The bill amending the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957, pending
in the Parliament since 2010, has finally been passed. While this bill
continues to have several detractors, it was passed unanimously by the
Parliament. The President of India has given assent to the bill.
In a move that had extremely controversial origins, the bill amends
Sections 18 and 19 of the existing Act, whereby authors of literary and
musical works included in cinematograph films are prohibited from
assigning (or waiving) their right to receive royalties for any form of
utilisation of the works, except the performance or exhibition of the
works as part of the cinematograph film in a cinema hall. In the context
of sound recordings, this prohibition applies to any and all forms of
exploitation of the works.
In an effort to keep up with the current trends, the bill introduces
Section 65A, making it a criminal offence to circumvent an effective
"technological measure" with the intent of infringing the rights
protected by the Act. The bill also introduces Section 65B that
criminalises tampering with rights management information (RMI) and
distributing such tampered products.
While "technological measure" is undefined, RMI has been defined to
refer to details and information intended to identify author, source,
terms of licence etc associated with the work. The bill also provides
some degree of safe harbour to digital intermediaries – transient or
incidental storage of a work or performance purely in the technical
process of electronic transmission or communication to the public is not
an infringement anymore.
Similarly, there also appears to be some degree of protection for
search engines: transient or incidental storage of a work or performance
for the purpose of providing electronic links, access or integration,
where such links, access or integration have not been expressly
prohibited by the right holder, is not considered as an act of
infringement. This exception is subject to a take-down procedure that is
intended to provide instant relief to rights holders for a period of 21
days.
The bill brings about many other substantive changes to the Act,
including expanding the scope of the exceptions to copyright
infringement, specifying the need for a court order to continue
detention of imported goods by the Customs authority beyond 14 days and
extending the term of protection for photographs.
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| V Lakshmikumaran |
Lakshmi Kumaran & Sridharan
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Tel: +91 11 41299800
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vlakshmi@lakshmisri.com
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