Scriptwriter Aneesh Lee Ashok Accuses the Director of Ithiasa 2 for copyright infringement, Supreme Court issues notice to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in Copyright Infringement Suit, European Parliament puts an end to online Memes -Approved by Legal Affairs committee, Copyright Bank officially launched, First Indian cartoon character to sell merchandise worth Rs 200 crore, Two more Chinese brands on sponsors list for FIFA World Cup 2018.
COPYRIGHT QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Traditional copyright has been that you can’t make a full copy of somebody’s work without their permission. -Patricia Schroeder
INDIAN COPYRIGHT STATISTICS
There is a significant decrease of 37.35% in the number of copyright applications filed this week as compare to the applications filed last week. A total of 265 applications were filed for copyright registration during the last week. Most of the applications were filed for literary and artistic works. Applications for cinematograph film also decreased substantially from 10 to 5.
| S. No. | Type of Works | No. of Applications in the previous week (June 4-8) | No. Of Applications last week (June 11-15) | Change | Percentage change |
| 1. | Literary Work | 171 | 144 | 27 | 15.78% |
| 2. | Musical Work | 13 | 3 | 10 | 69.23% |
| 3. | Artistic Work | 138 | 62 | 66 | 54.67% |
| 4. | Cinematograph Film | 10 | 5 | 5 | 50% |
| 5. | Sound Recording | 13 | 5 | 8 | 61.53% |
| 6. | Software | 78 | 45 | 33 | 42.30% |
| Total | 423 | 265 | 158 | 37.35% |
INDIAN COPYRIGHT NEWS
Scriptwriter Aneesh Lee Ashok Accuses the Director of Ithiasa 2 for copyright infringement
The Malayalam films Scriptwriter Aneesh Lee Ashok put an allegation of copyright infringement on the director of Ithiasa, Binu S for his movie Ithiasa, which showed what happens when a man’s soul is transfers to a female body and vice versa. Now the Binu S. prepares for a sequel to the movie. Aneesh lee Ashok, stated that the director and crew members are working on the sequel of his movie without his permission and knowledge. Aneesh accuses the maker of Ithiasa 2 on social media platform Facebook by posting that “one should grow with one’s own talent, rather than destroying someone for one’s growth”. He also stated that he won’t give the copyright of story line and screenplay to anyone. The writer also stated that he is ready to approach the court if it’s required.
Supreme Court issues notice to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in Copyright Infringement Suit
On June 18, the Apex Court issued a notice to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to explain why he should not remain a party to the copyright violation suit filed by Atul Kumar Singh. The bench, headed by Justice Rohinton F Nariman also stayed an interim order by the Delhi High Court, which had allowed Kumar to reopen his case for deletion of his name as a party. Atul Kumar Singh, a former senior Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) scholar-turned-politician, alleged that the Bihar CM “endorsed” a book published by a book published by Patna-based Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI). He alleged that the book plagiarised his research project, ‘Role of State in Economic Transformation: A case Study of Contemporary Bihar’ of 2006. The matter has been posted for next hearing to July 6.
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT NEWS UPDATE
European Parliament puts an end to online Memes -Approved by Legal Affairs committee
On Wednesday June 20, 2018, the Committee of Members European Parliament approved the controversial changes to European copyright law i.e., Article 13 (which will put an end to memes, remixes and other user generated Material over the internet) and Article 11 (which requires to pay publishers a fee if they link to their news content on the internet). These Articles were opposed by many tech influential Leaders including World Wide Web founder and inventor Tim Berners-Lee and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, who said it would turn the internet into “a tool for the automated surveillance and control of its users.” The Legal Affairs committee of European Parliament voted by 15 votes to 10 to adopt Article 13 and by 13 votes to 12 to adopt Article 11. It will now go to the wider European Parliament to vote on in July. If these Articles are passed by the wider European Parliament.
Copyright Bank officially launched
Copyright Bank officially became a reality on June 20th 2018 with collaboration of NEM(XEM) and Cre8tor.app. NEM Community is a Melbourne-based start-up which innovates consensus system for cheaper, efficient and transparent transactions. The Cre8tor.app was formerly known as RecordGram. This Bank is based on turning copyright work into Blockchain-powered dynamic smart assets. The currently launched platform enables owners of digital works to digitally-fingerprint and timestamp their work on the NEM blockchain. This will serve as a form of copyright protection for their works, according to Jason Lee, NEM.io Foundation’s Director for Australia and New Zealand.
“We are proud to have an innovation that can serve the global population through cross-border strategic partnerships as part of the easy-to-use NEM blockchain technology and international network.”
MERCHANDISING AND LICENSING NEWS
First Indian cartoon character to sell merchandise worth Rs 200 crore
Chota Bheem has become the first Indian cartoon character to sell merchandise worth Rs 200 Crore. Chota Bheem, the cartoon series is created by Rajiv Chilaka, has been aired on Pogo TV for the last 10 Years. The proprietor of Chota Bheem, Green Gold, has been licensing the Intellectual Property to different manufacturers and retailers since 2010, including Godrej, Unilever, Cello and Toyzone. Merchandise has been available for sale through small retail stores, e-commerce platforms like Flipkart, Amazon and Myntra, and also organized retail chains like Big Bazaar and Shoppers Stop. Green Gold has also recently tied up with Toonz Retail, which plans to use the IP for its apparel, toys and office stationery product lines.
Chota Bheem is among the rare cartoon characters which have been able to sell their Merchandise on national as well as international platforms. Although international cartoon character like Tom and Jerry have been selling merchandise worth millions of dollars, Chota Bheem is unique in creating demand across different tiers of cities and towns.
Two more Chinese brands on sponsors list for FIFA World Cup 2018
Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) has announced two more Chinese brands as Asian Supporters for the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia. FIFA has signed Diking, a popular Chinese men’s business attire brand, which enjoy privileges including brand association rights in whole Asian Region, LED board exposure during the FIFA world cup events and access to tickets and LUCI China-based technology and entertainment experience company, as the Asian regional supporters of FIFA World Cup 2018.
Currently, FIFA’s roster of Chinese sponsorship deals also includes smartphone brand Vivo (FIFA World Cup Sponsors), electric bike and scooter brand Yadea (National Supporter), Dalian Wanda (FIFA Partner), consumer electronics brand Hisense, and dairy and ice cream brand Mengniu. But now there are 7 Chinese brands on sponsors and supporters for the FIFA-2018.
COPYRIGHT TIP
Copyrights and brochures
Corporate brochures which are important business tools of companies can be protected as copyrights. Companies must not only register their brochures but must also ensure that agreements with brochure designers transfer copyright ownership to them. Also, care must be taken to avoid using third party copyrighted works in brochures without permission.
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 merchandise 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].
