In June, 2018 there was an interesting judgement passed by the Patiala House Court, Delhi in relation to performers rights. A judgement which if relied on by any of the higher courts would be catastrophic for ISRA (Indian Singers Rights Association) and performers claiming right to receive royalties in...
The Delhi High Court’s Division Bench judgment in Azure Hospitality Private Limited v. Phonographic Performance Limited, followed by the Supreme Court’s partial stay order in PPL v. Azure (SLP(C) No. 10977/2025), has reignited a fundamental question that has plagued India’s copyright ecosystem since the 1994 amendment: Can entities, through creative...
In a very interesting precedent from the Madras High Court, M/s Novex Communications Pvt. Ltd., a company which sometimes acts as an “agent” and sometimes “owner” of the right to “on ground performances” of the catalogues of several music labels (contracts available on its website here), has lost its...
We are pleased to bring to you our next guest post by Ujjawal Bhargava, fourth-year student of the Institute of Law, Nirma University, Ahmedabad. Ujjawal has a keen interest in the subject of Intellectual Property, specifically copyright and trademark laws. He has written for us earlier here and here.
INTRODUCTION
Recently, the Indian...
In a significant development in the domain of digital IP enforcement, Sony Music Entertainment India Private Limited has dragged Myntra Designs Private Limited to the Bombay High Court over the alleged unauthorized use of its copyrighted sound recordings in promotional materials.
The dispute seems to be on Myntra’s use of...
This article was first featured in the magazine 'The Kolkata Protector' (March-April 2018 edition), a magazine for the Kolkata Police. The e-version of the article can be accessed here.
It is not easy to list down only five hurdles faced by the Media and Entertainment industry of India, but I...
The clarification given in Novex Communications Pvt Ltd. v. Trade Wings Hotels Limited, that owners of sound recordings can issue licenses without registering as a copyright society, is significant as it has created a lot of momentum in the music licensing space in India. Various entities, engaged in the...
While going through Calcutta High Court’s order dated December 22, 2017 in the matter of Saregama India Limited vs The New Digital Media & Anr , a portion discussing Section 31D of the Copyright Act, 1957 caught my attention.
The portion reads as under:
“In any view of the matter even...
