Protection of the Entertainment Industry under Copyright Laws in India
ABSTRACT
Indian Entertainment Industry is the biggest Industry in the world. This sector has seen substantial expansion in current years and ranks among India’s quickest-growing sectors. The majority of the instances of copyright breaches in India have been brought about by the entertainment realm, especially those associated with television and movies. With evolving circumstances, the country is experiencing the emergence of revolutionary ways for regulating creative efforts without harming the rights of its creator and owner, with copyright being a prominent example. In this study, the researcher has shown the influence of copyrights on protecting the entertainment industry with the help of data gathered from various secondary sources. The concept of copyright grants genuine content creators an array of unique rights in connection with their work. The stated legislation’s duty in the entertainment sector is to legitimately safeguard the creator’s creativity. This article will assist the readers in comprehending the relevancy of copyright regulations in sustaining India’s entertainment industry.
KEYWORDS: Breach, Copyright, Creation, Entertainment Industry, Protection.
INTRODUCTION
Copyright is made up of numerous entitlements for certain. The Copyright Act of 1957 governs this in India. Section 14 of this act defines it as the right conferred to perform or allow the execution of a work. It defends the ownership interests of the genuine creator and facilitates the use of such creations in a limited manner. Its initial goal is to inspire markers and creators to strive for quality and innovation in their particular disciplines. In creative work, certain rights of producers are protected by the Copyright. The works are music, episodes, movies, songs; etc must be protected by copyright from piracy.
RELEVANCE OF COPYRIGHT IN ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY
In today’s competitive environment, it is essential for the creator to get copyright over their unique content. The dearth of any such ownership interest may result in enormous consequences for the creator or inventor. The entertainment industry is heavily impacted since it is critical to safeguard the creator’s genuine creativity. The following are several movie fragments and the availability of copyright for them:
Movie Title: Prior to commencing filming, a movie maker possesses the right to recover the title of the movie in order to avoid rivals from leveraging the identical title. However, copyright regulating does not apply when titling a movie. As a result, multiple movies share the identical name.
Writing and Script: Among the most significant components that are legally protected beneath the purview of copyright is the movie’s script. This allows the maker to claim ownership of the movie’s script and storyline. This gives them sole ownership of their creativity.
Music, songwriting, and backdrop soundtrack: As music, songwriting and backdrop soundtrack serve as the root of the movie, they are protected by copyright.
In light of the clear and fierce rivalry in the entertainment world, it is increasingly vital than before to preserve the creator’s genuine content from imitation.
BREACH OF COPYRIGHT IN ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY
An uncertified adaptation of something that has been granted copyright is considered a breach. Therefore, it is the uncertified utilization of another person’s genuine creativity that breaches such a person’s copyright interests. The biggest difficulties that the movie and television sectors face due to related copyright breaches are those involving the illicit reproduction or cloning of another person’s creativity and representing it as a unique creation.
In current circumstances, the development of technological innovations causes a rise in the theft of first-hand works, leading to harm to the genuine marker. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent piracy of the maker’s genuine creativity in order to prevent exposure to it without the maker’s approval or legitimacy.
Section-51 of the act talks about breaches of copyrights.
PIRACY – MAJOR THREAT IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY
The term “Piracy” denotes the illicit procreation, shipment or dissemination of the entire or a considerable portion of contents covered by copyright, encompassing the privilege to publish, procreate, modify, allocate, and numerous similar privileges. Video piracy occurs when a third person promotes videotapes beforehand the maker sells their entitlements, or when the maker sells the entitlements to someone else; however, a third person produces and distributes the videotapes. In a short amount of duration, a cloned, inexpensive electronic copy of the filmmaker’s creativity is made available on the web, exploiting the maker’s monetary worth.
In 2014, in the judgment of Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt Ltd v. Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd and others [ (L) No. 993 of 2014], the production company initiated this lawsuit in the Bombay HC, in which the court made it explicit that, in the light of previous occurrences of the kind and the projected damages that the sector had endured because of these piracy moves, it awarded the claimant a n order of injunction to prevent the distribution of such replications of the movie “Happy New Year” on various media platforms. Therefore, regardless of who is proven to have disobeyed this court ruling and engaged in the pirates, they will also be held criminally responsible.
PENALTIES
There are many penalties related to copyright in the entertainment industry. The penalties are given below:
Section-55 of the legislation allows civil protections in the form of injunctions, losses and additional legal means in the event of a breach.
Section-53 authorizes the registrar of Copyright to take administration measures to prevent the importation of illicit replicas into India.
Section-63 offers a penalty of imprisonment for up to three years, however no shorter than six months; a fine of not lesser than 50,000, which can be increased up to 200,000 may be imposed and also included are measures for search, seizure, and the return of illicit things to the genuine holder.
LANDMARK CASES
In India, registering for copyright is not required in order to obtain a defense. However, the fundamental advantage of obtaining registration is that it serves as evidence of the title of the maker or creator in any possible legal controversy and allows the genuine maker the option of lawful compensation in additional to real damages and benefits.
In the judgment of Dhiraj Dharamdas v. Sonal Info Sys Pvt. Ltd, [3 MhLJ 888 (2012)], rendering someone accountable for a violation or attribution by him, whether undertaken with or without purpose, was deemed unreasonable or ludicrous by the court, except where the offender is conscious that the maker of the creation has registered his creativity before he breached it.
In the judgment of India Independent News v. Yashraj Films Private Ltd, [1094 COMIP 596 (2019)], when fragments of hit songs were streamed during a singer’s appearance on a TV talk programme, it was determined that the alleged breach was not punishable since it was judged de minims, which indicated that legislation does not trouble itself with trivialities. The replica must be significant and not tiny in order to be admissible for trial.
The court established two rules for determining allegations of breach of copyright in Zee Telefilms v. Sundial Communications Pvt. Ltd, [2003 (5) BomCR 404]:
Average Viewer Evaluation: In this evaluation, it is determined if a regular average viewer would have the unmistakable opinion that one piece was a replica of the other. If it can be concluded from the abovementioned opinion that the creation is a theft of genuine creativity, then the conduct breaches copyright.
Substance Evaluation Examination: The substance evaluation examination determines the impact of the duplicated or cloned section on the reminder of the creativity. If the leftover creativity can be supported without the cloned element, there is no breach of copyright; nevertheless, if the cloned section is so vital that the entire creativity would lose its essence if it were eliminated, there is a breach, and compensation must be awarded to the genuine maker.
CONCLUSION
The current study demonstrated that copyright breaches and pirate’s activity are threats that violate legal entitlements to genuine persons, and thus the main difficulty is finding a way to effectively adhere to regulations. Any invention is a treasure that should be protected from others who may try to market it as their original invention or production. Several movie makers are registering for rights to intellectual property in the entertainment sector nowadays to protect their inventions and avoid others from profiting from them.
The aim of copyright regulation is to preserve the efforts of genuine creators and guarantee that they receive both acknowledgement and pecuniary when their creative ideas are exploited by other movie makers, therefore safeguarding their interests. The present regulations regarding copyright breaches should be strictly enforced without any bias. Penalty punishments for pirates of digital content should be implemented. It is crucial in India to raise awareness of copyright regulations and boost the copyright framework.
REFERENCES
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