SC refuses to stay release of Rajinikanth’s movie Kaala over copyright claim, Recorded Music Performance Limited applies for registration as a copyright society, YouTube not a “neutral host provider”, can be held liable for copyright breaches: Vienna Commercial Court, Austria, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s daughter vows action against copyright infringers, marking his debut at Cannes 2018 designer Manish Malhotra to pair up with Magnum ice cream brand for designing a costume for Hollywood style icon Bella Hadid, Toonz Ties up with Yellow Entertainment for multiple animated series.
COPYRIGHT QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Now that copyrights can be just about a century long, the inability to know what is protected any what is not protected becomes a huge and obvious burden on the creative process. – Lawrence Lessig
INDIAN COPYRIGHT STATISTICS
There is a significant decrease of 35% in the number of copyright applications filed this week as compare to the applications filed last week. A total of 254 applications were filed for copyright registration during the last week. While most of the applications were filed for literary works, only three applications were filed for registering cinematographic films.
| S. No. | Types of Work | Number of Applications in Previous Week (21st May-27th May, 2018) | Number of Applications filed in the Recent Week (28th May-3rd June, 2018) | Percent Change |
| 1. | Literary Work | 175 | 147 | 16% |
| 2. | Musical Work | 0 | 5 | – |
| 3. | Artistic Work | 84 | 52 | 38.09% |
| 4. | Cinematograph Film | 2 | 3 | 50% |
| 5. | Sound Recording | 105 | 8 | 92.38% |
| 6. | Software | 25 | 39 | 56% |
| Total | 391 | 254 | 35% |
INDIAN COPYRIGHT NEWS
SC refuses to stay release of Rajinikanth’s movie Kaala over copyright claim
A Vacation bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices AK Goel and Ashok Bhushan, denied a petition to stay the release of Rajnikanth’s much-awaited movie Kaala in theatres. The petition had been filed by KS Rajashekaran, claiming that the Rajnikanth-starrer infringed on his original work Karikalan. The bench stated, however, that the petitioner would be entitled to compensation if his plagiarism claim of his original story Karikalan was sustained. The petition was an appeal from a decision of the Madras High Court. According to Rajashekaran’s attorney, eight songs, which were to be used in the proposed film, were registered and released in 1994, but the film could not be made due to scheduling and financial difficulties.
Recorded Music Performance Limited applies for registration as a copyright society
Recorded Music Performance Limited, a public incorporated company carrying on a copyright business in respect of sound recording, has applied to the central government through the registrar of copyrights for its registration as a copyright society under Section 33 of Copyright Act, 1957. Recorded Music Performance Limited is a Maharashtra based company which is recently incorporated in January 2018. Through the public notice published by the copyright office on May 22nd, the Registrar has invited suggestions and objections from stakeholders. Any suggestions or objections regarding the application has to be filed within 60 days from the publication of the notice. You can view the notice here.
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT NEWS UPDATE
YouTube not a “neutral host provider”, can be held liable for copyright breaches: ruling by Vienna Commercial Court, Austria
The Austrian commercial court found YouTube is directly liable for the copyright infringements committed by its users and the online media platform is liable to keep checks and balances before uploading the video. The court rejected the argument of being a “neutral intermediary” that cannot be held legally responsible for the content it carries.
The lawsuit was filed by the Austrian commercial TV channel Puls4 in 2014, after the copyright-protected content from its channels was uploaded on the YouTube. The counsels representing Puls4 stated in order to establish the media platform’s complicity in spreading a copyright-protected content they had to provide court with a “painstaking” analysis of how the YouTube works. In counter to that, YouTube argued that they are a “host provider” offering a technical service to its users therefore it falls under the provisions of EU’s E-Commerce Act, which clearly states that technical service providers are mediators, and are not liable for the content posted by their users.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s daughter vows action against copyright infringers
The daughter of late Pakistani music legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan has vowed to take legal action against those infringing on copyrights of her father’s songs. She claims that she is the sole heir and holder of copyrights in his music. Alleging that Khokhar Productions, a local music firm, had forged her signatures and fraudulently acquired rights to her father’s music, she stated that she had issued a legal notice seeking compensation. She added that there were other infringers in India and Pakistan. However, she stated that she would take no action against Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, who has performed popular Qawwalis of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on television and in Bollywood movies.
MERCHANDISING AND LICENSING NEWS
Marking his debut at Cannes 2018 designer Manish Malhotra to pair up with Magnum ice cream brand for designing a costume for Hollywood style icon Bella Hadid
Manish Malhotra, celebrity Bollywood designer, is all set to mark his debut at the Cannes Film Festival. He will be representing the brand Magnum, ice-cream owner by British/Dutch Unilever company, and would be exclusively designing accessories for the international supermodel Bella Hadrid which would be inspired by an ice-cream. It is a great moment for a designer fraternity in India as he would be the first Indian designer to make a debut at Cannes festival and to showcase the pleasure of socializing with Magnum.
Toonz Ties up with Yellow Entertainment for multiple animated series
Indian animation firm Toonz Media Group announced a partnership with Australian kids’ producer Yellow Entertainment to jointly create multiple preschool animation series. Yellow Entertainment is expected to handle pre-production, including IP creation, scripts and music. Toonz is expected to lead all other aspects of production. In addition, Imira Entertainment, Toonz Media Group’s kids and family specialised distribution division, is expected to lead international distribution of the IP’s developed and produced under this Partnership.
COPYRIGHT TIP
Although the copyright in a work comes into force as soon as the work is expressed in a tangible form, it is generally recommended to register a work with the copyright office and to attach a proper notice of copyright protection along with the work. This will make it easier to enforce the copyright in case of infringement by any third party as it will lower the burden on the copyright holed of establishing his ownership over the work.
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 merchandise 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.
