22 July 2015

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Thou shall not re-tweet!

Dennis Flaherty, an American photographer is suing the beverage manufacturer Big Red Inc. for using his copyrighted photograph of Fort Alamo at night, in a social media marketing campaign. Well, this doesn’t seem out place, right? Companies making unauthorized use of a copyrighted work should be held responsible, and in many cases they are. But what if I were to say that Mr. Flaherty is not just suing Big Red, its employees and affiliates but also every other person who shared and/or re-tweeted the photograph? So, before we get into the details of this complaint, which may also seem a bit...

14 July 2015

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Disney finally dances to Deadmau5’s tune

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, IP Commercialization/Licensing, Trademarks

Featured image is of EDM D.J. Joel Zimmerman a.k.a. DeadMau5 performing as the post is about his famous Mau5 ears and the trademark dispute with Disney. To read the post click here.

Deadmau5 the Canadian progressive-house music producer who made his first tour of India last year had found himself in a trademark battle with the most loved mouse of all time, Mickey Mouse the well known cartoon character and the proud mascot of Disney. The root of Deadmau5 - real name Joel Zimmerman's troubles was literally sitting on his head, his iconic Mau5head which he regularly wears during all his performances around the world. The Walt Disney Company Disney is fiercely protective of its intellectual property, particularly when it comes to Mickey Mouse. Deadmau5's application for a trademark registration under US law to use...

08 July 2015

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YouTube ordered to take down copyright infringing material

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property, IP Commercialization/Licensing, Media and Entertainment Law

On July 1, 2015, Google owned video-sharing website YouTube won a legal battle against German performing rights organization GEMA in a German regional court. GEMA had claimed that Youtube should be liable to pay each time a video of an artist, represented by GEMA is viewed. GEMA represents several composers, lyricists, music publishers as its members in Germany and collects their royalty fees. This is not the first time that GEMA has engaged in a legal feud with YouTube. Even after several years of negotiation, they could not resolve the dispute regarding equitable remuneration, once again leading to a deadlock. The...

06 July 2015

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Liability of E-Retailers – A Copyright Battle

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property

Featured image is of the launch of Amish Tripathi's book Scion of Ikshvaku, as the post is related to the book and the copyright dispute between Westland and Flipkart. To read the post click here.

Flipkart and Amazon (e-retail giants) are at loggerheads again. The matter concerns the online sale of Amish Tripathi’s book `Scion of Ikshvaku'. This time it is Flipkart which has been sued by the Westland, a Tata owned entity, for alleged infringement under both the copyright and IT Acts, for the unauthorized sale of the aforementioned book. According to Westland, they had entered into an exclusive agreement with Amazon for a period of two months to sell the book online. These exclusive deals that are entered into between publishers and such e-commerce platforms are becoming more commonplace. Websites try to come up...

06 July 2015

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Padmini and ors.Vs.Raj Television Network Limited

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property, IP Commercialization/Licensing, Media and Entertainment Law

Case title Padmini and ors.Vs.Raj Television Network Limited Citation Original Application No. 763 of 2013 in C.S. No. 686 of 2013 (Decided On: 13.04.2015) Facts The plaintiffs are the legal heirs of R Venkatraman, who produced the Tamil film ‘Ninaithale Inikkum’ in the year 1979, under the ‘Premalaya’ banner. In 1981 Mr Venkatraman assigned the copyright in the negatives, of both picture and sound, of the said film to ‘Kumar Pictures’, by way of an assignment deed, for a period of 99 years. The plaintiffs however, retained the re-take and dubbing rights. ‘Kumar Pictures’ subsequently assigned the negative rights to defendant Raj Television Network Limited (hereinafter...

17 June 2015

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Copyright V. Privacy – Flash, Airtel, GitHub and Tejesh

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property

Featured image is of a computer code, as the post is based on it. To read the post click here

Tejesh, based out of Bangalore, had allegedly discovered that browsing on Airtel's 3G network was being slowed down by code that helps Airtel generate revenue from data services offered by the telecom service provider. After making the discovery, Tejesh posted the code along with screen shots on Git Hub. In response, Flash Networks, the owner of the code sent a cease and desist notice to Tejesh alleging copyright infringement. It also sent a DMCA take down notice to Git Hub, following which Tejesh's post was taken down. One of Tejesh's main claims seems to be that the code was being inserted...

17 June 2015

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Copyright Dispute between Music Publishers

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property

Featured image is of jazz artist Billie Holiday as she sang the most famous version of "These Foolish Things", the song on which the post is based. To read the post click here

American music publisher, Bourne Co., co-founded in 1919 by songwriter Irving Berlin, has initiated a copyright dispute lawsuit before the New York Supreme County Court against the UK-based Booey & Co. Ltd. alleging conspiracy to deprive Bourne Co. of its share of rights in the highly popular song ‘These Foolish Things’ written by Eric Maschwitz and Jack Strachey. Released in 1936, renditions of the song were recorded by various artists including Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald as well as Frank Sinatra. The cover version by Billie Holiday became so popular that it occupied the No. 5 spot on the Billboard...

08 June 2015

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Copyright Contract Case: Phoolan Devi

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property

Image of a court hammer has been used as the featured image, as the post is about a judgement

There are some situations where contracts and Copyright Law overlap. You may have licensed your work to somebody else, transferring the copyrights you own over it, but there are still cases where you can claim authorship rights after the transfer. In this post, I shall be analyzing 2 cases in the Media & Entertainment industry where Section 57 of the Copyright Act can have an effect on Contracts for licensing of any literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work. One of the leading cases in this topic is the case of Phoolan Devi v. Shekhar Kapoor decided by the Delhi High Court. In...

21 May 2015

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Fighting Pirates – Copyright v. Privacy

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property

The image depicts the a tag with Copyright written on it

The conflict between copyright enforcement and privacy has been one of the stumbling blocks in fighting online piracy. While proof of direct infringement by internet users is an essential element for action against online pirates, privacy of user data is an essential mandate to live and transact on the world wide web. Owing to privacy responsibilities of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), copyright holders find it very difficult, or impossible, to acquire details of internet users involved in downloading, uploading and sharing copyrighted content. In the ongoing litigation between BMG and Round Hill (which manage music rights of Katy Perry, The Beatles...

22 April 2015

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Models Sue for “use of persona”

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property

Five US models sued FashionGlama.com and two individuals for the use of their photographs (use of persona) for escort services, and on pornographic websites. These models had allegedly signed 6-month contracts for modelling services, and were shocked to find their photographs on unwelcome websites. The suit alleges fraud, misrepresentation, unauthorized use of photographs (use of persona), breach of reputation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Though rarely pursued, such issues are very common in the Indian context as well. More often than not, we see photographs and persona of models being posted on obscene websites, and used to endorse unwelcome products. While...

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