T-Series Appoints PPL to Manage its Public Performance License in India, Sony LIV and Legrand Innovate to Entertain with ‘The Good Vibes”, Consent of the Original Owner of the Content is Required, even if the Content is Freely Available, BBC to Take Assistance of Microsoft to Expose ‘Doctor Who’ Leaker, Spotify to be the Default Music App on All Future Samsung Devices, Masaba Gupta Gets Game of Thrones Merchandise Deal, Crowd-funded Studio Wishberry Films Raises $1.4 million in Series A Funding.
COPYRIGHT QUOTE OF THE WEEK
The copyright bargain; a balance between protection for the artist and rights for the consumer. -Robin Gross
INDIAN COPYRIGHT STATISTICS
There is a decrease of 38.7% in the total number of copyright applications filed this week as compared to the applications filed last week. A total of 237 applications were filed for copyright registration during the last week. Most of the applications were filed for literary and artistic works. While the number of applications for literary and musical works, cinematograph film, software and sound recordings decreased substantially, number of applications filed for Artistic works increased from 72 to 90.
| S. No. | Type of Work | No. of Applications in the Previous Week (23rd July to 31st July, 2018) |
No. Of applications in the Recent Week (1st August to 5th August, 2018) |
Change | Percentage Change |
| 1. | Literary Work | 221 | 126 | 95 | 43% decrease |
| 2. | Musical Work | 15 | 6 | 9 | 60% decrease |
| 3. | Artistic Work | 72 | 90 | 18 | 25% increase |
| 4. | Cinematograph Film | 15 | 4 | 11 | 73% decrease |
| 5. | Sound Recording | 33 | 7 | 26 | 79% decrease |
| 6. | Software | 44 | 27 | 17 | 39% decrease |
| Total | 387 | 237 | 150 | 39% decrease |
INDIAN COPYRIGHT NEWS
T-Series Appoints PPL to Manage its Public Performance License in India
Record label Super Cassettes Industries India (T-Series) has appointed Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) to manage its public performance license in India. This is an exclusive arrangement with PPL. All Bollywood party anthems such as “BomDiggy” or “Abhi toh party shuru hui hai” will now be part of the PPL licensing bouquet. Payment for usage of these songs require license from PPL as enshrined in the Copyright law. The tariffs for various usages are published on their site.
T-Series on board, controls the major share of the Indian music market, as they already have major Indian players like Saregama, Sony Music, Universal Music, Venus, Aditya, Lahari Music etc. PPL exclusively represent all international majors in the country thereby offering a complete bouquet of international, new hindi film, old hindi classics and regional hits to its license holders.
Sony LIV and Legrand Innovate to entertain with ‘The Good Vibes”
“The Good Vibes”, a new web-series, an endearing story of a couple is one of a kind creative collaboration between Legrand, the innovative electrical brand and SonyLIV, India’s premium and most valued platform. The web series is produced by LIQVD ASIA and Bohemian Films. The web-series brings together two brands that command a strong consumer connect with their respective offerings.
‘The Good Vibes’, series is regarding the belief of un-interrupted living not limited to a market or a product, but also with daily lives of its consumers.
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT NEWS UPDATE
Consent of the Original Owner of the Content is Required, even if the Content is Freely Available
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) delivered a landmark copyright ruling in the case wherein a high school student in Germany had downloaded a photograph of Cordoba from a travel website to illustrate a presentation, which was subsequently published on the school website. Photographer Dirk Renckhoff, the owner of the photograph, sued for copyright infringement and 400 Euros.
The ECJ ruled that any use of a work by a third party without such prior consent must be regarded as infringing the copyright of that work. Although content is freely available on the internet, users should still get consent from the person originally putting the content online.
BBC to Take Assistance of Microsoft to Expose ‘Doctor Who’ Leaker
BBC is the exclusive licensee of the “Doctor Who” series. “Doctor Who” fans all around the world are looking forward to the upcoming season 11, which will be the first to have a female lead. While the debut is still a few months away, leaked footage of the first episode started to appear on online platforms.
In an effort to track down the source of the leak the BBC has taken the matter to the US courts. Last month it obtained a subpoena from a California federal court, ordering the forum tool Tapa identify the source of an infringing post. Further, BBC found that a user of Microsoft’s One Drive stored and shared a copy of the leaked file. Therefore, further obtaining subpoena from a Washington court, BBC has taken assistance of Microsoft to find information regarding the infringer.
MERCHANDISING AND LICENSING NEWS
Spotify to be the Default Music App on All Future Samsung Devices
Samsung and Spotify have announced that they have signed a deal under which Spotify will be the default music application/service on all devices Samsung launches in the future. The Spotify app will be pre-installed, and available to buyers of Samsung mobile phones, including the Galaxy S9 smartphones. The app will also be integrated into smart TVs and speakers, like the Samsung Galaxy Home. Users are expected to benefit from the seamless integration between various Samsung devices and the Samsung voice service. The announcement led to an increase of 5.2% in Spotify’s share price on Thursday.
Masaba Gupta Gets Game of Thrones Merchandise Deal
Designer Masaba Gupta has acquired the official license from HBO to create apparel, home products, and jewelry inspired by its flagship show Game of Thrones. This deal extends to India, the UK, and Indonesia, and the merchandise collection is expected to launch around the first half of 2019. Due to an embargo on revealing further details, the terms of the deal, the types of merchandise and the exact launch date are still under wraps.
Crowd-funded Studio Wishberry Films Raises $1.4 million in Series A Funding
The early investors in the crowd funded platform Wishberry Films include Reliance Entertainment and investment firm 3one4 Capital. The platform intends to help high net-worth individuals (HNIs) discover and invest in low budget regional and content-driven cinema in exchange for a share of the film’s profits. The films will be produced, marketed and distributed by Wishberry Films.
The platform has raised Rs. 5 crores for four feature films, and plans to initiate production of 10 crowdfunded films this year. With the increasing public interest in creative lower-budget media, the platform is also looking to reward fan funding with non-monetary returns such as invitations to film premieres, dinner with cast/crew, and exclusive first- access to the projects.
COPYRIGHT TIP
Copyright infringement subsists with or without any monetary gain earned by the infringer. If the infringer commits any act which is the exclusive right of the copyright owner, it amounts to copyright infringement, unless specifically excluded as fair use/ fair dealing.
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]
