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…
Recently, in a US copyright suit against Rapper Jay Z , the issue of ‘moral rights’ took center stage. The copyright suit was with regards to the sampling of an old Egyptian song in Jay-Z’s hit number “Big Pimpin’”. According to Jay Z a.k.a Shawn Carter and producer Timbaland a.k.a Timothy Mosley, the hook or the sample of Khosara Khosara was licensed to them. They paid $100,000 in total to EMI Music Arabia for the license in 2001. However, Osama…
The visual or acoustic performances of actors, musicians, singers or dancers forms a key part of the creative process and the performers who display their talents through their artistic performances must be entitled for certain rights over such performances as well as a share in the proceeds from its commercial exploitation.
However, the rights of the performers were not recognized internationally until the adoption of the Rome Convention of 1961. This international treaty called for protection against unauthorized broadcast of…
Case Title: Sholay Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & Ors.v. Parag Sanghavi & Ors.
Citation: 223 (2015) DLT 152, MIPR 2015 (3) 0096
Brief Facts:
The dispute is centered around the highly popular movie ‘Sholay’ directed by Mr. Ramesh Sippy and produced by Mr. G.P. Sippy and the movie ‘Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag’ directed by Mr. Ram Gopal Verma. Before we go into the particulars of the dispute, one must have an understanding of the ownership of the rights over the…
Known for her creativity and originality, Beyoncé was slammed with a $ 7 million lawsuit for one of her latest singles ‘XO’. The ‘Crazy in Love’ singer found herself facing a lawsuit by Ahmad Javon Lane, a singer, who claimed that Beyoncé allegedly infringed his song ‘XOXO’ after he gave a digital copy of the song to one of her background singers, Chrissy Collins. One of the main questions posed before Judge Paul A. Engelmeyer, District Judge, U.S. District Court…
“Big Pimpin”, Jay Z’s chart topping rap number had been at the center of a longstanding copyright lawsuit. The law suit was initially filed in 2007 by Osama Fahmy, nephew of Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi, whose song ‘Khosara Khosara’ was partially featured in the 2000 hit. Last week the US District Court in Los Angeles ruled that Mr. Fahmy ‘lacked the standing' for his copyright lawsuit against both Jay Z (Shawn Carter) and producer Timbaland (Timothy Mosley).
A flute riff…
The IP dispute discussed in this post pertains to the property of the most beloved superhero. United States Court of Appeals was asked to decide over the copyright and trademark infringement action brought by DC Comics against a maker of Batmobile replicas.
DC Comics, copyright owner of the Batman comic books, brought a law suit against Defendant Mark Towle who was accused of producing replicas of “Batman’s sidekick” Batmobile as it appeared in both the 1966 television show and the…
Salman Khan starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan is making news again. But this time it isn’t because it’s breaking any box office records. The film is now facing a Rs. 50 crore copyright infringement suit.
The story goes something like this, Mahim Joshi, a writer, director and TV producer registered his story with the Indian Film and Television Producers Council and the Association of Motion Pictures and TV Programme Producers, in July of 2007. After which he approached Suresh Oberoi and son…
This post exhibits the statistics of IP litigation in India in the past decade.
The following table displays the statistics that were arrived at after conducting a search on Manupatra . It tabulates the estimated number of decisions passed by the Supreme Court and High Courts with respect to patents, trademarks and copyrights in the past decade.
IP Decisions Passed by SC and HCs from 2004 – 2014
Year
Number of Decided Cases for Patent
Number of Decided Cases for Trademark
Number of…
This presentation was delivered by Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala at GNLU as a part of the entertainment law course offered for LLB students. The presentation covers:
• Introduction to copyright law and philosophy of copyright law;
• Copyrightability - Idea/Expression Dichotomy, Ideas and Expressions, Originality, Modicum of Creativity - tests;
• Abstraction of expressions from ideas, public domain works, facts, common scenes, concepts, themes, etc;
• Copyrightable Subject Matter - Works protected;
• Rights granted to each type of work, and differences in rights;
•…