GOVERNMENT PROPOSES TO AMEND THE COPYRIGHT RULES, 2013 SEEKS TO BRING ALL MODES OF BROADCAST WITHIN THE AMBIT OF STATUTORY LICENSING PROVISIONS
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) has notified on May 30, 2019 the proposed amendments to the Copyright Rules, 2013 (“Proposed Rules”) in exercise of its powers conferred under Section 78 of the Copyright Act, 1957. The Ministry has sought objections or suggestions from all persons likely to be affected thereby within a period of thirty days [ READ DRAFT RULES HERE].
The major highlight of the Proposed Rules is the amendment to Rules 29 to 31 to include “each mode of broadcast” for the words “radio broadcast or television broadcast”. Rules 29 to 31 deals with Statutory license for broadcasting of literary and musical works and sound recordings.
Read details of the highlights here.
DELHI HIGH COURT RULES THAT DESTRUCTION OF WORK DOES NOT AMOUNT TO MORAL RIGHT INFRINGEMENT
In the case of Raj Rewal vs Union of India, the Delhi High Court the Delhi High Court has held that an architect of a building, in the capacity of an author of an artistic work of architecture, does not have the right to restrain the demolition of a building on the ground that it was designed as per his work.
The suit sought a direction against Union of India and ITPO to compensate the plaintiff by recreating the work of architecture in the Hall of Nations and Nehru Pavilion at the same location or at any other location in Delhi which is equally prominent as the earlier location of the said buildings, under the direct supervision of the plaintiff.
The Court held that while the plaintiff’s rights in the work were purely statutory rights circumscribed by the Copyright Act, the right to property was a constitutional right under Article 300A, which must prevail over statutory rights, observing that “when the Constitution in Article 300-A mandates that no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law, no law unless expressly providing for deprivation of property can, by implication be interpreted as depriving a person of his property.”
The court further held that the author’s rights to prevent ‘distortion, mutilation or modification’ of their work under Section 57 did not permit an author to prevent the destruction of a work in its entirety, since “that what cannot be viewed, seen, heard or felt, cannot be imperfect and cannot affect the honour or reputation of the author.” The Court further observed that the Copyright Act must be harmoniously read and therefore stated that Section 57 could not possibly contemplate the right to object to the destruction of a building.
The Court however observed that the Court observed that the Central Government and ITPO had a duty to inform the Plaintiff in advance about the demolition of the buildings.
CISAC CHAIRMAN DECLARES IPRS WORLD’S FASTEST GROWING COPYRIGHT SOCIETY
At the recently held CISAC General Assembly 2019 held in Tokyo, CISAC chairman Eric Baptiste declared IPRS to be the world’s fastest growing Copyright Society.
CISAC (The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers) is the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, which represents 239 member societies in 122 countries/territories.
Held in Tokyo, CISAC’s General Assembly 2019 is the first event held in many years in Asia and is a part of a new era in Japan. The various representatives of global Copyright societies, including IPRS, attended the event.
PIL FILED IN DELHI HC SEEKING CHANGE IN TITLE OF SALMAN KHAN’S FILM ‘BHARAT’ ON GROUNDS OF VIOLATION OF SECTION 3 OF EMBLEMS ACT
As per reports, a PIL has been filed by Vipin Tyagi before the Delhi High Court contending that the title of the film ‘Bharat’ is in violation of Section 3 of Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, according to which the word “Bharat” cannot be used for the commercial purpose. The petitioner has also sought change in the dialogue where the character has been compared to the country, contending that it hurts the patriotic sentiments of the people of the country.
DELHI HC DECLINES INTERIM BLOCKING OF POKER & BETTING WEBSITES
As per reports, a division bench of the Delhi High Court comprising of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Brijesh Sethi declined to issue an order directing interim blocking of online gambling, betting and poker websites in the PIL filed by social activist Avinash Mehrotra.
The court however issued notice to the centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and sought their response on the petition which has alleged that illegal and illicit gambling, betting and poker portals are soliciting bets from India in violation of foreign exchange laws, tax laws and existing gambling legislation.
All India Gaming Federation has intervened in the matter and contended that some online India-based poker portals including Adda52 and PokerStars.in are wrongly included in the petition and that these online poker portals are ‘games of skill’ and poker has been wrongly classified as a ‘game of chance’ in the petition.
The matter is listed again on 31st July, 2019.
KAMAL KANT CHANDRA FILES POLICE COMPLAINT AGAINST AYUSHMAN KHURRANA AND MAKERS OF FILM ‘BALA’ AFTER TEAM KICKS OFF SHOOTING
As per reports, assistant director Kamal Kant Chandra, who had filed a case against Ayushmann Khurrana and makers of the film Bala on plagiarism charges, has filed a criminal complaint under Section 420 (cheating) and 406 (breach of trust) against the actor and the makers at the Kashimira police station in Mira Road. Earlier, Chandra had filed the case before Bombay High Court against Khurrana, director Amar Kaushik and producer Dinesh Vijan, accusing them of lifting the central plot of a prematurely balding man from his project, Wig.
Chandra, claims that in the last hearing on April 19, the lawyers representing the trio had falsely mentioned to the bench that the film is in the scripting stage (read order here). “It’s wrong to start shooting before the court has given its verdict. At the last hearing, they said that they would take time to develop the script. How did they start shooting in 15 days? This means they gave a misleading picture to the court. I approached the vacation bench four days ago, but they stated that I should wait for the next hearing on June 10. But the makers might finish [a chunk of] the film by then and argue that since a lot of money is at stake, the court should rule in their favour.”
BOMBAY HC GRANTS BAIL TO FILM PRODUCER ANJUM RIZVI IN CONTEMPT CASE
Vacation bench of Bombay High Court has suspended the four month sentence and granted bail to producer Anjum Rizvi in a contempt case. Earlier Justice Gautam Patel had sentenced him to four months imprisonment holding him guilty of contempt of court for breach of his undertaking to pay his creditor YT Capital.
The producer and YT Capital filed consent terms before the vacation bench after Rizvi agreed to pay Rs 38 lakh. His lawyer produced a copy of demand draft for Rs 38 lakh in court. The HC said, “The execution of punishment is suspended and the appellant is directed to be released on bail on PR bond of a sum of Rs1 lakh with cash security in like amount.”
FIR REGISTERED AGAINST MANAGEMENT AND DIRECTORS OF VIACOM 18
As per reports, in a complaint filed by film producer Satish Tandon of M/s Satish Tandon Productions alleging cheating, fraud and illegal copyright infringement by Viacom 18 and its directors/ officers for illegally hosting and streaming multiple films including the complainant’s film on its digital platform ‘Voot.com’ to its viewers without any permission and without taking a valid license from the owner/producers of such films all this while earning crores of rupees in Ad Revenue and Profits, FIR has been registered after detailed inquiry.
