23 November 2015

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The Diary of Anne Frank or Otto Frank?

“I wish to go on living even after my death” -Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl This was just one of the famous lines that Anne Frank wrote in her diary - ‘Kitty’, which it was fondly referred to as by Anne when she penned her thoughts into it. Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl or more famously known as the Diary of Anne Frank was a journal or a diary of a young Jewish girl who, along with her family, had managed to hide from the Nazis during their occupation of the Netherlands during World War II,...

23 November 2015

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Thou can copy, oh Google. Tis legal!

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property, IP Commercialization/Licensing

The latest IP related news pertains to Google's digital copying of entire books as part of its Google Books service from Google Inc. The US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit recently confirmed the decision of the District Court that the scanning activities of Google within its Library Project are to be considered a fair use of copyright works. The Plaintiff-Appellants, who are the authors of published books under copyright, appealed from the judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Chin, J.) which had ruled in favour of Defendant Google, Inc. The Plaintiffs...

23 November 2015

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Machinima – Copyright and Related Issues – Part II

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property

In our post last week, we discussed about the art of machinima, i.e. the use of visuals from a video game to create a cinematographic film. As machinima is a derivative work, using the characters and the environment from the game without the authorization of the game developers would usually constitute an act of infringement. However, many of the creators of machinima, or machinimators, rely on the fair use provisions in the event that a copyright infringement claim is brought against them. This week, we shall try to analyse and distinguish between the nature of acts relating to machinima that...

17 November 2015

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Technological Protection Measures

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property

The Copyright Act, 1957 went through a major change in 2012. The amendment harmonised the copyright law with the “Internet Treaties”- the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), making it capable of facing challenges posed by digital technologies. The Copyright Act, 2012 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Act’) added new Sections, 65A and 65B, for protection against dodging of technological measures and protection of rights management information respectively. The provision under Section 65A sets out that any person who circumvents an effective technological measure applied for protecting any of the rights conferred in the Act, with...

16 November 2015

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Indian Copyright Law and Fair dealing

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property

The concept of fair dealing is statutorily entrenched in Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957. What fair dealing does is that it permits certain acts with respect to copyrighted works, which otherwise would have constituted as infringement. The concept of fair dealing found in the UK copyright law as well as the Indian copyright law, is much more restrictive that its US counterpart, fair use. While the Indian law provides a specific list of fair dealing acts and purposes, the US law uses certain set of factors to classify fair use. Section 52 on the Indian Copyright Act, entitled ‘Certain...

16 November 2015

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Statutory Licensing for Broadcasting Organisations

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law

The objective of non–voluntary licensing is two-fold. First, to overcome the difficulty of locating the correct owner of the copyrighted work and getting an individual license from him and second is to avoid the creation of monopoly of copyright owners. The result the state looks at achieving from this provision is ensuring public dissemination and authors' compensation and avoiding market monopoly. The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 has incorporated a new section into Chapter VI of the Copyright Act, which authorizes the broadcasting organizations to communicate to the public by way of performance of a literary or musical work and sound recording,...

16 November 2015

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Machinima – Copyright and Related Issues – Part I

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property

In this post we shall be discussing about ‘machinima’, a form of new age cinema. For those of you who are not aware of what machinima is, it is derived from two words, ‘machine’ and ‘cinema’, and as the combination suggests, it refers to the practice of using video games to create original cinematographic films. Machinima films use the virtual environments and the characters within a game to tell stories. Though a machinima appears to be just like any other animated movie, the process involved in the creation of making one is much similar to that of a live action movie....

11 November 2015

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Social Media and Intellectual Property (IP): Part I- Protection and Ownership

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law, Patents, Social Media Law, Trade Secrets

Social Media comes with a bundle of tools that differentiate it from traditional print and electronic media. Among others, two unique elements of Social Media are: Tools for sharing and dissemination of content and information across the world; and tools to communicate and exchange information. These two elements make Social Media a much more powerful weapon than traditional media. Access to most social media platforms requires internet, of which there is no dearth in today's context. It is estimated that 3.2 billion people have access to internet as of 2015. Out of these 3.2 billion, 2 billion people access internet on...

09 November 2015

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Hollywood Copyrights and Bollywood Copy(right!?)

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights, Intellectual Property

The featured image shows a movie reel. The post deals about the online leak of udta punjab. To know more, please click here.

‘Plagiarism’ is not a foreign word to the entertainment industry. It is not uncommon in Bollywood to dress ‘plagiarism’ as ‘inspiration’. Studies show that nearly eight out of every ten Bollywood movies produced is “inspired” by one or more Hollywood films. Bollywood has time and again faced criticism for its “blatant copying” of Hollywood storylines and for having taken undue advantage of the unfamiliarity of the Indian audiences with respect to international films. Although very few western studios attempted to bring a suit proceeding against Bollywood filmmakers for blatant infringement of copyrights in the past, this trend has seen a...

09 November 2015

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Performer’s Rights under Indian Copyright Law

Posted by BananaIP Reporter

in Copyrights

In last week’s post, we explored the concept of performer’s rights, which was recognized only in 1994, under the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, after a long delay. The basis for recognition of performer’s rights stems from the need for recognition of rights of performers as well as the need for sharing of the proceeds from the commercial exploitation of the visual or acoustic performances of actors, musicians, singers or dancers. This week, we shall be discussing the judicial approach in India towards the performer’s rights, in relation to the cinematographic works and the entertainment industry. However, before we begin the discussion...

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