Indian Copyright Statistics, The saga of Subramania Bharati’s literary work, Balaji Telefilms retains the intellectual property rights of its new show titled “Dil Hi To Hai” to telecast online on ALT Balaji after being aired on Sony TV, Embedded tweets encounter a legal twist, James Arthur faces legal turmoil over Copyright Infringement of an Irish Band Song, Cross River State Government penalized for Copyright Infringement, Vincy Connect Channel gets pulled down by YouTube owing to Reports of Relentless Infringement, Nelvana Enterprises signs New Partners and grows Soft’N Slo Squishies Licensing Program, BioWorld enters into a deal with Atlantyca Entertainment to intrigue childrens with their apparels 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
“Rigid application of Copyright Act may stifle the creativity which that law has been designed to foster”.
– Irving R.Kaufman
INDIAN COPYRIGHT STATISTICS
There was an increase of 7.71% in the total number of copyright filings compared to the last week. A total of 349 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.
| S.no | Types of Work | Number of Application (7 – 13 may) | Number of Application (14 – 20 may) | Percentage Change |
| 1. |
Literary work |
187 | 178 | 4.81% |
| 2. | Musical work | 4 | 6 | 50% |
| 3. | Artistic work | 65 | 116 | 78.46% |
| 4. | Cinematographic film | 16 | 2 | 87.5% |
| 5. | Sound recording | 13 | 5 | 61.53% |
| 6. | Software | 40 | 36 | 10% |
| Total | 324 | 349 | 7.71% |
INDIAN COPYRIGHT NEWS
The saga of Subramania Bharati’s literary work
The posthumous Tamil writer Subramania Bharti is one of those author’s whose work came into light after his death in 1921. Subsequent to his work being sold by his wife to her half-brother and when the same was bought by AVM studios in September 1946, the author’s work got recognition for the first time through Nam Iruvar in 1947. Now historian AR Venkatachalapthy rejuvenates the debate pertaining to the entitlement of his work through a book titled “Who owns that song?” The book embarks upon the fate of the writer and journey of his work, the fruits of which were reaped only by those to whom the work never originally belonged. The book brings into light the journey of work created by Subramania Bharti when he was alive and the destiny of the work created once it encountered with various production houses.
Balaji Telefilms retains the intellectual property rights of its new show titled “Dil Hi To Hai” to telecast online on ALT Balaji after being aired on Sony TV
Television baron Balaji Telefilms has licensed rights to Sony TV to telecast the daily soap titled “Dil Hi To Hai”, however the former has retained the intellectual property rights to telecast the episodes on its mobile application ALT Balaji. It is the first time that Balaji Telefilms has ventured into the business of retaining the intellectual property rights of any show produced by them. According to sources, this step is being taken by Balaji Telefilms in furtherance of building a robust regime in B2B and B2C segment.
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT NEWS UPDATE
Embedded tweets encounter a legal twist
The New York court in the case of Justin Goldman v Breitbart News Network opined that embedded tweets amount to copyright infringement. In the present case the plaintiff uploaded a photo of well-known sports figure Tom Brady on his Snapchat story which went viral on several other platforms including Twitter. Thereon, the photo was embedded by various media houses in their articles and disseminated on a large scale. The plaintiff then filed a suit alleging the defendants’ liability for copyright infringement. However, the defendant rebutted the claims of the plaintiff based on the terms of service of Twitter, which explicitly state that the content posted on Twitter may be made “available to other companies, organizations or individuals for the syndication, broadcast, distribution, promotion or publication of such Content on other media and services”. The defendant relied on the case of Perfect10 v Amazon.com wherein the court introduced the “server test” which exonerated linkers from liability for copyright infringement. The test inter alia laid down the principle that in-line linking does not amount to “displaying” the content on the accused server which is an sin qua non for establishing infringement. However, the court in the present case, ignoring the terms of service and the established server test gave the decision in favour of the plaintiff; opening a Pandora’s box for determining the extent of linker’s liability.
James Arthur faces legal turmoil over Copyright Infringement of an Irish Band Song
The Script, an Irish band which came into existence in 2007 has sued singer James Arthur alleging copyright infringement by the song “Say You Won’t Let Go” which the latter released in the year 2016. The band contends that the disputed song is similar to the song “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved” which was launched by them in the year 2008. After a strict scrutiny by a musicologist it was inferred that the two songs were similar on the four parameters which were tempo, four bar guitar introduction, vocal melodies and harmonic structures. Before the court, the band has prayed for publication of accounts, distribution and the turnover which James Arthur has managed to accumulate through touring. Albeit, James Arthur has denied all claims as a settled practice by any other defendant; however, it would be interesting to observe the developments which this case adds to the IP regime.
Cross River State Government penalized for Copyright Infringement
The Cross River state government has been directed to pay a hefty amount of N500 to Copyright Society of Nigeria for allegedly infringing copyright of musical works in the Carnival Festival. The Carnival Festival is Africa’s biggest street party, the primary purpose of which was the creation of Cross River state. In order to put an end to any kind of further infringement, the Federal High Court of Calabar has passed an order of injunction against the organizers of the Carnival festival for employing any kind of musical work without the permission of authorized user.
Vincy Connect Channel gets pulled down by YouTube owing to Reports of Relentless Infringement
The Vincy Connect channel recently got pulled down by YouTube on reports of copyright infringement for the 3rd time in a row. The complaint was filed by Grabba Finesse, a Vincentian soca artist, against the channel for commercializing his song “Peaches Mother” without any authorization by the artist and earning undue profits. The artist stated that the channel operators did not pay heed to his repeated requests made in furtherance of taking down the song. Hence the only resort left was to file a complaint, and as per YouTube policy if a complaint against any channel is reported three times in a row the same is subject to get struck down by YouTube authorities after due scrutiny. The channel operators on the other hand deny all the allegations made and contend that monetization of the song is automatic once the channel crosses the mark of 1000 subscribers.
MERCHANDISING AND LICENSING NEWS
Nelvana Enterprises signs New Partners and grows Soft’N Slo Squishies Licensing Program
The Nelvana Enterprise which is responsible for the licensing and merchandising of the Corus Entertainment Nelvana inked a deal for initiating its licensing program with Soft’n Slo Squishies. The licensee is keen to observe what Soft’n Slo Squishies has in store for them to expand their horizons through selling unique and breakthrough hybrid apparel. The goodwill and reputation of Soft’n Slo Squishies amongst children is beyond statement and this deal is an attempt by the Nelvana Enterprise to transcend beyond toys and create an impact through other products as well. The uniqueness and customer base of Soft’n Slo Squishies provides immense opportunity for the Nelvana Enterprise to venture into uncharted areas.
BioWorld enters into a deal with Atlantyca Entertainment to intrigue childrens with their apparels
Atlantyca Entertainment, the creator and producer of Geronimo Stilton has penned down a deal with BioWorld merchandiser, one of the world’s largest licensed brands for apparel collections in India. BioWorld will be working on apparel for boys and girls ranging between 4 to 12 years of age. The apparel includes jackets, toys, t-shirts, pajamas, dresses, skirts and pants. The innovative methods employed by Bio World in creating fascinating apparel is no res integra and it would be adopting the same techniques to produce some fascinating and eye-catching products for Atlantyca.
COPYRIGHT TIP
The online service providers (intermediaries) are required to remove the content present on their website if they are notified by the copyright owner that the content being displayed infringes his IP rights. As per Rule 75 of the Copyright Rules 2013, on receipt of the complaint the service provider is required to remove the content within thirty-six hours for a period of 21 days from the receipt of the complaint. Within these 21 days the copyright owner has to furnish a copy of the court order requiring the removal of the content for further period. If the copyright owner fails to provide the court order within given time then the service provider may reinstate the content at its discretion.
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].
