OVERVIEW OF THE COPYRIGHT ACT, 1957

Copyright is a kind of intellectual property. Copyright means the exclusive rights to do or authorize to do certain acts in relation to literacy, dramatics, sound recordings, musical work, artistic works and cinematographic films. A copyright is the right to copy or reproduce the work in the word in which copyright subsists.

The object of copyright is to encourage authors, composers, artists and designers who create original works by rewarding them with the exclusive right to exploit that work for monetary gains for a limited period. The first Copyright Act was passed by the Britishers in the year 1914 for our country which was on the model of British Act of 1911. Due to development in the field of communication there came a necessity of some controlling bodies to implement the Copyright Act. These were administrative bodies. Therefore, in the year 1957 the Copyright Act was enacted by the parliament which made the provisions for copyright society, copyright offices and copyright board. The said Copyright Act, 1957 came into force on 21^st January 1958. 

Under Chapter II of the Copyright Act 1957, the copyright office was created and put under immediate control of registrar of copyrights who was obliged to act under superintendence and direction of central government u/s 9(2) of the said act. The central government, u/s 10 of the said act, was empowered to appoint the registrar and deputy registrar of copyrights. The functions of Registrar under the said act are stated in the said Act; and that of the Deputy Registrar are those that the registrar may assign to the deputy registrars for discharging its functions. In the said act, the central government was directed to constitute a copyright board u/s 11 consisting of a chairman and not less than 2 and not more than 14 other members. The powers and procedure of copyright board was laid down u/s 12 of the Copyright Act of 1957.  

By an Amendment Act 7 of 2017, the parliament amended Sections 11 and 12 of the Copyright Act. With this amendment, the appellate board established u/s 83 of the Trademarks Act, 1999 became the appellate board for the purpose of the Copyright Act and was authorized and vested with powers to exercise jurisdiction, powers and authority conferred on it by or under the Copyrights Act.[1] With the amendment of Copyright Act in 2017, the appellate board was vested with the power to regulate its own procedure including the fixing of places and times of its sittings through benches constituted by the chairman of the appellate board from amongst its members.

Through an Amendment Act 38 of 1994, the definition of ‘work’ in section 2(y) (iii) was amended for the word ‘record’ to read as sound recording which came into effect from 10^th May 1995. Accordingly, clause (c) of sub-section 1 of section 13; clause (b) of sub-section 3 of section 13 and sub-section 4 of section 13 of Copyright Act, 1957 was also amended.

The meaning of ‘copyright’ is provided u/s 14 of the Copyright Act, and clause (a)(iv) of section 14 provides that copyright means the exclusive right, subject to the provisions of this act, to do or authorize the doing of or to make any cinematography or sound recording in respect of the work or any substantial part thereof. Clause (e) of section 14 provides for exclusive rights in the case of sound recording. The Copyright Act u/s 27 provides copyright in the case of sound recordings until 60 years from the beginning of the calendar year; next following the year in which the sound recording is published.

RELATION BETWEEN THE ACT AND RADIO

In order to understand the relation between the Copyright Act and radio, let’s look at the provisions under the act which provides for broadcasting. Under the said Act, sub-section 1 of section 31D enables any broadcasting organizations who wish to communicate to the public by way of the 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 section 31D.

In the said section, the provision is laid down for a ‘broadcasting organization,’ but it is not defined under the Copyright Act. Instead, the word ‘broadcast’ is defined under Clause (dd) of Section 2. Broadcast means communication to the public by any means of wireless diffusion, whether in any one or more of the forms of signs, sounds, and all visual images; or by wire, and includes a re-broadcast.[2] As per the definition of ‘broadcast,’ radio is a means of broadcasting.

The expression ‘communication to the public’ defined u/s 2(ff), which was added by an Amendment Act 27 of 2012, means a work or performance which can be made available for the public at large irrespective of  the fact that anyone is watching that work or performance. The intention of the legislature to add the definition of ‘communication to the public’ was to address the issue of misuse of works in digital mediums such as downloading of audio or video for monetary gains.

The terms ‘broadcasting’ and ‘communication to the public’ play an important role in issuing license u/s 31D of the Copyright Act. The case of Tips Industries Ltd. v/s Wynk Music Ltd. and Anr[3]., was decided on the basis of definitions of the said terms. The Plaintiffs therein claimed ownership of copyright of their more than 25,000 sound recordings. On the other hand, the defendants therein who were ‘over the top service’ providers over the internet and smartphones claimed that they should be given the license u/s 31D as they are the broadcasting organization. One of the issues raised in this case was that whether section 31D of the Copyright can be invoked to acquire statutory license for internet broadcasting ?

In response to this question, the court looked into the intention of the legislature while amending the Copyright Act. By looking at section 31D, the court stated that it was apparent that the Legislature, while enacting the section, had the knowledge of difference between ‘right to commercial rental’ and ‘right to broadcast.’ If the legislature intended to include ‘right to commercial rent’ in the purview of section 31D, it would expressly mentioned in the section. The intention of the legislature is also reflected when the section 31D is read along with Sections 2 (dd) and 2(ff).

The ‘Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development’ in their report on ‘The Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010’[4] found that the statutory licensing has been provided so that the musical works can be accessible to the public via FM radio networks. Simultaneously, statutory licensing has also been provided for the owners of the copyright works, who will remain untouched from the drawbacks of entering into prolonged discussions with the owners of the work.

The Copyright Act, 1957 has corresponding rules to it- The Copyright Rules, 2013. These rules have been drafted by taking Radio and Television into account as the means of broadcasting. For the better understanding of the provision under section 31D, it has to be read together with Rule 29 and 31 of the Copyright Rules, 2013. However, by reading only the rules, it can be concluded that the rules support the statutory licensing given under section 31D and that only radio and television broadcasting is covered under the ambit of the term ‘broadcasting organizations.’

CONCLUSION

In a nutshell, the term ‘broadcasting organization’ under section 31D of the Copyright Act, 1957; Copyright Rules, 2013 and the intention of the legislature clearly indicates that broadcasting organization includes radio broadcasting and television broadcasting.

As the world is rapidly moving towards the ‘age of Internet,’ online broadcasting or internet broadcasting has become a common phenomenon. Therefore, it is natural that challenges related to copyright will arise even in web-based broadcasting. Considering the technological advances in the digital era, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal trade of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India[5] had suggested to introduce the Copyright (Amendment) Rules, 2019. Through this amendment it was proposed that the expression ‘radio broadcasting’ and ‘television broadcasting’ in the Copyright Rules, 2013 must be replaced with ‘each mode of broadcast’ in order to bring ‘internet broadcasting’ under the ambit of ‘broadcasting organizations.’ 

REFERENCES:

1.      Tips Industries Ltd. v/s Wynk Music Ltd. and Anr., LEX(BOM) 2019 4 212

2.      PRS Legislative Research. https://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/Copyright%20Act/SCR%20Copyright%20Bill%202010.pdf.

3.      The Gazette of India. http://www.egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2019/204924.pdf.

4.      Sound Recordings and Radio Broadcasts: Copyright Office. https://copyright.unimelb.edu.au/information/what-is-copyright/sound-recordings-and-radio-broadcasts.

5.      Law Business Research, L. Internet Broadcasting Organization and Statutory License under Section 31D of Copyright Act – Lexology. https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=988cd545-d804-413e-947a-5f47be6d03ee#_ftn1.

6.      Copyright Office Government of India. http://copyright.gov.in/Documents/CopyrightRules1957.pdf.