Indian Copyright Statistics, UNESCO Celebrates World Copyright Day, IPRS Distributes Thirteen Crore Rupees in Royalty, Appeal Court Rejects Peta’s Claims in Monkey Selfie Case, Amazon, Netflix and Other Studios Sue Set TV Streaming Service, Netfilx and Tata Sky Signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement and more are 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
“Piracy is robbery with violence, often segueing into murder, rape and kidnapping. It is one of the most frightening crimes in the world. Using the same term to describe a twelve year old swapping music with friends, even thousands of songs, is evidence of a loss of perspective so astounding that it invites and deserves the derision it receives.”- Nick Harkaway.
INDIAN COPYRIGHT STATISTICS
There was a decrease of 4.74% in the total number of copyright filings compared to the last week. A total of 199 applications were filed for copyright registration during the last week. While most of the applications were filed for literary works and only one application was filed for registering Sound Recordings.
| Sr. No | Types of work | Number of Applications previous week | Number of Applications this week | Percentage change |
| 1 | Literary Works | 112 | 145 | 75% |
| 2 | Musical works | 22 | 14 | 36% |
| 3 | Artistic works | 32 | 27 | 56% |
| 4 | Cinematograph Films | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | Sound Recordings | 0 | 1 | |
| 6 | Software | 22 | 13 | 40% |
| Total | 190 | 199 | 4. 74% |
INDIAN COPYRIGHTS AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW UPDATES
UNESCO Celebrates World Copyright Day
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) celebrated the World Book and Copyright Day on 23rd April with the objective of creating awareness among the public about reading, publishing and copyrights. Each year UNESCO select the World Book Capital on the World Copyright Day for one year period. The city Athens was chosen this year for the quality of its activities supported by its book industry.
IPRS distributes Thirteen Crore Rupees in Royalty
Javed Akthar, the chairman of IPRS, claimed that IPRS has distributed a total of Thirteen Crores to its members as royalty given by music companies. “The Music Companies have given a collective sum of Rupees 13 crores for the last six years. Members who have less than 10 songs will be given Rs 10,00 while those with more than 10 songs will be paid Rs 50,000”, stated the statement issued by Javed Akhtar.
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW UPDATES
Appeal Court Rejects Peta’s Claims in Monkey Selfie Case
The Federal Appellate Court on Monday rejected the claims made by People for Ethical Treatment of Animals in the Monkey Selfie Case. The animal rights organization sued a wildlife photographer in 2015, claiming he has no copyrights over the series of selfies snapped by an Indonesian monkey Naruto. “Animals have no legal ability to hold copyrights claims and PETA seems to employ Naruto as an unwitting Pawn in its ideological goals” held the Court of Appeals.
Amazon, Netflix and Other Studios Sue Set TV Streaming Service
Amazon and Netflix along with other major Hollywood studios have filed a copyright infringement suit against Set Broadcast. Set Broadcast offers the Set TV Service, an internet TV service that provide access to over 500 TV channels and on-demand shows. The studios alleges that Set TV provide access to pirated works. The lawsuit is seeking $150,000 per infringed work and an injunction against the operation of Set TV.
LICENSING AND MERCHANDISING UPDATES
Netfilx and Tata Sky Signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement
The video streaming giant Netfilix has executed a strategic partnership deal with the DTH provider Tata Sky which will enable subscribers of both services to access Netflix catalogue through future Tata Sky Platforms. Last March, Netflix also announced a similar partnership with Airtel and Videocon D2H to integrate Neflix App with set-up boxes of both companies.
COPYRIGHT TIP OF THE WEEK
Every online business and e-commerce portal must have a well-defined set of terms and conditions and a privacy policy to protect and safeguard its interests. The e-commerce portals must also ensure that third-party copyrights are not infringed by providing appropriate take-down policies.
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].
