COPYRIGHT STATISTICS
There is a decrease of 1% in the total number of copyright applications filed for the month of July as compared to the month of June. A total of 1893 applications were filed in the month of July, 2019. The majority of applications were filed for literary works and artistic works.
| Sl. No | Type of Work | Number of Application Filed in the Month of June 2019 | Number of Application Filed in the Month of July 2019 | Change | Percentage Change |
| 1 | Literary/ Dramatic Work | 1000 | 1099 | 99 | Increase of 9% |
| 2 | Musical Work | 607 | 0 | 607 | Decrease of 100% |
| 3 | Artistic Work | 604 | 498 | 106 | Decrease of 17% |
| 4 | Cinematograph Work | 47 | 17 | 30 | Decrease of 63% |
| 5 | Sound Recording | 111 | 154 | 43 | Increase of 38% |
| 6 | Software | 152 | 125 | 27 | Decrease of 17 % |
| Total | 1917 | 1893 | 24 | Decrease of 1% |
‘Judgementall Hain Kya’ Makers Accused of Copyright Infringement; Netflix Finances Mumbai Based Digital Studio; Katy Perry Loses Copyright Battle; Netflix Targets Smaller International Markets; ByteDance to Launch its Search Engine in China; Rural Products to be Sold through E-Commerce Platforms and more.
NATIONAL
‘Judgementall Hain Kya’ Makers Accused of Copyright Infringement
Flora Borsi, a Hungarian photographer, has accused the makers of the recently released Bollywood movie, Judgementall Hain Kya, of plagiarising her work in one of their posters. She uploaded a picture of the poster and the photograph clicked by her side by side on Twitter and has claimed that the makers of the movie never took her permission before using her work for promoting their film. Many people have supported her claim and shamed Ekta Kapoor’s production house for blatantly copying the artist’s work.
Netflix Finances Mumbai Based Digital Studio
Pocket Aces Pvt. Ltd., a small digital studio started by three ex-bankers, has recently gotten a chance to stream their most popular show on Netflix. Netflix has recently introduced a Rs.199 subscription plan exclusively for smartphone users in India and Pocket Aces aims to target this crowd. Instead of releasing their content through traditional distribution channels, this Mumbai-based company is targeting the ever-increasing population of smartphone consumers and has created content to be released on other popular online-streaming platforms like Hotstar and Amazon. Their content has gained popularity for exploring areas beyond the stale concepts of Indian movies and television shows.
INTERNATIONAL
Katy Perry Loses Copyright Battle
A federal jury in California, recently decided in favour of the Christian rapper Flame in a copyright infringement suit against pop star Katy Perry. It was held that Perry’s hit song ‘Dark Horse’ had copied elements from Flame’s song ‘Joyful Noise’. The jury is now at the stage of deciding the exact amount of damages payable to the rapper, by Katy Perry and her associates.
LICENSING
Netflix Targets Smaller International Markets
As part of a new licensing strategy adopted by Netflix, it has decided to focus on smaller countries with regard to creating original content for the international market. Netflix has observed that regions like Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America prefer content that is specific to their culture, for which it has started creating original content.
This is in addition to the online streaming platform’s previous expansion plans, which were focused on creating original shows for the European market in countries like Germany, France and the UK.
ByteDance to Launch its Search Engine in China
TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance has now decided to enter the search engine space in a bid to launch its own version and compete with the existing market leader Baidu Inc., in China. However, ByteDance’s search engine will be available only on the app as a pre-loaded feature. This feature will initially begin with the Jinri Toutiao news service and will also be available with TikTok as well as ByteDance’s popular video-streaming platforms.
E-COMMERCE
Rural Products to be Sold through E-Commerce Platforms
The Rural Development Ministry has listed 200 products that will soon be sold on e-commerce platforms like the Government e-Marketplace (GeM). The Government along with Tata Trusts will be setting up a non-profit company under Section 25 of Companies Act which will assist rural artisans to sell their products on a larger scale by making them available globally.
Additionally, the government will also set up a Value Chain Development Centre which will be managed by regional officers to further help rural artisans. This development centre will train the artisans in packaging and designing the products along with hiring photographers and content writers to increase the global appeal of such products.
Authored and compiled by Neharika Vhatkar and Anusmita Mazumder (Associates, BananaIP Counsels)
The Entertainment Law News Bulletin is brought to you jointly by the Entertainment Law, eCommerce Law, and Consulting/Strategy Divisions of BananaIP Counsels, a Top IP Firm in India. If you have any questions, or need any clarifications, please write to [email protected] with the subject: Ent Law News.
Disclaimer: Please note that the news bulletin has been put together from different sources, primary and secondary, and BananaIP’s reporters may not have verified all the news published in the bulletin. You may write to [email protected] for corrections and take down.
