Law Matters | IN Content Law

Statutory Licences It has been proposed to introduce into the Copyright Act, two statutory licenses: one for cover versions, and the other for radio broadcasting of literary and musical works and sound recordings. Statutory Licence for Radio Broadcasting of Literary and Musical Works and Sound Recording The proposed Section 31D deals with statutory licensing of the broadcast of literary works, musical works and sound recordings. It states: 31D. (1) Any broadcasting organisation desirous of communicating to the public by way of a broadcast or by way of performance of a literary or musical work and sound recording which has already been published may do so subject to the provisions of this section. (2) The broadcasting organisation shall give prior notice, in such manner as may be prescribed, of its intention to broadcast the work stating the duration and territorial coverage of the broadcast, and shall pay to the owner of rights in each work royalties in the manner and at the rat...

Copyright licences may be either voluntarily entered into by the copyright owner (i.e. the licensor) or be imposed on him. If the licence is not voluntarily entered into by the copyright owner, it is referred to as a non-voluntary licence, and it may assume the form of either a compulsory licence or a statutory licence. It has been proposed to amend the provisions which deal with compulsory copyright licenses as well as to insert into the Copyright Act provisions which would create new kinds of non-voluntary licenses. Compulsory Licences There are currently four sections in the Copyright Act, 1957 which deal with compulsory licenses. It has been proposed to amend some of the provisions of these sections to widen their scope, as well as to insert into the Act a new compulsory licence for the benefit of disabled persons. Section 31 Section 31 of the Copyright Act, 1957 deals with the grant of compulsory licenses in respect of certain works withheld from the public. Under this sect...

In a music publishing agreement, the primary source of income for the parties i.e. the music publisher and the musician (whether he be a lyricist, composer or performer) is the receipt of royalties in respect of the song(s) which form the subject of the Agreement. The royalties, which would be payable to the Musician in the absence of the Agreement, are split between the Publisher and the Musician. However, the manner of splitting royalties is rarely an unsophisticated “ x ” : “ y ” ratio. It is, instead, a ratio specific to the manner of exploitation which states: “ x ” : “ y ” in respect of “ z ” manner of exploitation In this formula, “ x ” represents the musician’s share, “ y ” represents the publisher’s share and “ z ” represents royalties generated through any of the following categories some of which may overlap: Sheet music Performance Mechanical royalties Synchronisation Broadcast Arrangements Online and Mobile including on-demand ente...

Introduction Disabled persons are routinely made invisible in Indian society, and the structural and societal support they receive is extremely limited – where such support exists at all. Thus far, in Indian Copyright Law, there has been no provision under which works protected by copyright could be legally reproduced in alternative formats which were accessible by persons with one or more disabilities. This is a situation which the Indian Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010 (the ‘Amendment Bill’) has attempted to address. However, there have been concerns about the manner in which the Bill attempts to do so. The subject of disability demographics presents several challenges and there appear to be no accurate statistics available with reference to the precise numbers of persons who are prevented from enjoying and using copyrighted works to the maximum possible extent by reason of their disability. According to the 2001 Census, there were 2.19 crore persons with disabilities in India. A...