Indian Copyright Statistics, Abhishek Bachchan’s Film in copyright row, BananaIP Seminar, Re-tweeting and Copyright Infringement, Comic Con India and Archie Comic licensing deal and more is presented by the Copyright and Entertainment Law Attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s Premier New Age IP Firm
COPYRIGHT QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“You will only have copyright in a society that places a very high value on the individual, the individual intellect, the products of individual intellect.” – Tim Parks
INDIAN COPYRIGHT STATISTICS
There has been an increase of 41% in the total number of copyright filings compared to the last week. A total of 213 applications were filed for copyright registration during the last week. While most of the applications were filed for literary works only one application was filed for registering Cinematographic Films.
| Sr. No | Types of work | Number of Applications previous week | Number of Applications this week | Percentage change |
| 1 | Literary Works | 118 | 163 | An increase of 38 % |
| 2 | Musical works | 3 | 4 | An increase of 33 % |
| 3 | Artistic works | 19 | 30 | An increase of 57 % |
| 4 | Cinematograph Films | 1 | 1 | No Increase |
| 5 | Sound Recordings | 2 | 3 | An increase of 50 % |
| 6 | Software | 8 | 12 | An increase of 50 % |
| Total | 151 | 213 | An increase of 41 % |
INDIAN COPYRIGHTS AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW UPDATES
Abhishek Bachchan’s Film in Copyright Row
Abhishek Bachchan’s upcoming film related to the rugby team of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, directed by Nila Madhab Panda has landed in copyright tussle with the national award-winning Director Ujjwal Chatterjee. The Mirror reported that Chatterjee is also making a film on the same subject. Ujjwal told Mirror, “Mukesh Khanna, the chairman of Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI), and I started our research in 2011 and have been working on the project since the last one year. Our story is about 12 tribal boys from Mayurbhanj, Jharkhand and Bhubaneshwar who are students of the KISS and won the international School Rugby Tournament in London. I was shocked to learn that another film is being planned on the same subject..” However, makers of Bachchan’s film stated that Ujjwal had earlier taken money from them for directing the Film and later backed out of the project. “Ujjwal has taken money from me and has to return it. It is a legal matter” said the producer of Bachchan’s film in his statement.
Building IP Framework Seminar
Today BananaIP is organizing a seminar entitled Building IP Framework for corporates at Le Meridian, Bangalore. More than 28 companies have registered for the event. The objective of the seminar is to help the corporates understand the value of IP, build, protect and manage IP efficiently, and leverage IP for their business success. We will be posting the details of the event soon.
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW NEWS
Re-tweeting and Copyright Infringement
Jeffery Knarr, the head coach for King’s college, is sued before a Pennsylvanian Federal Court over a retweet of a tweet that featured a page from Dr. Keith Bell’s book. On 6th November 2015, the Twitter account of the Northeastern State University baseball team tweeted a photo from Dr. Bell’s book “Winning isn’t normal”. Shortly thereafter, Knarr re-tweeted that tweet which stayed online for about 10 months until Dr. Bell issued a cease and desist notice. “Neither Defendant King’s College nor Defendant Jeffery Knarr contacted Dr. Bell to request permission to use Dr. Bell’s copyrighted work. As of November 14, 2015, the post had received 206 ‘Retweets’ and 189 ‘Likes.’ Due to the globally accessible nature of Twitter, the post was accessible by Internet users across the world. As a direct and proximate result of the said infringement by Defendants, Plaintiff is entitled to damages in an amount to be proven at trial.” said Dr. Bell’s lawyers in their statements.
LICENSING AND MERCHANDISING UPDATES
Launch of ‘Golden Karavan’, an India-focused OTT production company
Recently the launch of Golden Karavan, a one of its kind India-focused OTT television production company was announced. The company brings together seasoned entertainment executives from both India and the US. The Mumbai-based company intends to produce good-quality original content from the region and is targeting digital platforms such as Amazon Prime and Netflix.
Comic Con India and Archie Comic licensing deal
Comic Con India, the Indian chapter of the comic-based convention held in various countries around the world recently announced a licensing deal with Archie Publications. The deal will include the commissioning of editions of Archie Comics with India-exclusive covers.
Swastik Production signs deal with SET
Swastik Productions, known for producing mythological mega-productions such as ‘Mahabharat’, ‘Karmphal Data Shani’, and ‘Suryaputra Karna’ is to bring a 260-episode television series ‘Porus’. The production house has entered into a licensing deal with Sony Entertainment Television for the upcoming show, where the producer retains the IP and the channel is licensed the show for three years. Further, the production house also retains the digital rights and can sublicense the same to any platform where the episode will be available three hours after it has been aired on Sony. As per certain sources this the most expensive television production in India till date.
BIP TIP OF THE WEEK
Expressing the same idea
The same idea, fact or historical event if expressed in different ways, it will not amount to copying and/or copyright infringement. An entertainment company may create content based on a pre-existing idea without fear of copyright liability, provided apprporate steps are taken to differentiate the expression.
Author: BIP’s Copyright and Entertainment Law Attorneys
Senior Partner, the entertainment law attorneys at BIP are among the well-known lawyers in the field. They work with clients such as Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions, Ananda Audio, Anushka Sharma, Sushant Singh, and Arka Media (Producer of Bahu Bali). BIP’s entertainment law team helps clients protect, manage and effectively license and merchandize their creative works such as films, music, brands and other content, to maximize financial returns.
The weekly copyright and entertainment law news initiative is a part of their pro bono work, and is aimed at spreading entertainment law awareness. You are free to share the news with appropriate attribution and backlink to the source.
If you have any questions, you may write to BIP’s Copyright and Entertainment Law Attorneys – [email protected].
