Some of the essential legislation and rulings that shaped the Indian Copyrights law in 2019 are stated hereunder:

LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENTS

1. Copyright (Amendment) Rules 2019

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) vide its press statement dated May 30, 2019 proposed to introduce the Copyright Amendment Rules, 2019[1].  The draft rules aimed at ensuring smooth and flawless compliance of the Copyright Act in the light of technological advancement in the digital era and to bring them in parity with other relevant legislations. They sought to broaden the scope of issuance of statutory licences under section 31-D of the Act for broadcasting work subject to copyright protection by replacing ‘radio and television broadcast’ with ‘each mode of broadcasting’ under rules 29, 30, 31. This amendment came at the backdrop of  Tips Industries Ltd. vs. Wynk Music Ltd. & Anr.[2], where the need to include streaming under the preview of broadcasting was realised under the statutory licensing scheme. The draft also provided for stricter code of conduct for copyright societies and more. 

1. Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2019

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Feb 12, 2019 introduced Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2019[3] which aims to curb film piracy and imposes stricter penalties and punishments in this accord. The scope of unauthorised use of audio-visual recordings has been widened to include unauthorised camcording and transmission thereof. Strict deterrence can be traced in the proposed bill as intense penal provisions are attracted in the case of making and transmitting copies of a cinematograph film or audio-visual recording without acquiring approval from the owner of such work.

Notable Case Laws

Some of the noteworthy copyright cases for the year 2019 would be:

1.      Roger Mathew v. South Indian Bank Limited[4]. 

The Supreme Court of India struck down the Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal, and other Authorities (Qualifications, Experience and other Conditions of Service of Members) Rules, 2017 framed under the Finance Act, 2017 on the ground that it gave excessive and discretionary powers to the government as to the appointment of service persons to the tribunal and it also affected the judicial independence of the Tribunals. The dilution and encroachment on the judicial domain through the appointment of technical and other members, devoid of either adjudicatory experience or legal knowledge, to the IPAB after the merger of Copyright Board and IPAB was a matter of great concern. However, since this development could not be implemented retrospectively, the appointment already made remained unaffected. 

2.      UTV Software Communication Ltd. & Ors. v. 1337X.TO & Ors[5]

The Delhi High Court introduced a dynamic injunction into Indian jurisdiction to curb online piracy. Through this, Plaintiff could get the order executed against mirror/redirect/alphanumeric websites hosting the same infringing content as those already blocked.

3. Sajeev Pillai v. Venu Kunnapalli & Anr[6]

It was the case of Plaintiff that the storyline of the defendant’s movie titled Mamankam was the result of the extensive research work done by Plaintiff. Plaintiff had assigned his work which included the story, script, screenplay, and dialogue to the defendant. The Kerala High Court held that the author has a legitimate right to claim authorship even after assignment and the later act does not exhaust the moral right of the author within the meaning of section 57(1) of the Copyright Act, 1957. However, since the movie is the distorted version of the plaintiff’s work due to the mutilation and modification of the original script, the court took a balanced view and allowed the movie to be released without crediting anyone as the author thereof till the final disposal of the suit. 

4. Tips Industries Ltd. vs. Wynk Music Ltd. & Anr[7]

The Hon’ble Bombay High court interpreted section 31D of the Copyright Act, 1957 as an exception to the copyright laws. It is further stated that statutory licensing extends to only radio and television broadcasting and is exclusive of internet broadcasting. Therefore, online streaming services don’t fall within the ambit of statutory licensing. The flaw could, however, be fixed via the new “Copyright Amendment Rules 2019” stated the Hon’ble court. In the instant case, the defendant’s feature to allow its consumers to download music and store the same for unlimited usage amounted to sale thereby not constituting broadcast stated in 31D of the Copyright act. Therefore, the defendant was not required to avail of a statutory license.

5. Yash Raj Films v. Sri Sai Ganesh Productions[8]

The plaintiff (Yash Raj) instituted a copyright infringement suit against the defendant for the reproduction of the copyrighted work subsisting in the plaintiff’s movie titled “Band Baja Baraat” through a Telugu remake titled “Jabardasth” without taking prior permission of the plaintiff.    

The Hon’ble High court was of the view that “to make a copy of the film‟ did not mean just to make a physical copy of the film by a process of duplication, but it also referred to another film which substantially, fundamentally, essentially, and materially resembled/reproduced the original film. The defendants had blatantly copied the fundamental, essential and distinctive features as well as forms and expression of the plaintiff’s film on purpose and consequently, infringed the plaintiff’s copyright.

6. Raj Rewal v. Union of India & Ors[9]

The Hon’ble Delhi High court in the instant case dealt with a significant question of copyright law i.e., whether an author’s (architect’s) rights foreshadow the rights of the property owner. It was answered in the negative, i.e. the property owner’s right as per constitutional right under Article 300A shall be held more vital and that he/she can choose to destruct or modify the building on his/her property. Therefore, the Owner’s right shall precede the Author’s right under Sec 57 of the Copyright Act.

7. Thiagarajan Kumararaja v. M/s Capital Film Works and Anr[10]

The Hon’ble Madras High Court for the first time deliberated a ruling on rights of the producer qua the author of the script with regard to the dubbing of the film and held that the producer of the film has the right to dub the film in any other language provided there isn’t any agreement to the contrary. Under Section 2(d)(v) in relation to a cinematograph film, the producer is the author and since they had taken the initiative and the responsibility for making the work i.e., cinematograph film, they had the right to dub the same. Accordingly, the infringement suit for dubbing the film in another language was dismissed and decided in favour of the producer.

CONCLUSION

From defending the right of the producer to dub in other languages, to continuance of the moral right of the author even after the assignment of work, it can be said that the year 2019 has been a busy year for the music and film industry. The introduction of the dynamic injunction against rogue websites was a much-needed change for the empowerment of lawful owners of copyrighted work to battle piracy. Further, the online copyright application system has progressively become filer-friendly in the past year[11]. In addition, increased transparency and stakeholder participation has created a protective environment for enhanced copyright preservation.