Copyright Amendment Act 2012

Compulsory License for the Disabled

Any person working for the benefit of persons with disability on a profit basis
or for business may apply to the Copyright Board.
The Copyright Board will give application within a period of two months from
the date of receipt of application.
The compulsory license issued must specify the means and format of
publication, the period during which the compulsory license may be exercised
and the number of copies that may be issued including the rate or royalty.

Statutory Licenses for cover versions

A new section has been introduced for provision of statutory

license to any person desiring to make a cover version of a
sound recording in respect of any literary, dramatic or
musical work.
The amendment provides that the person making the sound
recording shall give to the owner prior notice of his intention
in the prescribed manner, provide the copies of all covers or
labels with which the version is supposed to be sold, and pay
in advance the royalty at the rate fixed by the Copyright
Board.
Such sound recordings can be made only after a time
duration of more than 5 years after publication of the original
sound recording. The minimum royalty for 50,000 copies of
the work during each calendar year must be paid to the
original creator

Statutory licence for broadcasting of literary and musical works and sound recording

A new section for statutory license for broadcasters has been

brought to facilitate access to the works for the broadcasting
industry.
The amendment provides that any broadcasting organization
desiring to broadcast a work including sound recording may
do so by giving prior notice to the right holders and pay
royalty as fixed by the Copyright Board in advance.
The rates for royalties shall be different for radio
broadcasting and for television broadcasting. The names of

the authors and principal performers shall be announced

during the broadcast.
The broadcasting organization shall maintain records of the
broadcast, books of account and render to the owner such
records and books of account.

Tariff Scheme of Copyright Societies

A new section has been inserted stating that every
copyright society must publish its tariff scheme in the
prescribed manner.
Any grievances regarding the tariff shall be handled by
the Copyright Board by holding enquiries as required.
The aggrieved person shall have to pay the required fees
to the Copyright Board before making an appeal.
The Copyright Board may after hearing the parties fix an
interim tariff and direct the aggrieved parties to make the
payment accordingly.

Performers and their rights:

The performers right has been restructured; for the most
part, the restructuring has not resulted in substantial
changes although one striking difference is that performers
are now entitled for royalties in case of making of the
performances for commercial use under the new Section
38A.
Performers have also been accorded moral rights in the new
Section 38B. These rights are similar to the moral rights
accorded to authors and basically encompass the rights to
paternity and integrity.
An amendment to the definition of a performer in Section
2(qq) means that, among film actors, only those performers
credited in cinematograph films would be entitled to the
performers right and to the right to integrity. All performers
in cinematograph films, whether or not credited, however,
are granted the right to integrity

Protection of Technological Measures

The new section introduced for protection of technological
protection measures (TPM) used by a copyright owner to

protect his rights on the work, makes circumvention of it a

criminal offence punishable with imprisonment.

As a result, any person who finds his way around an

effective technological measure applied for the protection of
any of the rights, with the intention of infringing such rights,
shall be punishable with imprisonment, which may extend to
two years and shall also be liable to fine.
The rationale is to prevent the possibility of high rate
infringement (digital piracy) in the digital media.
Protection of Rights Management Information.Any person, who knowingly, removes or alters any rights management information
without authority, or
distributes, imports for distribution, broadcasts or
communicates to the public, without authority, copies of any
work, or performance knowing that electronic rights
management information has been removed or altered
without authority,
shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend
to two years and shall also be liable to fine.
INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHTS
Copyright protection gives exclusive rights to the owners of
the work to reproduce the work enabling them to derive
financial benefits by exercising such rights. If any person
without authorisation from the own exercises these rights in
respect of the work which has copyright protection it
constitutes an infringement of the copyright. If the
reproduction of the work is carried out after the expiry of the
copyright term it will not amount to an infringement
it is observed that whenever there is misappropriation of
intellectual property of which the primary beneficiary is the
copyright owner there is infringement of copyright. Copyright
is a property right. Throughout the world it is regarded as a
form of property worthy of special protection in the ultimate
public interest. The law starts from the premise that
protection would be as long and as broad as possible and
should provide only those
exceptions and limitations which are essential in the public
interest.
Section 51 of the Act contemplates situations where
copyright in a work shall be deemed to be infringed. As per
this section copyright in a work is infringed when any person
without a licence granted by the owner of

the copyright or the Registrar of Copyright or in

contravention of the conditions of a license so granted or of
any condition imposed by a competent authority does
(1) anything for which the exclusive right is conferred upon
the owner of the copyright, or
(2) permits for profit any place to be used for the
communication of the work to public where such a
communication constitutes an infringement of the copyright
in the work, unless he was not aware and had no reasonable
ground for believing that such communication would be an
infringement of
copyright.
(3) when any person (i) makes for sale or hire or lets for hire
or by way of trade display or offers for sale or hire, or (ii)
distributes either for the purpose of trade or to such an
extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright, or
(iii) by way of trade, exhibits in public, or (iv) imports into
India any infringing copies of the work.
However, import of one copy of any work is allowed for
private and domestic use of the importer. Explanation
to Section 51 clarifies that the reproduction of literary,
dramatic, musical or artistic work in the form of
cinematograph film shall be deemed to be an infringing copy.
some of the commonly known acts involving infringement of
copyright:

Making infringing copies for sale or hire or selling or letting

them for hire;

Permitting any place for the performance of works in public

where such performance constitutes infringement of
copyright;

Distributing infringing copies for the purpose of trade or to

such an extent so as to affect prejudicially the interest of the
owner of copyright ;

Public exhibition of infringing copies by way of trade; and

Importation of infringing copies into India.

Remedies against Infringement of Copyright

civil remedies

where copyright in any work has been infringed, the owner of the copyright can,
except as otherwise provided in the Act, be entitled to all remedies like injunctions,
damages and accounts as are conferred by law for the infringement of a right.
However, if the defendant proves that at the date of the infringement he was not
aware and had no reasonable ground to believe that copyright subsisted in the
work, the plaintiff will not be entitled to any remedy other than an injunction in
respect of the infringement and a decree for the whole or part of the profits made
by the defendant by the sale of the infringing copies as the court may, in the
circumstances, deem reasonable.
Administrative remedies
consist of moving the Registrar of Copyrights under Section 53 to ban the import of
infringing copies into India and the delivery of infringing copies confiscated to the
owner of the copyright.
Criminal remedies
provide for the imprisonment of the accused or imposition of fine or both, seizure of
infringing Copies and delivery of infringing copies to the owner of the copyright.
Prior to the maximum punishment for infringement of copyright was one year's
imprisonment and fine.