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Showing posts from December, 2015

Note: Protecting Traditional Indian Textiles

Some interesting issues arise here : the V&A seems to have displayed a jacket made of fabric with a digitally-printed, Ajrakh-inspired design that also includes a skull motif. This hasn't gone down well in all quarters; no surprise really: Ajrakh is laboriously hand-printed and doesn't involve, AFAIK, skulls. It's from Sindh in Pakistan, as well as Gujarat and Rajasthan in India. The V&A has apparently indicated that the design is Ajrakh-inspired, but... "Haqq ki ladai hai," says Asid Shaikh who's brought this up; it's a fight for rights. I've just run a search at the Indian GI database; to the best of my knowledge, Ajrakh does not have GI protection. So, I'm not certain what the legal approach could be especially since, as I understand it, there's been no attempt to pass Ajrakh-inspired design off as the real thing. At the end of the day though, it isn't really about this jacket, or about Ajrakh alone, but about finding mechan...

The Legality of Publishing Explicit Content

...explicit content other than porn, that is. Reams have been written about the misadventures of the Central Board of Film Certification or CBFC, popularly called the Censor Board. Eve n focussing on just the last few weeks, the CBFC has been in the news for everything from its attempts to rein in the depiction of sex life of James Bond (which, as many wryly commented at the time, not even British Intelligence has ever attempted to do) to, most recently, its having the images of Hindu Goddesses blurred in the film Angry Indian Goddesses . The frequency with which the CBFC steps in to 'clean up' content in films on a variety of grounds would be astonishing if it were not for the fact that it does so so often that its doing so no longer seems surprising in the least. The problem, if that's how one sees it, has to do with the personal perceptions of the members of the CBFC in regard to what sort of content is acceptable. However, the problem doesn't stop there, and it...

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 reflection, 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.)