In a welcome development, IPRS has received a revised certificate of registration [CS/02/Musical Work/17] on June 8, 2018 in ‘suppression of, and in continuance of the Certificate of the same number dated November 28, 2017’.
Update: the copy of the revised registration certificate can be viewed here.
The registration granted in favour of IPRS under certificate dated November 28, 2017 was subject to compliance by IPRS with certain conditions including IPRS taking appropriate remedial measures in respect of observations contained in Central Government’s letter dated November 28, 2017. The contents of the said Government letter are still unknown. However, IPRS seems to have complied with the required conditions, in view of which the revised certificate has been granted by the Copyright Office (Registrar of Copyright, Central Government, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, DIPP).
As per the revised certificate, IPRS is permitted to commence and carry on the copyright business in musical work as defined under Section 2(p) of the Copyright Act, 1957 and Literary Work associated with Musical Work.
The revised certificate further provides that the registration and the permission granted are subject to the following conditions and liable to be cancelled on non-compliance with or contravention of any of them, namely:
- That the particulars furnished in the application are true and correct and not misleading in any manner;
- That the Copyright Society shall duly comply with all the obligations imposed on it by or under the Copyright Act, 1957 and the Copyright Rules, 2013.
As per the new deeds of assignment which IPRS executes with its members i.e. music composers, lyricists and music publishers/ owners/ audio-visual publishers, IPRS as an assignee becomes owner of such musical and literary works in relation to the said rights. IPRS claims that in the capacity of being a registered copyright society and as an owner of copyrights, IPRS is entitled to (a) grant/ issue licenses for public performance and / or communication to the public (public performance rights) and reproduction (mechanical rights) of the works within its repertoire and (b) collect royalties on behalf of its members, including author/ composer members under Sections 30 and 33 of the Copyright Act, 1957.
IPRS thus claims to control and administer on behalf of its members on what is termed as “Performing Rights” which includes the following:
- The right of performing the musical and/ or literary works in public
- The right to communicate the work to the public by making it available for being seen or heard or otherwise enjoyed by the public directly or any means of display or diffusion regardless of whether any member of any public actually sees, hears or otherwise enjoys the work so made available which right/ act includes the act of “broadcast”, streaming and/ or
- The right to authorize any of the aforesaid acts.
In addition to the above, IPRS also claims to control as an assignee, the reproduction right i.e. mechanical rights in respect of the literary and musical works of its members.
While there are still innumerable questions which need to be answered, this news of IPRS having complied with the Government conditions and receiving a revised certificate is a welcome news especially for the authors and owners of works (members) and for the users who have obtained licenses from IPRS.
Image source: here
