Music is among the oldest and most universal forms of human expression and it is also among the most legally complex categories of creative work that copyright law is called upon to protect. A single commercially released song involves, in the ordinary case, at least three distinct creative contributions – the musical composition created by […]
Copyright in Music – Composers, Lyricists and Performers Read More »
High Court of Delhi at New Delhi | Decided: 29 July 2011 IA No. 15781/2008 & IA No. 3085/2009 in CS (OS) No. 2682/2008 Bench: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Manmohan Singh Citation: 2011 (48) PTC 49 (Del) Background Super Cassettes Industries Limited, popularly known as T-Series, is one of India’s largest music labels and film production
Super Cassetes Industries Ltd. vs Myspace Inc. & Another Read More »
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 »
High Court of Judicature at Bombay, Commercial Division | Decided: 23rd April, 2019 Notice of Motion (L) No. 197 of 2018 in Commercial IP Suit (L) No. 114 of 2018 and Notice of Motion (L) No. 198 of 2018 in Commercial IP Suit (L) No. 113 of 2018 Bench: S.J. Kathawalla, J. Citation: AIRONLINE 2019
High Court of Delhi at New Delhi | CS(OS) 1185/2006 & I.A. Nos. 6486/2006, 6487/2006, 7027/2006; CS(OS) 1996/2009 & I.A. No. 13692/2009 Background The Indian Performing Right Society Ltd., referred to throughout as IPRS, is a non-profit cooperative body incorporated in August 1969 with the object of monitoring, administering and enforcing the performing rights of
The Indian Performing Right Society Ltd. v. Mr. Aditya Pandey & Anr. Read More »
Delhi High Court (Division Bench) | AIR 1985 Delhi 29 | 1 August 1984 | Avadh Behari Rohatgi, J. Background Penguin Books Ltd. of England, the plaintiff-appellant, is one of the world’s most recognized publishing houses. It held territorially exclusive licenses and assignments of copyright in 23 titles for the Indian market – including celebrated
Penguin Books Ltd. v. India Book Distributors & Ors. Read More »
Kerala High Court | C.M.A. No. 329 of 1995 | 27 February 1996 | T.V. Ramakrishnan, J. Background The original drama at the centre of this dispute is Ningal Enne Communistakki (“Who Made You a Communist?”), written in 1952 by the celebrated Malayalam playwright Thoppil Bhasi while he was living in political hiding as an
Civic Chandran & Others v. C. Ammini Amma & Others Read More »
Delhi High Court | CS(COMM) 1329/2016 | 8 July 2019 | Manmohan J. Background Yash Raj Films Pvt. Ltd., the plaintiff, is one of India’s most prominent film production houses with an established reputation in the domestic and international film industry. On 10th December 2010, the plaintiff released its Hindi film Band Baaja Baaraat across
Yash Raj Films Pvt. Ltd. v. Sri Sai Ganesh Productions & Ors. Read More »
Copyright law operates on two distinct but interconnected axes. The first is economic – the bundle of exclusive rights that allows a creator to control the reproduction, distribution, performance and communication of their work and to extract financial value from it. The second is personal – the connection between a creator and their work that
Moral Rights and Author’s Special Rights under Section 57 of the Copyright Act, 1957 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 »