Intellectual Property (IP) refers to the creations of the mind including inventions, designs, symbols, names, images, literary and artistic works used in commerce[1]. IP enable the owner/creator of the IP to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they have invented or created, for example, trademarks, patents, copyright, designs, geographical indications, trade secrets etc. Copyright is a vital intellectual property (IP) that guarantees a creator the right to safeguard the expressions of literary, artistic, dramatic, musical work, cinematography film, and sound recording of an original work. It bolsters innovation and creativity while controlling the reproduction of work and also grants IP rights to person, group of individuals or organizing parties who are involved in presenting their work in public domain such as broadcaster or performers. Copyright grants a bundle of rights to the authors or creators to safeguard their original work such as right to use, right to reproduce the work, right to broadcast, right to perform publicly etc. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) describes copyright as the rights that the authors have over their literary or artistic work that includes books, music, paintings, sculpture and films to computer programmes, databases, advertisements, technical drawings and maps.[2] Copyright law gives control to authors or creators over their product. Thus, writers, performers, musicians, students, researchers, teachers, librarians, movie producers etc. exist in a web of cultural and economic relations subject to copyright law in India. Copyrights infringement can be seen both as economic and moral violation and with the proliferation of the internet and internet connected devices copyright infringement has become seamless and at scale. The biggest change in today’s era is in digital domain and protection of copyright has become a significant challenge because of technological advancements such as software’s, videos, music, OTT platforms etc. According to USTR Annual Special 301 report, there is an estimate of 2.5 or nearly half a trillion dollars’ worth of imports worldwide are pirated and counterfeit goods[3]. As of October 2020, roughly 4.66 billion people around the world use the internet that is close to 60% of the world’s total population and the number is still rising. Internet users around the globe are growing at an annualized rate of more than 7% which amounts to more than 875,000 new users each day[4]. In India, as of December 2020, the value of the audio OTT market was 250 million and the music consumption per week stood at 21.5 hours that is comparatively higher from the global average of 17.8 hours[5]. According to The State of Online Video Report 2020, In India as of December 2020, viewers watch the most online video each week at an average of 10hours & 54minutes outdoing the global average by 3 hours[6]. Therefore, in this digital era, the protection of work by copyright has become a major challenge because of the emergence of new category and kind of works such as software’s, digital music, videos, OTT platforms (music and video). The copyright related issues/infringement in the digital domain can be carried at a low cost, with an ease and even without compromising with the quality. Besides this, serious issues that are coming up in Indian legislation including, internet piracy, rights of reproduction, liability of internet service provider (ISP), jurisdiction, implementation of laws, jurisdiction issues are some of the biggest concerns of this era.

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