Press Information Bureau 
Government of India
Ministry of Human Resource Development

18-March-2013 18:44 IST

Copyright Rules 2013

The Copyright Rules, 2013 has been notified by the Copyright Division, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development on 14th March, 2013. The amendments to the existing provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957 and introduction of new provisions under the Copyright(Amendment) Act, 2012, which came into the force on 21st June, 2012, necessitated amendments to the Copyright Rules, 1958. The draft Rules were posted on the website of the Copyright Office on 28th August, 2012 seeking comments of all stakeholders and experts giving a deadline of 20th September, 2012. The Ministry also held a meeting with various stakeholders and copyright experts on 8th October, 2012 to seek their suggestions on the draft rules.

The Copyright Rules, 2013 provide new rules for statutory licence for cover versions and broadcasting of literary and musical works and sound recording; compulsory licences for works withheld from public, unpublished and published works, for benefit of disabled; registration of Copyright Societies and Performer’s Right Societies; storage of transient or incidental copies of woks; making or adapting the work by organisations working for the benefit of persons with disabilities; importation of infringing copies and technological protection measures.

The fee for registration of copyright for various works and fee for licences to be issued by register of Copyrights under the directions/orders of the Copyright Board have been increased under the Copyright Rules, 2013. The minimum fee has been increased for registration from Rs. 50/- per work to Rs. 500/- per work and the maximum fee has been increased from Rs. 600/- per work to Rs. 5,000/-. The fee for licences has been increased from Rs. 200/- to Rs. 2000/- per work and the maximum fee has been increased from Rs. 400/- to Rs. 40,000/-. The new fee structure provided under Second Schedule of the Rules is applicable from the date of coming into force of the Copyright Rules, 2013 that is 14th March, 2013. A copy of the same has been made available on the website of the Copyright Office (copyright.gov.in).

R N M

Source | www.pib.nic.in

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Copyright issue gets louder at live concerts

Kanu Sarda l New Delhi

In an attempt to protect the interest of music composers and authors, the Delhi high court has ruled that playing music of other composers in live concerts and at disc jockey (DJ) nights in clubs, hotels and restaurants is illegal and an infringement on the Copyright Act. Justice VK Jain, while slapping a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on Ad Venture Communication India for using certain tracks in its live concert, said, “The company exploited the work in which copyright is held by the plaintiff, for their commercial advantage and to the detriment of the authors and composers of the works. As far as grant of damages is concerned, the live performance in an event organised on a commercial basis by selling tickets needs to be treated differently from the live performance say in a family function.” “A soft view, while awarding damages against a person infringing copyrights of the others to earn unlawful profits by organising live events, would be wholly misplaced and uncalled for. If the damages awarded against such persons are token in nature and do not pinch the infringer, that would only encourage the infringer to repeat such acts in future at the cost of some other copyright holder,” the court said. The order came on a petition filed by the Indian Performing Right Society complaining about the copyright infringement by the company at its live concerts and at DJ nights. “Being a live performance of the music played at the live concert, permission from the author and composer was necessarily required before undertaking any such performance,” the court ruled adding that it shall be obligatory for the defendant to ensure that no copyright of the plaintiff-company is infringed in any event organised by it by way of live performance. “The court needs to take note of the fact that a lot of energy and resources are spent in litigating against those who infringe the trademark and copyright of others and try to encash upon the goodwill and reputation of other brands by passing of their goods and/or services as those of that well known brand,” the court observed while noting that the company who organised the live concert had sold tickets of the event for Rs 500 each. Source:::::  DNA, 27-09-2012, p.09. http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=27977&boxid=15228&ed_date=2012-9-27&ed_code=820009&ed_page=9

The Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2012 - Sailent features of the Bill regarding Library

The Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2012

The Copyright Amendment Bill 2010 was discussed on thursday in the Rajya Sabha. It was passed by the House, finally after being on the shelves for two years.

One of the positive proposed amendments is the extension of fair dealings to all works, and parallel importation ( importation of a non counterfeit product from another country without the permission of the intellectual property owner) will be allowed. This would prove beneficial to the use and importation of products based regions other than the place of consumption or use.

The scope of use of works in educational institutions and for educational purposes will be expanded and libraries will be allowed to keep electronic records of their contents. Copyright societies, under the amendment are to be responsible to the authors of works and not to copyright societies.

The amendment further attempts to utilise open source software for open licensing. The partial exemption for online intermediaries regarding transient and incidental storage appears to be an attempt to incorporate the safe harbour provision of the American Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

A possible negative provision of the bill is the proposed increase in the duration of copyright, which would reduce the accessibility and usability of the work to the general public. Further, technological protection measures to be introduced in India may mirror the anti-consumer character they have in other countries.

 

Copyright bill gets RS nod sans movie royalty clause

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Thursday approved the Copyright Amendment Bill which seeks to remove operational difficulties and address newer issues related to the digital world and world wide web. The Bill could, however, be passed with the government dropping a provision of giving royalty to the principal director of a film. 
    The bill, moved by HRD minister Kapil Sibal, also seeks to bring Indian laws originally enacted in 1957 in conformity with international norms and the World Intellectual Property Organization. 
    Replying to the debate, Sibal said a clause with a provision of giving royalty to the principal director of a film has been dropped in keeping with the suggestion of the Parliamentary standing committee. 
    “We wanted to actually give this right over royalty to the principal director. He is perhaps principal creator. But there was a feeling expressed by the parliamentary standing committee that time the is not ripe to give that right. So, we are dropping (it),” he said. 
    Initiating the discussion, nominated member and lyricist Javed Akhtar said that companies have sway over songs and the writers and singers do not get much from the commercial success. “Music companies dictate terms to even noted musicians like A R Rahman and others,” he said. 
    Samajwadi Party member Jaya Bachchan talked about the widespread prevalence of pirated songs and music and urged that the bill should address the issue. She stressed that everybody associated with creation of a song of film should be rewarded as these are “created collectively”. 
    The Bill reflects seven broad areas, including right of author and music composer, right to visually impaired, extending compulsory regime to unpublished work, imposition of punitive actions among others. 
    Sibal said piracy issue has been dealt with properly in the Bill. “We are in the midst of new era, which I call digital era. In this digital era, the nature of rights of stakeholders need to be looked afresh.”


Source::: The Times of India, 18-05-2012, p.11 : http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW