This article is written by Ridhima Singh ,LL.B. HON’S (1st YEAR) ,ALLAHABAD UINVERSITY during her internship at LeDroit India
KEYWORDS– Website, Exclusive Rights, Infringement, Exhibition, Infringing copies, Infringer.
ABSTRACT– With changing world in field of technology and science the advent of internet has caused a threat in different ways. People can get any information online on different websites and can present other people work in their name without even the permission of original creator of that work. Just by single click on different websites people can get information and they change it without the authority. Thus, it becomes necessary to safeguard the work of original creator. In India Copyright have been given to protect originality of creators under the provisions of The Copyright Act 1957.
- What is Copyright?
Copyright gives the creator of Artistic works, Literary, Dramatic, Musical, Cinematograph films and Sound recordings the exclusive rights to reproduce, perform, translate and communicate their works to public when and how they want.
Copyright are collections of rights vested upon the original creator of work, art, music, etc. Under this creator has full rights over his work and he gets to decide whether anyone can copy or produce his work. Copyright has been laid down in Section 14 of the Copyright Act 1957.
Example of Copyright– If author of novel “XYZ” wants to represent his novel in form of drama among the audience only, he has the exclusive right to do so. Anyone else if they perform such thing without his permission or reproduce a film it amounts to be violation of his ownership rights.
The main purpose of copyright is to provide reward to the creators for producing the original work. Through Copyright authors can get legal protection to their original work and receive proper recognition. When people know they have rights and protection on their original work it encourages them to come up with more creative ideas in terms of music, art, science, literary work, etc.
- What is meant by Copyright Infringement and When it is Infringed?
- Copyright Infringement is the use or production of copyright protected material without the permission of original creator of that material.
- Copyright Infringement means unauthorized use of someone’s copyrighted work. Infringement includes violation of rights to reproduce, distribute or perform the copyrighted work.
- In general, According to Section 51 of the Copyright Act of 1957 copyright infringement occurs when:
- A person without the permission of the copyright holder does something which only the holder has authorization to do.
- A person reproduces, distribute, perform or publicly display the original work of copyright holder.
- A person allows the place to be used for selling, communication or exhibition of a copyrighted work unless he is unaware of the fact that it will lead to violation of copyright.
Example of Copyright Infringement-A person can watch movie freely and make videos of the song/part of movie for self-purpose to watch it later but cannot transfer or upload it somewhere else, if he does so it becomes copyright infringement.
Exceptions To Copyright Infringement Section 52 of the Copyright Act of 1957
Copyrighted Works don’t infringe the right copyright holder if –
- The work is for self-use: educational purpose including research; no commercial use.
- For reporting of current events or latest news.
- Quotation in short term or compatible with fair use
- Any work is used for review or criticism.
Copyright Infringement a Criminal Offence?
- Yes, Copyright infringement is a criminal offence under section 63 of the Copyright Act 1957, under the person knowingly infringes the protected work of original creator. The punishment of such act is imprisonment for minimum 6 months and with a fine of Rs.50,000/-
Recent Case of Copyright Infringement –“Jug Jugg Jeeyo”Movie Controversy
The Dharma Production Movie -JUG JUGG JEEYO has got reported under the case of copyright violation. According to the news reports ,Ranchi based writer Vishal Singh took legal actions against the makers and sued them. He alleged that the movie is based on the script which he shared with Dharma production with the original tittle ‘Bunny Rani’. He filed the case in Ranchi Court and also shared some screenshots of emails between Dharma productions and him. The film was given clean chit on 23rd June by Ranchi Court just before its release on 24th June 2022.
Conclusion
With the excessive use of Websites and YouTube these days people can easily get information when and whenever they want, and then without knowing the consequences and laws they find it very easy to just copy and paste someone else original work. Thus, the original work must be protected as not protecting them will discourage people to come up with new ideas. Copyright Laws application should be much more promoted and strict actions should be taken against the infringer.
