As by not going too far from the topic we establish that the same goes for the Media Industry which has the biggest impact on our lives, they have to follow some rules, regulations and policies within which they have to serve their purpose and perform their duties responsibly. The Media Industry as we know is a compilation of many mediums, each medium is managed by some or the other organisation like the Press Council of India for the Printing Media, News and Broadcasting Standard Authority for the News Distribution Media, The Central Board of Film Certification for the Movies, Cable Television Network (Regulations) Act, 1995 for the Television Content etc. These Media regulators are self-regulated but all these have the power and freedom derive from the Constitution of India and are answerable to the society and its Protectors.

History and Formation

As we all know that the media is concept of century old, before all this the word of mouth was a prevalent source of information, the kings and the civilians both get the information via this source but we are not going that far we need to just remind ourselves that even though the word of mouth was once a prevalent source it still was regulated because people try to confirm the information with the original source, the same goes for media nowadays, the regulatory boards which we know of can be discussed here –

The Press Council of India (PCI) was originally formed on 4^th July 1966 to preserve the freedom of press and maintaining the standard of print media but was later repealed during Internal Emergency and a fresh legislation is enacted in 1978 for the council, it is a statutory body consists of 28 members selected from a retired Supreme Court Justice, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Editors of Newspaper, Working Journalist, people working in managing newspaper business etc. The Press Council of India has the responsibility to maintain the Freedom of Press, to maintain the high standards of public taste, to encourage the growth of sense of responsibility and public service and a code of conduct for Journalists, apart from it there is Sec 14 and Sec 15 that provides for other responsibilities.[i]

The next in line is News Broadcasters Authority (NBA) or the News Broadcasting Standards Authority is a self-regulated body formed in 2007 by the leading broadcasters of news for the regulation and with 9 members, it is formed under the Indian Broadcasting Foundation a parent company for Broadcasting Content Complaint Council (BCCC) too. It regulates the content and establishes the Code of ethics and Broadcasting Standards.[ii]

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is statutory body formed Ministry of Information and Broadcasting under the provision of Cinematography Act, 1952. There are non-official members and chairman apart from that there are 23 members in a Censor board which regulates and provide guidelines for exhibition u/s 5 B of the Cinematography (Certification) Rules, 1983 with Certificates like U, U/A, A and S.[iii]

For the Television Industry, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 was created, through which a Parliamentary body was established in 1997 with the name of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to regulate telecom services. It is the duty of TRAI to regulate and create policies for Telecom Media like The National Telecom Policy, 2012 which has the objective to secure, affordable and high quality telecommunication services to all citizens etc.[iv]. Apart from it the need to regulate the broadcasting content was shown in the case of Shiv Cable TV System vs. The State of Rajasthan[v] which lead to the need and creation of “The Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act of 1995”.

These are only a few of many other regulatory bodies that govern the Media Content in our country to present as an example. The role of these media regulators is to provide adequate freedom for content and representation of their idea and views over the Media Platform.

Why do they regulate?

Now we know that there are more than few Organisation, Boards and Acts that regulate the Media. But why do they do it? The thing is that every industry needs an authority to govern the modus operandi and a body to protect them to work in their own way and to regulate if they go off the path that’s where these Board and Act comes in.

Still there are times these regulatory bodies have to take the help of Judiciary like in case of Ajay Goswami vs. Union of India[vi], (2007) which comment on Press Council of India and its lack of power for penalizing, similarly in M/s Prakash Jha Productions & Anr. Vs. Union of India & Ors[vii] for the movie Aarakshan or Krishna Mishra and Anr. Vs. Central Board of Film Certification, for the movie Beehad where the parties has to lead to the court for defense and for exercise of power are the prominent examples.

Need for Regulation and Policies

We do know that the rules and policies are made for the benefit of the society, the same goes for the media industry it is also needed to be refrain or regulate from commission or supporting acts that can harm the society. When the Media is misutilizing the power conferred upon it by the Constitution like by Conducting Media Trials, lack of responsibility towards action without conviction etc. at those moments it is necessary for the society, the government and the regulatory body to think whether the regulation and policies made to correct the mishaps are enough, the checks placed is enough. The most notable event of Trial by media is in the case of Sarvjeet Singh Bedi’s case ( or as many of you know as Jasleen Kaun’s Sexual Harassment case) from New Delhi where the life of an innocent guy is destroyed by Media Trial who was later acquitted by the Court.

Apart from these it is also required to give them the freedom to write about more broad concept and acknowledge the truths of life, so that they can fight and support the people and the work required to save, like the LGBTQ community from the clutches of the societal thinking even after the worldwide recognition.

What to do next?

After reading above we all are thinking what to do next? Or what can we do next? The answer is simple we can support the media for its good work and criticize the media and its regulators on their wrong decisions. Media the regulator, the mirror of the society sometimes need to see the mirror itself. They need to acknowledge that they have the duty towards the society, toward us the reader, the viewers and the listeners. And these regulatory bodies i.e. The Media Regulators and Policymakers to amend the regulation and policies till we find the right solution to the right problem until then we have to keep on trying for the benefit of the next generation.

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As when we talk about Entrepreneurs in this scenario we meant about a person who is innovating ideas by identifying the need for creation to fill the void by bringing their ideas to life and as we already discussed it’s not only about the work of art but also the execution of original ideas too. But As the increased competitiveness and to gain credit of other people hard work, people tend to work out the reproduction or replica or Plagiarism of other’s work. When such an act is done by the people it lead to diminishing the values and the morale of the Innovator or Artist or Entrepreneur toward creativity. Hence the protection of the segment is necessary by the Copyright Act.

 History and Connection

The Copyright Act of India was developed after the International Treaties which include The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Work at Switzerland, 1886, The Universal Copyright Convention of Geneva, 1952, The TRIPS at Marrakech, 1994, WIPO Copyright Treaty at Geneva, 1996 and The Marrakesh VIP Treaty, 2013. These are the treaty signed by India for the Compliance of Copyright laws at an International Standard.

These are the treaties that help in creating the Copyright Act, 1957 which is amended from time to time (as amended with the Copyright Amendments Act, 2012) as well as the Copyright rules, 2013 (repealing the Copyright rules, 1958 and amended by Copyright Amendment Rules, 2016). Apart from that there are multiple document helping understand and protect the Copyright in the Country.

The Connection of these laws with the Entrepreneurs can be seen with the ideas as well as with the WIPO Copyright Treaty that ensures and protect the works and right of author there authors in the digital environment. It also grants some economic rights as well. The Treaty deals with two important subject matters as protected by copyright i.e. The Computer Program, whatever the mode or form of their expression and The Compilation of Data and other material. This provides relief to the Entrepreneurs on their work and innovation and protects the digital form as well.[i]

Protection of Rights But How?

The protection of this act can be avail by the Artist and the Entrepreneurs in their work by simple creating the original work, as the acquisition of copyright is not mandatory and such protection is provided through the International Copyright Order, 1999 but still it is recommended to avail the Certificate of registration of the Copyright as required to serve as a prima facie evidence in the purpose of Judicial or Legal Matter to prove the Ownership of Copyright.

The Sec 13 of the Act provides the list of works in which Copyright protection subsists and Sec 14 of the act gives the list of definition as well as the exclusive right of such work as given in sec 13 of the act like the right of adaptation, reproduction, publication etc.

The Protection of such Copyright has a limited time period of 60 years from the date of publication of such work, as the perpetuity of such protection will lead to eclipsing the light of further advancement and the stops the scope of creativity among people. Such protections are avail for the entrepreneurs to gain from their work of art like from the fees of using rights by means of reproduction, adaptation, issuing copies, publication, cinematograph films, sound recording, translation etc. as well as the selling of such rights to other.

These rights are protected by the law through the Copyright Office and Appellate Board which is empowered by the Sec 9 to Sec 12 of the Copyright Act, 1957, and also by the judiciary through taking cognizance in the matter as for example in cases of Eastern Book Company vs. Navin J. Desai[ii],  Godrej Soap (P) ltd. vs. Dora Cosmetics Co.[iii],  Caterpillar Inc vs. Kailash Nichani[iv], Lachmandas Behari vs. Padam Trading Co[v],  Lal Babu Priyadarshi vs. Badshah Industries[vi] are a few of many example of such where the Judciary protected the right of the Copyright holder and provided relief on ownership, infringement, Judicial interpretation and rectification of such copyright.

This protection so avail are not only in form of civil remedy like the permanent injunction or damage to be paid or cost of legal proceeding but also as stated in Sec 63 of the Copyright act as in case of infringement with the sentence of imprisonment not less than 6 months which can be extended upto 3 years as well as fine of Rs. 50000/- which can be extended upto 200000/- rupees.      

The similar can be seen in the International Copyright segment of the Act where Sec 40 of the act covers the Power to extend the right to Foreign Work as well.

Exception of these Protection

The exception to the protection can be seen for the uses of the work –

·         For the purpose of research of private study,

·         For criticism and review,

·         For report current events,

·         In connection with judicial proceeding,

·         Performance by amateur club or society if such given to non-paying audience and

·         The making of sound recording of literary work in certain conditions[vii]

Apart from these the word of meaning author also falls within the category if such author works within the preview of employment of Government, Public Sector Undertaking, as a journalist during his employment or work produced for the valuable consideration at the instance of another person as given in Sec 17 of the Act.[viii]

Conclusion

So with the above criteria we can understand how the protection can be given to entrepreneurs on their work or idea as well as when such protection cannot be avail for. It is also can be derived that entrepreneurs in their work as like the Nicolas tesla’s idea for bulb, the Henry Ford’s execution of assembly line, the computer programs developed by Companies like Windows and Apple, the work by Media companies with a certain method cannot be copied and falls within the purview of the Copyright Act and the such protection shall be given to them.

It is necessary to safeguard the interest of people as if we aren’t able to protect it, the people with fear won’t able to work towards the advancement of society. And  it is our responsibility as well as duty to make Innovators, Entrepreneurs and Artists free from fear and to continue working towards a better future.

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