A poem written by ChatGPT. A painting produced by Midjourney from a two-line prompt. A news article drafted by a large language model trained on millions of copyrighted sources. A film score composed entirely by an algorithmic system without a human composer touching an instrument. These are not hypothetical scenarios from a speculative future; they […]
AI-Generated Content and Copyright in India – Who Is the Author? Read More »
Technology has always unsettled the creative economy and the law has always chased to catch up. But no technological development in the history of the entertainment industry has created as direct, as immediate and as commercially devastating a threat to individual performers as generative artificial intelligence voice cloning and deepfake video synthesis. These technologies do
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India carries within its borders one of the most extraordinary concentrations of living folk and traditional artistic heritage on earth. Madhubani painting from Bihar, Warli art from Maharashtra’s tribal communities, Pattachitra scroll painting from Odisha, Baul music from the rural riverbanks of Bengal and Bangladesh, Gond art from Madhya Pradesh, Bharatanatyam and Kuchipuri and Odissi
Copyright in Traditional and Folk Art Forms Under Indian Law Read More »
High Court of Delhi at New Delhi | Decided: 24 August 2015 CS (OS) 1892/2006 Bench: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Manmohan Singh Background The plaintiffs, Sholay Media and Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and its co-plaintiff, are private limited companies engaged in the business of producing, exhibiting and distributing cinematograph films. The plaintiffs claimed to be the copyright
Sholay Media and Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. v. Parag Sanghavi & Ors. Read More »
High Court of Delhi at New Delhi | Decided: 9 December 2016 RFA (OS) 81/2016 Bench: Division Bench Hon’ble Mr. Justice Pradeep Nandrajog & Hon’ble Mr. Justice Yogesh Khanna Background The appellants (plaintiffs before the learned Single Judge) were five academic publishers: Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press (UK), Cambridge University Press India Pvt. Ltd.,
Mergers and acquisitions are among the most consequential transactions in commercial life. They involve the transfer of business value assets, revenue streams, operational capabilities, market positions from one set of owners to another, and they carry with them all the risks and liabilities that attach to the business being acquired. In an economy increasingly defined
Among the most persistent misconceptions in Indian intellectual property practice is the belief that copyright must be registered to exist. Authors, artists, software developers, filmmakers, and businesses that create original works routinely ask whether they need to register their copyright before they can enforce it, and whether an unregistered work attracts the full protection of
Copyright Registration in India – Procedure and Evidentiary Value Read More »
Supreme Court of India | Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud & B.V. Nagarathna JJ. | 27 September 2021 Civil Appeal Nos. 5985-5990 of 2021 Background Section 31D was inserted into the Copyright Act, 1957 by the Copyright Amendment Act, 2012 (brought into force on 21 June 2012). It creates a statutory licensing regime for broadcasting organisations that
Saregama India Limited vs. Next Radio Limited & Ors Read More »
Visual creativity occupies a distinctive place in the copyright landscape. A photograph taken in a fraction of a second, a painting developed over months, a sculpture carved from stone, an architectural elevation drafted with precision each of these represents an act of creative expression that the law recognises and protects, yet each raises questions about
Copyright in Photographs and Artistic Works in India Read More »
Every grant of exclusive rights must, in a society that values both the reward of creative effort and the freedom of public access to culture and knowledge, have a defined limit. Copyright is no exception. The rights that the Copyright Act, 1957 confers upon authors, producers, performers and broadcasters are not permanent. They subsist for
Copyright Duration – Rules for Different Categories of Works under Indian Law Read More »