The article is written by Neha Gupta, Institute of Management Studies, CCS University, 4th semester of 3-year Law college during her internship with LeDroit India.
Scope of Article
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Producer’s rights v. Author’s rights
- Definition of producers
- Exclusive right of producers
- Copyright in cinematographic films
- Definition of director
- Case laws
- Importance of Copyright Act, 1957
- Conclusion
ABSTRACT
The Indian Copyright Act of 1957 protects the rights of cinematography including cinematographic films, movies, lyrical work, literary work. It ensures that, the original dealer and worker of the literary work should not be affected and his/her rights over that literary work, cinematographic film remains dominant and no one has the rights to misuse their work. It safeguards the interests of the individuals. This research study “Copyright in cinematograph film: Producer’s rights V. Author’s Rights” highlights the importance of Indian Copyright Act, 1957 and broadly showcases the importance of Intellectual Property Rights as a whole, in view of literary work done by the whole team of cinematography including producer, directors, actors, musicians, lyricists, composers etc.
INTRODUCTION
The Indian Copyright Act, 1957 protects and recognized cinematographic films including their form of creative work. It protects and safeguards the rights of individuals. The creation of movies is a collaborative work of many hardworking, creative and innovation minds, who have a productive and creative approach towards to their work and tasks performed. There are multiple individuals and their collaboration between themselves leads to successful implementation of cinematograph films. The multiple individuals include; directors, composers, script writers, music composers, composer of the soundtrack, screenwriter, actors.
The cinematographic films are a motion picture created using a device called a cinematograph. In involves a series of pictures in motion and illusionary effect in motion of a screen.
There are a lot of disputes which has been raised between the right of producers and author’s rights. Also, the disputes between the writers of the script of the movie and the music used in the film has arisen between the producers and composers such as composer and script writers. This is a mere ‘question of fact’ in this regard.
PRODUCER’S RIGHTS v. AUTHOR’s RIGHTS
A cinematography film is the collaboration of innovative mindsets and involves literary work, musical work, lyrical work, theme-based story, writing scripts, and many others. A producer in a cinematograph film is considered as the first owner and has ultimate rights of ownership and dealership as compared to any other set of individuals of the cinematography films.
Producers play a crucial role in performance of arts, creation, literary work, films and audio recordings. They are referred as the authentic dealers of the cinematographic films and they are termed as the real owners. The creativity is governed by the Copyright Act of 1957. Producers invest real efforts and significant resources to the creative pursuits.
DEFINITION OF PRODUCER
- The definition of Producer is stated in Section 2(d) of the Copyright Act, 1957. They are the main faces behind the cinematographic films and they indulge completely to produce a film and bring in front of the public. Also They engage their hard work, consistency, efforts for the authorised tasks and creative work. They lay down the roadmap for technology and other visual effects that give strength to the cinematographic films. They have a primary responsibility of planning, organising, creating content, lay down visual effects, financing, collaborating, coordinating with all the rest individuals’ team of the cinematograph films including lyrists, musical directors, actors, sound producers, song producers, writers etc.
EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS OF PRODUCERS
The ‘producers’ of the films have an absolute liability and responsibility in making of the films and they bear the expensed of the films along with suffer losses, if arise out of it. They have the authority to reproduce, distribute, communicate and make adaptation of the literary work and innovative tasks of the cinematographic films.
COPYRIGHT IN CINEMATOGRAPH FILMS
Copyright is a statutory right covered under the scope of Intellectual Property Rights under Copyright Act of 1957 and includes various definitions. In the recent times, the concept of ‘Copyright’ has become very crucial in respect to moral and economic protection of the cinematographic films, which impacts the economy of our nation also.
It safeguards the rights of individuals involving producers, directors, musical composer, lyrists, song writers, script writers, actors who are involved in creating a cinematographic film by their consistent hard work and efforts. The owner of a copyright has an exclusive right to allow control over a use of work. They can be sub categorised into economic rights and moral right to protect and preserve the dignity and integrity of the creation and their bundle of efforts for creating a cinematograph film.
DEFINITION OF DIRECTOR
According to Copyright Act, 1957, ‘Director’ is a person who causes a work to be created and adds on the life of cinematographic films. In the cinematographic world, director is an important person who helps in execution of the film. The court of law in India, has also considered ‘Director’ as an important person when it comes to the execution of the films and the work to created and is termed as creator of the cinematographic films. This includes various set of works such as musical work, lyrical work, musical composer, innovation mindset, literary work and creative tasks.
CASE LAWS
Indian Performing Rights Society Ltd. v. Eastern India Motion Pictures (IPRS) case
In the case, court held that, ‘Producer’ becomes the first owner of the copyright in such literary and innovative work of the cinematographic films, unless there is a contract to the contrary between the authors of such work and the producer of such film. Once the musical work, creative and literary work of the cinematographic film is incorporated, the ‘Producer’ becomes the ‘first owner’ of that literary work of the cinematographic film and has the primary rights regarding the film such as recreation, distribution and recreation of the films. It also includes bundles of rights which includes moral and economic rights.
Salim Khan v. Sumeet Prakash Mehra (IPRS) case
In this case, there arises a question of fact whether the screenwriter’s duo- ‘Salim- Javed’ could restrain the rights of producer for releasing the remake of the film “Zanjeer”. The court of law stated, that, the producers of the films is the first owner of the literary work and creative work of the cinematographic film and has the ultimate rights over the work of the film, as he is indulged in the planning, creative work, finance, directions and production of
the films. Therefore, the producers are considered as an important person and original creators of the literary work of the cinematographic films.
Thiagarajan Kumararaja v. Capital Film Works (India) Pvt. Ltd, (IPRS) case
In this case, the rights of the producer of the cinematographic film were contradicted. The where the right of the producer to remake and also dub a film for re-release in other languages was contested by the screenwriter. The Madra High Court held that, the major rights regarding the cinematographic films rests with producer and he play a vital role in the execution of film as well as production of the cinematographic film.
In this case, the screenwriter alleged that, the producer does not have the right to dub and remake the film without the consent of the screenwriter. The Bombay High court held that, does not include the right to remake the film entirely without the author’s consent, as this would entail making changes to the underlying script. However, it added that the sound recording is under the exclusive copyright of the producer, and thus dubbing, which entails replacing the sound recording with a different language, can pass muster.
Sholay Media and Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. v Parag Sanghavi and Ors., (IPRS) case
In this case, the Delhi High court dealt with the issue of infringement rights in respect to the defendant’s party who tried to create the remake of the iconic movie ‘Sholay’.
The Delhi High Court noted that iconic lines such as “Jo dargaya, samjho mar gaya,” “Ai Chammia,” and “Kitne Aadmi the,” among others, have become timeless and continue to resonate with audiences. The central characters—Gabbar Singh, Jai, Veeru, Basanti, Radha, and Thakur—are integral to the plot of ‘Sholay’Making them eligible to copyright protection.
The Delhi High Court, followed the ‘Especially Distinctive Test’, and held that, as Sholay has been a remarkable film and iconic film, which will be remembered all through the times. The dialogues, actions, lyrical work, music, costumes and dramatic work remain protected under the Copyright Act, 1957. The producer of the original Sholay holds the exclusive rights to exploit or authorize the exploitation of these elements.
Saregama India Ltd. v. VELS Film International Ltd., (IPRS) case
This case highlights the issues regarding the copyright of a song.
Facts of the case:
The dispute was regarding the copyright of the song from the Tamil film Moodu Pani.
Worldwide famous, the Saregama India Ltd their substantial rights over the song from the film producer
Music composer Ilaiyaraaja, claimed independent copyright as the composer and licensed the song to VELS Film International Ltd. for use in their upcoming film Agathiyaa.
VELS argued, relying on Section 13(4) of the Copyright Act, that, individual musical/lyrical work has separate copyrights and producer cannot claim exclusive ownership over it.
Issues of the case:
Whether the copyright in the song (music, lyrics, and sound recording) vested:
- With the music composer, or
- With the producer of the cinematograph film.
Judgement/ Court Findings of the case:
The court held in the judgement of this case that, the composer has the rights over the musical composition and work and they don’t have vested interests and rights over the lyrics or sound recordings. Therefore, they cannot license the entire song to the third party. The producer’s rights prevail over the integrated song as part of the film.
IMPORTANCE OF COPYRIGHT ACT, 1957
As the growing economy, the cinematographic films are also adding to the growth of the economy leading to the rise of profits and Gross Domestic Product of our nation. The cinematographic films form a vital part of the economic growth. They cause the rise in the revenue of our nation. There is a bundle of minds behind the execution of every cinematographic film such as writers, lyrists, musical composers, artists, actors, director, producers and their combined efforts, to make a film and showcase in front of the audience.
Therefore, it is very important to safeguard and protect the rights of these individuals in respect their work, collaborative actions and efforts will also be secured and protected. A cinematographic film consists of huge budget and hard work, if their work is protected, it could be misused by anyone and without their information as well. ‘Producers’ are the main vital character of a cinematographic film when it comes to production of the film and they are the main dealers of the films and holds the vested interests in the cinematographic films.
They have a lot rights which are protected by the law and safeguards their interests and rights. Their moral and ethical rights are also protected. They have the ultimate ownership of the literary work, innovative idea and collaborative effort, as they are considered as the ultimate owners of the literary work and innovation of multiple minds in the eyes of law.
The cinematographic film is a series of art, imagery, creative work, literary work, technical designs and movements, motions on the big screen. It is arranging of subjects to create a visual object. Hence, cinematographic film is a wide concept and so as their protection of rights concerned. The cinematographic films depict huge series of motions which highlights the moral, ethics, story, features, roleplay, knowledge, diversity, ethnicity, historical aspects, spiritual highlight, and many more.
These are further connected with the sentiments, emotions, enjoyment, belief, entertainment, inspiration, aspirations, and many more of the population of our country. They have a huge contribution in the growth of our economy and hence contributing to the GPD and revenue of our nation. The copyright Act, 1957 safeguards and protects the rights of such cinematographic films which has a huge impact in our economy and tremendously affecting the wide growth of the economy, leading to rise in GDP and economic growth of our nation.
CONCLUSION
The producers of the cinematographic films have been considered as the main face behind the work of cinematographic film and is the original owner of the work. The cinematographic film is a combined efforts of many individuals who are the authors of the film, including the lyrists, actors, musical composer, producers, directors, singers, video makers etc. Their rights have been protected under the Copyright Act, 1957 so, no one else can use their content of the cinematographic films which are a collaborative effort of various creative and innovative mindsets. The major goals of the copyright Act, 1957 are:
- Providing the financial benefits
- Encouraging the science, technology, creation and innovation
- Facilitate knowledge for the entertainment of public
