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Artificial Intelligence: An Opportunity to Recast Copyright Law

. Draft: 14 MAY 2025 This piece considers the interaction of Indian copyright law and artificial intelligence, explores how the law could be amended to make it more compatible with AI, and suggests that AI has simply highlighted age-old concerns which the law has given rise to rather than created a series of novel challenges. * An early draft of this piece was originally published here as ' Artificial Intelligence: The Making or Breaking of Copyright Law ' on April 8, 2025. Contents 1 Assisted Creativity and Copyrightability . 2 2 Privileged Creators and Trade . 4 3 The Statutory Anticipation of AI . 5 4 Acknowledged Authorship . 8 5 The Data underlying Computational Creativity 6 Rethinking the Scope of Protection . 15 1 ...

The Garden as the World

The garden, closed off though it generally is, reflects the world to which it belongs. This piece, written from a place of disenchantment, considers the structure of gardens, and attempts to explore, through law and literature, the manner in which the law has a tendency to prioritise the protection of that which is attributable to the socially privileged. v1.2 9 MARCH 2025 The garden is often an escape into a liminal world between the quotidian and the fantastic, the ornamental and the productive. It is a world in which it is difficult not to find beauty but in which beauty, even when it is naught but artifice, is not necessarily considered to be art in any sense that copyright law would recognise despite the fact that, to be a garden, the space in which it exists must have been influenced by human skill, creativity, and vision. The Remains of the Past The gardens of our imaginations stretch the spectrum from luxuriant, barely contained wildness to nature severely constrained. Whi...

Monographs & Essays

The Bollywood Amendments (2010-2012)

An examination of the provisions of the 2012 amendments to the 1957 Indian Copyright Act which affect the film and music industry. The paper takes into consideration the factual background in which the amendments were made and explores whether they are likely to realise their objectives.

Last revised: 2013
(Available here: SSRN)

Art and Indian Copyright Law: A Statutory Reading

A look at how the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, as amended in 2012, interacts with art (other than films and sound recordings), and, in particular, with Indian art. The first part of this text comprises a feminist and post-colonial reading of the Indian copyright statute while later parts focus on interpreting the provisions of the statute in relation to art.

Last revised: 2017
(Available here: SSRN)

Indian Music: Ancient Traditions, Contemporary Rights

This essay on copyright and creativity discusses cultures of musical borrowing in the realm of Indian music from ancient times to the present day, and examines the effect of the introduction of colonial copyright law in India. It posits that the Western paradigm on which contemporary copyright law is based cannot be easily integrated with Indian musical practices, and argues for the decolonisation of the law.

Last revised: 2023
(Available here: SSRN)

About

IN Content Law is a personal blog which contains the views of its author, Nandita Saikia, alone unless otherwise explicitly stated. The author of the blog may have advised clients on subjects relating to those dealt with in this blog. However, the contents of this blog are not intended to reflect the opinion or position of any person (other than the author) unless otherwise explicitly stated. The posts on this blog relate to copyright and content law from an Indian perspective. They are not professional advice, and should not be considered or construed as such. No action should be taken or omitted on the basis of the contents of this blog. This blog neither creates an attorney-client relationship between the author and any visitor(s) or any other person(s), nor does it seek to do so. The material contained herein is solely for the purpose of academic discussion and is accessible on an as-is basis. No representations or warranties are made as to accuracy, impartiality or fitness of the material on this blog for any use, and the author shall not be liable in any manner to any extent for the consequences of any action taken on the basis of any material herein. Further, no representations or warranties of any nature are made regarding any material which may be linked to from this blog, and the author shall not be responsible for the contents thereof. Revisions: The posts on this blog may be revised from time-to-time for editorial or other purposes without each revision being marked in the post itself. Privacy: "This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyse traffic. Your IP address and user agent are shared with Google, together with performance and security metrics, to ensure quality of service, generate usage statistics and to detect and address abuse." (Learn more.)