Indian Copyright Statistics, Shahid Kapoor’s starrer “Batti Gul meter Chalu” encounters copyright infringement charges by Rustom movie Writer, People Tree obtains Favorable Settlement in Copyright Infringement Suit against Christian Dior, Draft of Copyright Directive in Digital Single Market (DSM) released, Walt Disney’s and Disney’s ABC network in troubled waters, Sony Music faces charges for Copyright Infringement by the hall of fame Singer Joel Bosch a.k.a Taino, Green Gold Animation releases an online gaming application based on its upcoming Hanuman Starrer, In a bid to expand its businessScoopWhoop comes up with women’s wear merchandise collection and more, 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
“Ideas are expensive to produce but cheap to copy.” – Andrew Gowers
INDIAN COPYRIGHT STATISTICS
There was an increase of 12.03% in the total number of copyright filings compared to the previous week. A total of 391 applications were filed for copyright registration during the last week. While most of the applications were filed for literary works, only two applications were filed for registering cinematographic films. In addition to this, there was an exceptional increase of 2000% in application filed for sound recording.
| S.no | Types of Work | Number of Applications in the previous week (14 – 20 may) | Number of Applications in the Recent week (21 – 27 may) | Percentage Change |
| 1. |
Literary work |
178 | 175 | 1.68% |
| 2. | Musical work | 6 | 0 | – |
| 3. | Artistic work | 116 | 84 | 27.58% |
| 4. | Cinematograph film | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 5. | Sound recording | 5 | 105 | 2000% |
| 6. | Software | 36 | 25 | 30.55% |
| Total | 349 | 391 | 12.03% |
INDIAN COPYRIGHT NEWS
Shahid Kapoor’s starrer “Batti Gul meter Chalu” encounters copyright infringement charges by Rustom movie Writer
Batti Gul Meter Chalu, directed by Shree Narayan Singh is facing copyright infringement charges by Vipul Rawal, the writer of the movie Rustom. Vipul Rawal has filed a complaint before the Film Writers Association (FWA) alleging that the director and writer of the aforementioned movie are liable for copyright infringement and unethical behavior. In the complaint filed by Vipul Rawal, he contends that he got the story of this movie registered in 2009 by the title “Roshini” and the final draft of the same was registered in the year 2016. The actors Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor agreed to do the movie however Shree Narayan Singh demanded some changes to be made in the screenplay and that too by his own team. The quandary for this movie seems to be unending since the work with respect to this movie had been put on hold earlier this year as well on account of some delay in non-payment of dues.
People Tree obtains favorable Settlement in Copyright Infringement Suit against Christian Dior
Highly accredited European fashion brand “Christian Dior” was accused of plagiarism by Indian collective store “People Tree”. The allegation raised by the Indian store was that the defendant’s collections contained a dress that was the exact replica of a design being sold by the plaintiff. The work of the plaintiff fell under the ambit of “artistic work” and the defendant had prima facie copied the substantial part of the plaintiff’s design. The designer from the People Trees, Orijit Sen had accused the defendant of plagiarizing the design of the dress worn by Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor on the cover of Elle India’s January edition. After a legal battle of almost 4 months both the organizations have decided to end this wrangle with an amicable settlement. As part of the settlement, People Tree has signed a non-disclosure agreement, limiting what they can reveal about the nature and amount of the settlement. However, this is seen as a major victory for independent designers and cultural fashion, and is likely to lead to proper attribution in the future.
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT NEWS UPDATE
Draft of Copyright Directive in Digital Single Market (DSM) released
The Council’s permanent representative committee has prepared a draft on the Copyright in Digital Single Market which would be placed before the European Parliament.The Council and the European Parliament have framed the aforementioned directives in accordance with the proposal given by European Union Commission. Some of the noteworthy elements of the Directives include Article 3 which states that the major beneficiary of this Directive will be scientific research organizations and institutions that provide educational services. The rights embedded in this Directive will be conferred on publishers established for a period of one year from the date of publication under Article 11 in European Union. The directive tends to clear the position on sharing of the online copyrighted content along with rights and liabilities of such service providers under Article 2(5). Most importantly, it is essential to interpret the directive in accordance with the rights and principles found in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Ergo, it would be interesting to see the deliberation that takes place once the directive is placed before the European Parliament for the purpose of enacting and adopting it as a legal fiat.
Walt Disney’s and Disney’s ABC network in troubled waters
Walt Disney and Disney’s ABC network have been named as defendants in a copyright infringement suit by the estate of Michael Jackson for using his song clips with a mala fide intention in the ABC show titled “The Last Days of Michael Jackson”. This act of Disney is contrary to law since they had not taken prior permission of the Michael Jackson estate before broadcasting his work. It is informed that the estate had communicated beforehand through notices and discouraged use of Michael Jackson’s work in any form.The news comes as a surprise for the readers considering the gravity of offence and involvement of Disney, which in itself is very particular about any sort of infringement on its own characters. Some of the copyrighted works that have been alleged to be infringed by Disney are among Michael Jackson’s most famous songs like “Beat It”, “Billie Jean”, “Bad”, “Leave me Alone”, and “Thriller”.
Sony Music faces charges for Copyright Infringement by the hall of fame Singer Joel Bosch a.k.a Taino
Joel Bosch has filed a copyright infringement suit against the American record label Sony music for making a compilation using the title “Yo Soy Boricua Pa’ Que Tú Lo Sepas which was one of the groundbreaking songs written in mid 1990’s. The plaintiff alleges that the title used is one of the substantial lyrics that has been used in the song and hence it leads to copyright infringement. The alleged infringing work is the collection of several tracks by Puerto Rican artists, the aforementioned title of which is the subject matter of dispute. In the present case the infringement seems to be outright and prima facie, however the suit would open more areas to be explored to settle the debate.
Green Gold Animation releases an online gaming application based on its upcoming Hanuman Starrer
Green Gold Animation has come upwith an online game before the release of the upcoming movie titled “Hanuman v Mahiravana – An Untold Story from Ramayana”. This is an innovative marketing technique which has gained prominence in the recent times in the tech world. The idea of the game is that the user would be displayed as mighty Hanuman who would be tasked to save Ram and Lakshmana from the furious Mahiravana. The film is being created by Gamaya Incorporation and produced by Green Gold Animation’s Samir Jain, Rajiv Chilaka and Srinivas Chilkalpudi.Ezhil Vendan is the director of the film whereas the film has been written by Narayanan Vaidyanathan. Yash Raj Films (YRF) has obtained the distribution rights of the film to be released on June 22.
MERCHANDISING AND LICENSING NEWS
In a bid to expand its business ScoopWhoop comes up with women’s wear merchandise collection
Internet media company ScoopWhoop has unveiled its women’s wear collection. Merchandise is becoming the new method of minting money apart from the daily business by these companies. The merchandise sends a very strong message of the invincible spirit of women and portrays staunch feminists like Frida Kahlo and Kaali on the collection. The idea is to support and back women who have stood against all the wrongs and have raised their voicesfor right reasons. The collection is for bold and highly spirited women who have the potential of fighting against all odd and stand firmly.
COPYRIGHT TIP
The copyright of authors of literary, musical and dramatic works includes the exclusive right of embodiment in a cinematograph film whereas the exclusive rights of authors of sound recordings do not include the same. In simple words we can say that under section 14(a) (iv) of the Copyright Act, the author has the exclusive right to make any cinematograph film or sound recording with respect to any literary, dramatic or musical work whereas under section 14(e) of the act the author of any sound recording is not conferred with the exclusive right of using the sound recording in any cinematographic film.
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].
