. The author of the book, Kris Kashtanova had received the copyright in September this year. The USCO asked for the revocation on the ground that copyrighted works must be a human creation in order to grant protection. The USCO has offered Kashtanova 30 days to appeal its decision.
Russia closes LGBTQ+ museum after new law bans any media spreading “non-traditional values”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed off a new legislation that widens the government’s power to punish its citizens for spreading “LGBT propaganda”, which includes any expression of LGBT lifestyle or behaviour in a public place. The new laws make also makes it illegal to promote or “praise” LGBTQ relationships, or suggest that they are “normal.” In the light of the same, the country’s only LGBTQ+ museum was forced to shut down due to fears of prosecution.
Plagiarism of play “Chayamukhi”: District Court in Kerala grants Interim Injunction
A Principal District Court in Thiruvananthapuram has granted an interim injunction restraining dancer Gopika Verma from performing the popular play “Chayamukhi” in any form. The writer of the play, Prasanth Narayanan had initially wrote on Facebook that his play was adapted into a dance form without his permission, following which he had filed a case against the dancer for copyright infringement.
Chayamukhi had become popular in the 2000s with its star cast including Malayalam superstar Mohanlal. It won many awards including one from the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi in 2003.
Authored by Ipshita Bhattacharyya (Associate, BananaIP Counsels) and Anjana Gopinath (Intern)
About BananaIP Counsels:
This Copyright and Entertainment Law News Bulletin is brought to you by the Copyright and Trademark Division of BananaIP Counsels, a Top ranked IP Firm in India. BananaIP Counsels’ trademark attorneys are among the leading experts in the field. If you have any questions, or need any clarifications, please write to contact@bananaip.com with the subject: Copyright News.
The weekly intellectual property law news initiative is a part of their pro bono work and is aimed at spreading awareness about intellectual property and allied laws. You are free to share the news with appropriate attribution and link back to the source.
Disclaimer:
Please note that the news bulletin has been put together from different sources, primary and secondary, and BananaIP’s reporters may not have verified all the news published in the bulletin. You may write to contact@bananaip.com for corrections and take down.
