INFRINGEMENT UNDER

COPYRIGHT LAW©

P R E S E N T E D BY: A M I T S A B O O ( 3 6 ) A N A H I TA C H O K S E Y ( 1 0 ) R A H U L K U M A R ( 2 3 ) S H A L A K A PAT I L ( 3 3 ) S U M O N I K A M I S R A ( ) S U R B H I S A X E N A ( )

THE COPYRIGHT ACT, 1957• The Copyright Act 1957 was the first post-independence copyright

legislation in India and the law has been amended 6 times since 1957.• The most recent amendment was in the year 2012, through the

Copyright (Amendment) Act 2012.• Copyright is a bundle of rights given by the law to the creators of

literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and the producers of cinematograph films and sound recordings.

DURATION OF COPYRIGHT PROTECTION• Literary• Dramatic

• Musical• Artistic

works

Lifetime of the author + sixty years from the beginning of the calendar year next following the year in which the author dies

• Anonymous and pseudonymous works

• Posthumous work• Cinematograph films• Sound records

• Government work

• Public undertakings

• International Agencies

• photographs

Until sixty years from the beginning of the calendar years next following the year in which the work is first published

RIGHTS UNDER COPYRIGHT LAWCopyright is the soul of Film, Audio-visual recording, Literature in Book forms and Computer Software Industry.The author of a copyrighted work enjoys the following exclusive economic rights:• Right to reproduce• Right to publish• To adapt and translate• To communicate/perform in public• To assign, license or bequeath the copyright to another party

AMENDMENTS TO COPYRIGHT LAW• The changes will entitle authors of musical, cinematographic and

literary works to ROYALTY if their work is used for commercial purposes such as ring tones, internet downloads or aired on radio channels.

• At present, a lyricist or music composer is paid on a one-time basis.

• They do not get royalty if their work is used in any form in future or from re-runs of movies on television.

INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT LAW• Copyright infringement occurs when any person does any of the

mentioned rights and activities with respect to a copyrighted work WITHOUT A LICENSE.

• It leads to economic loss to the owners of copyright. Besides economic loss, it also adversely affects creativity

• PIRACY: The term "piracy" has been used to refer to the unauthorized copying, distribution and selling of works in copyright

• Infringement relevant in today’s world of Internet: Plagiarizing Marketing Copy, Plagiarizing Personal Literature, Newspaper Infringement, Mashup Copyright Issues, Photography Infringement

REMEDIES AGAINST COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

The act provides 3 kinds of remedies :• Administrative :  include detention of the infringing goods by

the customs authorities• Civil : Provided under Chapter XII of the Copyright Act 1957

and include injunctions, damages and account of profits• Criminal : Provided under Chapter XIII of the statute and the

remedies provided against copyright infringement include imprisonment (up to 3 years) along with a fine (up to 200,000 Rupees)

T H E C O U N T R Y ' S F I L M I N D U S T R Y C O N T I N U E S T O L O S E A R O U N D R S 5 0 B I L L I O N I N R E V E N U E S A N D O V E R 5 0 , 0 0 0 J O B S E V E R Y Y E A R D U E T O P I R A C Y. I N D I A I S O N E O F T H E T O P C O U N T R I E S W I T N E S S I N G P E E R - T O - P E E R F I L E -S H A R I N G I N F R I N G E M E N T W O R L D W I D ES T O P P I R A C Y ! !

CASE 1

T-SERIES VS GURUJI.COM• T- series is a top music label company and

Guruji.com is an indigenously made music search engine founded by two IIT graduates in 2006

• Guruji.com slowly gained popularity as pirated music search engine, it didn’t hold any pirated music but it promoted pirated music through its homepage search results

• 2008 T-series issued notice to Guruji.com

T-SERIES VS GURUJI.COMT-series Guruji.comAccused defendant for offering meta-data instead merely displaying links

Responded that it has done what a search engine is supposed to do and is not hosting copyrighted content

Also stated defendant have an ad program where ads on serious offenders in music piracy like songs.pk etc are dislayed who paid Guruji

Tried to prove that they only pointed consumers towards content

As the servers and office were in India hence Copyright Act 1957 was rightly applicable in this case

Showed their disclaimer

Guruji.com disclaimer

T-SERIES VS GURUJI.COM• Where did the defendant go wrong? They didn’t

maintain anonymity, other music piracy websites have servers outside India/ outside Indian’s court purview• THE JUDGEMENT• Defendant removed search links for music from its site• Shut down music search site in 2011• Arrest of Anurag Dod, CEO of Guruji.com• Seizure of servers, storage media and other equipment• Arrest of employees of Guruji.com

BRIGHT TUNES MUSIC V. HARRISONGS MUSICComplaining Work

"He's So Fine"

Defending Work

"My Sweet Lord"

• This case found the late George Harrison liable for copyright infringement.

• Harrison's use of the melodic kernels of plaintiff‘s, in the same order and repetitive sequence and set to "identical harmonies,“ as that of "He's So Fine“ composed by Ronald Mack

• This is an action in which it is claimed that a successful song, My Sweet Lord, listing George Harrison as the composer, is plagiarized from an earlier successful song, He's So Fine, composed by Ronald Mack, recorded by a singing group called the "Chiffons," the copyright of which is owned by plaintiff, Bright Tunes Music Corp.

• With liability established, the court then recommended an amount for the damages to be paid by Harrison and Apple to Bright Tunes, which Owen totalled at $1,599,987– amounting to three-quarters of the royalty revenue raised in North America from "My Sweet Lord"

REFERENCE

• https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2013/02/18/5-types-of-infringement-made-commonplace-by-the-web/

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_infringement

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