‘Keh Doon Tumhe’ cannot be part of Baadshao, Fight of the Century pirated over 2.9 million times, Viacom and CIPAM join hands to create awareness against piracy, Amazon Prime to now offer original reality shows, 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
“Privacy as a fundamental right allows a person to prohibit, regulate, and take other actions against any actual and/or foreseeable intrusions into his privacy, and this fundamental, constitutional right will trump any statutory right or limitation unless he high standards for making exceptions are met.”- Kalyan
INDIAN COPYRIGHTS AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW UPDATES
‘Keh Doon Tumhe’ cannot be part of Baadshao- Movie cannot be released without Dewar song
The Bombay High Court on 22nd August restrained the makers of the Ajay Devagon starrer Baadshaho from releasing the film along with the remix of the popular song ‘Keh Doon Tumhe’ from the 1973 blockbuster film Dewar. Trimurti Films, the copyright owner of the lyrics and musical composition in the song ‘Keh Doon Tumhe’, filed the suit before Bombay High Court against the use of the said Song in the Film.
Interestingly, Super Cassettes, the producers of the Film Baadshao, argued that they acquired a license to remix and use the song in the Film from Universal Music. Thereafter, Court examined the agreement between Trirmurti Films and Universal Music (executed in 1974) and found that Universal music had only acquired mechanical reproduction rights in the Song from Trimurti Films for the limited purpose of making and selling gramophone records.
“The rights sold to Universal music could at the most be termed as sound recording rights, which are distinct from literary or musical rights. This by no stretch of imagination would permit Universal Music to allow Super Cassettes to use the lyrics or music of the song in Baadshaho”, ordered the Court. The Court, however, permitted Super cassettes to release the film after removing the Song from the Film.
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW NEWS
Fight of the Century pirated over 2.9 million times
According to content security vendor Irdeto, Floyd Maywhether Jr’s fight against Conor McGregor was watched by approximately 2.9 million viewers on pirated live streaming platforms. Further, Irdeto estimated that approximately 445,000 internet users illegally downloaded the copy of the fight using torrent platforms. Piracy numbers seem to have become a test of popularity these days.
MPAA wins copyright infringement case against Chinese video streaming platform
The Motion Pictures Association of America has successfully sued the video streaming platform Xunlei for illegally streaming over two dozen US movies. The Shenzhen court on Monday found that Xunlei did not have the authorization to make the movies available to public vide its websites f.xunlei.com and kuai.xuneli.com. The court also awarded damages of RMB 1.4 million (approximately USD 210,000).
LICENSING AND MERCHANDISING UPDATES
Viacom and CIPAM join hands to create awareness against piracy
The media and entertainment company Viacom 18 and Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM), a professional body which has been formed under the aegis of the Department of Industrial Policy Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry have come together to create social awareness amongst kids regarding piracy. As a part of the association, Viacom has created awareness videos with popular characters to make children understand and aware how piracy is a crime equivalent to stealing.
Amazon Prime to now offer original reality shows
After the sports drama Inside Edge, Amazon Prime Video’s first original Indian series, the company is now looking to include reality shows as well. They recently announced three unscripted original shows- a six-episode traveling comedy show with stand-up comedian Vir Das called Jestination Unknown, a 10-episode nationwide hunt to find India’s next big comic sensation called Comic Kaun and a 10-episode music competition show named The Remix. All three shows are expected to be available on the platform within first three months of next year.
BIP TIP OF THE WEEK
IP awareness and Piracy
Organizing awareness programmes to respect intellectual property and IP creators can go a long way in controlling large scale piracy and infringement. Companies, production houses, record labels and other content creators must consider organizing awareness programmes about acquiring content from legal sources in order to reduce piracy numbers.
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].
