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 »
The question of whether a collection of information facts, data, references, records or other pre-existing material assembled into an organised whole deserves intellectual property protection is among the most contested and practically consequential in copyright law. At its core, it forces a direct confrontation with the foundational tension between two equally legitimate values: the interest
Copyright in Databases and Compilations under Indian Law Read More »
Chapter VIII of The Copyright Act, 1957 i.e. rights of broadcasting organisation and of performers in section 37 deals with Broadcast reproduction right and in section 38 with Performer’s right. The Copyright Act, 1957 is principally understood as a statute that protects authors, composers, writers, painters and filmmakers who create original works Yet creative industries
Performer’s right and Broadcast reproduction right under The Copyright Act, 1957 Read More »
High Court of Allahabad | Decided: 16 July 1980 First Appeals No. 8 of 1975 & No. 9 of 1975 Bench: Division Bench of the High Court of Allahabad Citation: AIR 1981 All 200 | 1980 SCC OnLine All 444 Background Late Sri Ram Naresh Tripathi was an eminent Hindi scholar, poet and litterateur of
Nav Sahitya Prakash & Ors. v. Anand Kumar & Ors. Read More »
The protection of computer programs under intellectual property law is one of the most consequential and contested questions in the history of modern legal systems. Software drives virtually every sector of the contemporary economy – from financial systems and medical devices to communications infrastructure and consumer entertainment. The legal framework that governs who owns software,
High Court of Delhi at New Delhi | Decided: 28 May 2009 RFA (OS) No. 25/2006 Bench: Division Bench of the High Court of Delhi Citation: 2009 (40) PTC 519 (Del) | 2009 SCC OnLine Del 1647 Background Microfibres Inc. is an American corporation engaged in the manufacture and commercial sale of upholstery fabrics, the
Few creative works demand as much capital, coordinate as many individual contributions, or generate as much commercial activity as a cinematograph film. A feature film involves the labour of writers, directors, composers, lyricists, performers, cinematographers, editors, sound designers, visual effects artists and hundreds of others whose individual creative contributions are assembled, over months or years,
Copyright in Cinematograph Films – Ownership, Rights and Exploitation Read More »
Copyright law is, at its core, a bargain. Society grants creators a bundle of exclusive rights over their works for a limited period, in exchange for the enrichment that creative expression brings to public life. But the bargain was never intended to be unconditional. An absolute monopoly over the use of a work would impede
Fair Dealing under Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957 – A Comprehensive Analysis Read More »
The internet has fundamentally altered the economics and architecture of creative expression. Content that once required physical manufacture, distribution and retail can now be reproduced, transmitted and accessed globally within seconds, at virtually no cost. This transformation has been a gift to creators and audiences alike – but it has also made large scale copyright