I am pleased to announce that my book, “In Defence of Copyright”, published by Cormorant Books in Toronto, is now available to pre-order through local bookstores, Indigo (stores and online) in Canada, and online through Amazon, and will be in stores as of August 19.
On the 23rd of May, Justice C. Hari Shankar of the Delhi High Court while dealing with the matter of RDB and Co. v. Harper Collins India Pvt. Ltd. regarding the ownership of copyrights to the screenplay of 1996 film ‘Nayak’ held that the first owner of the copyright would be Satyajit Ray and therefore, the copyright was vested in his son Sandip Ray and the SPSRA (Society of Preservation Satyajit Ray Archives). Read judgment here.
21st June is the eleventh anniversary of the Copyright (Amendment) Act 2012 (Act 24 of 2012) coming into force after it was notified in the Gazette by the Central Government on June 21, 2012. It was earlier passed unanimously by the Indian Parliament on May 22, 2012, and received presidential assent on June 7 of the same year.
An author of a cinematographic film under Section 2 (d)(v) is a producer. Section 35 of the Copyright Act requires that every copyright society shall be subject to the collective control of author and other owner of rights under the Act whose rights it administers.
The issue here is the challenges faced under the copyright law. Whether AI Generative Tools such as Midjourney use copies of the works present in their training data to create the resultant image and thereby infringe on any copyright vested with the author of such works.
In December 2021, IP lawyer Ankit Sahni managed to register the artistic work Suryast, listing the AI-powered painting app RAGHAV as co-author.
We will hear a lot about the benefits of exceptions and limitations to copyright, how permissionless use under specific circumstances promotes learning, creativity, free speech, public discourse. etc. The focus will be on the users of copyrighted materials rather than on the creators of works. As a user and consumer of copyrighted materials, I can identify with these views, as I wrote on this blog a few years ago. (“Why this Copyright Blogger likes Fair Use and Fair Dealing”.)
According to the Chinese zodiac, the Year of the Rabbit (this year) is supposed to represent “relaxation, quietness and contemplation”. This “Rabbit Year” is predicted to be “calm and gentle”. (Good news for the people of Ukraine, if true). However, when it comes to the thorny issue of copyright and content generated by artificial intelligence (AI), the Year of the Rabbit may end up being the Year of Contentious Litigation.
If you are not an early tech adopter, you may not have heard of, or heard much about, DALL-E 2. Not being on the cutting edge of hi-tech myself this term had not crept into my consciousness until a couple of weeks ago, while I was up at my cottage north of Toronto enjoying the autumn foliage.
In the much-awaited decision which would have had a tremendous precedential value determining the scope of fair use exceptions of use of music in wedding ceremonies under Section 52(1)(za), the matter has been withdrawn by PPL in view of an amicable settlement...
The issue is whether an intermediary such as Telegram can be directed to disclose the identity of the creators of the infringing channels engaging in unauthorisedly and disseminating the copyrighted works of another person.
In the past two years, the Central Government has slowly but steadily moved towards the decriminalisation of offences based on industry feedback that antiquated laws hamper the ease of doing business in India.
Last month I wrote about the importance of international copyright treaties, using US accession to the Berne Convention as an example. United States accession was strongly supported by US copyright industries and has brought the US many benefits.
Works protected in one country were not protected elsewhere, leading to “legalized piracy”. The best-known example of this is the legal reprinting, without permission, of British authors (such as the works of Charles Dickens) in the United States. This was legal because US copyright law protected only US authors prior to 1891. But this “legalized piracy” didn’t occur just in the United States.
A decade ago on this very day, the Copyright Amendment Act of 2012 came into effect. This amendment brought with it some sea changes which changed the landscape of the way the media and entertainment industry especially the music industry was functioning.
Call it a victory for common sense. The Canadian Budget Implementation Bill, which includes needed amendments to the Copyright Act to implement Canada’s CUSMA treaty commitment to extend its term of copyright protection to bring it into alignment with its major trading partners, has now been tabled.
In celebration of World IP Day, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce outlines five ways copyright can encourage young people to express their creativity.
Last week I discussed the copyright needle buried in the 2022 Canadian budget haystack, a reference to impending legislation to amend the Copyright Act to fulfill Canada’s obligation under the USMCA/CUSMA to extend its term of copyright protection from the life of the author plus 50 years to “life plus 70”. The amendments will be tacked on as part of the 2022 Budget Implementation Bill along with a number of other measures unrelated to the budget
Delhi High Court vide its order dated April 11, 2022 granted relief to both RMPL and PPL in their conflict over registration as a copyright society...
Recently the US Copyright Office (USCO) reaffirmed its longstanding position that human authorship is a pre-condition for recognition of copyright, despite being pushed hard by a particular protagonist within the tech community to accept artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of a machine (NB his machine) or software as a creator with rights.
The Court has further asked the Government to undertake this whole exercise within a reasonable time and the outcome be communicated to PPL. Read order here.
The Karnataka High Court has held that Section 63 of the Copyright Act, which prescribes a punishment of minimum 6 months that may extend to 3 years imprisonment, is cognizable offence and police can register a First Information Report, on receipt of a complaint.
The “hook” this year is the fact that A.A. Milne’s first Winnie-the-Pooh book, published in 1926, is now in the public domain in the US. In Canada, the CBC jumped on this story, notwithstanding the fact that the work has been in the public domain in Canada since 2007.
China surprised many in the trade policy world last September by formally applying for membership in the 11 country “Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership” (CPTPP), the trade agreement that rose like a phoenix from the ashes of the 12 country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
This past October, the US Copyright Office (USCO) announced it would be undertaking “a public study to evaluate the effectiveness of current copyright protections for publishers in the United States, with a focus on press publishers.”
In a very interesting precedent from the Madras High Court, M/s Novex Communications Pvt. Ltd., a company which sometimes acts as an “agent” and sometimes “owner” of the right to “on ground performances” of the catalogues of several music labels, has lost its motion
It seems as if it was only a few weeks ago that I was writing a similar summary for 2020, the “annus horribilis” when COVID first hit us, but in fact it was 51 weeks ago yet many of the same pandemic and copyright-related issues that I wrote about last year are still with us, albeit in somewhat modified form.
All authors can be owners but not all owners can be authors, except producers. You may mind – why producers are more equal than others, or more subtly, why do they get such peachy privilege?
As Hugh Stephens noted in his year-end wrap up a couple of weeks ago, some of the copyright and content related issues that were under discussion in Canada in 2021 will likely move forward in a more aggressive way this year.
Piracy was actually core to the appointment of Screenrights in our original capacity. Screenrights licences were created so that teachers were no longer pirating when they copied television shows for class. The provision was created under the Copyright Act.
The Copyright Office vide public notice dated October 27, 2021, notified that the All India Film Chamber of Commerce (AIFCC) has filed an application for registration as a copyright society under Section 33 of the Copyright Act, 1957 for carrying out business of issuing or granting license in respect of creative works i.e., literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works incorporated in cinematograph films or sound recordings.
Section 230 of the CDA provides that internet intermediaries (internet platforms, websites, social media services) are not liable in civil law for content posted by users.
Twitter appoints personnel in compliance of with new IT Rules.
This decision of the Allahabad High Court helps fortify settled tenets of Indian copyright law while also providing further clarity on the relevant factors to be accounted for by a court of law while dealing with alleged copyright infringement at the interim stage.
How could this set of instructions outlining and illustrating a sequence of exercises be subject to copyright protection?
On July 30 the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) delivered what can only be described as body blow to the management of collective rights in Canada, although the collective society at the centre of the action, Access Copyright, found some comfort, pointing out in its press release that the Court “refuses to legitimize uncompensated copying by the education sector”.
What is unfair–from the perspective of performers and record labels–is that US terrestrial radio stations are not required to pay royalties to performers or labels for playing recorded music on air.
The biggest impact of piracy, unfortunately, is a financial one. It is already difficult for creatives to earn a living through their work and piracy makes it that much harder. Less money flowing to creatives means less resources and opportunity for cultural goods which is a net loss to society as a whole.
Given a choice between reaching “voluntary” agreements with news publishers for use of news content online and being compelled to do so by government, the dominant internet platforms (Google, Facebook) are now doubling down on negotiations with news providers.
July 1, apart from marking the 154th Canada Day, was the first anniversary of the entry into force of the “new NAFTA”, now labelled the USMCA (the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement).
In an engaging conversation with Mr. Ameet Datta, Partner, Saikrishna & Associates, Mr. Dillon highlighted WIPO’s role and various initiatives to support enforcement of copyright and protection and promotion of creative industries.
In a unanimous decision, on May 26 Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) dismissed the appeal by internet service provider (ISP), Teksavvy, against Canada’s first site blocking order for copyright infringement issued in November 2019
Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault is steaming full speed ahead with his strategy to get his arms around large internet platforms that deliver, or facilitate the delivery of, content to Canadians.
Should user-generated content (UGC) on social media platforms be free from any regulation and the rule of law, simply because it is user-generated?
If the staff of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) ever decide to quit their day jobs protecting Big Tech interests, we’d wager that they would have a bright future in fiction writing.
Throughout April 2021, the Global Innovation Policy Center hosted a series of events focused on ecosystems for innovation, creativity, and craftsmanship.
This year the theme for World Intellectual Property (IP)Day, April 26, is “SMEs and IP”.
Thank you, Uday, and thank you, FICCI, for inviting me to Frames. It’s an honor to speak before such a vibrant […]
G.R. Raghavender, Joint Secretary - Department of Justice, Minustry of Law & Justice in conversation with Ameet Datta
How do you change the minds of people who clearly love creative content – but think it’s okay to steal what they love?
In this week’s blog post I am going to address the central issue of what Black History Month is all about; […]
These days the World Trade Organization (WTO) is facing many challenges. To say that it has fallen out of favour with the Trump Administration would be an understatement.
For most creatives, when faced with the pervasive problem of litigating infringement of their work, the solution is to hire a lawyer. For photographer Earl Richardson, the solution was to become a lawyer himself.
I am writing today to mark World IP Day, April 26 and, as part of this salute to the work being done in protecting IP rights around the world, to highlight a growing global problem affecting IP stakeholders, streaming piracy.
So says Matthew Cuban in the following video from a group of Los Angeles street poets about copyright and its importance to creativity and innovation in America.
Intermediaries such as social-media platforms form an integral part of the consumer-internet ecosystem, and are the primary conduits for distributing and monetising content digitally. A legal ‘clinic’ in the form of a technical workshop at FICCI Frames 2019 evaluated the regulation of intermediaries in India, under the proposed amendment of the ‘Intermediary Guidelines’ under the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000.