This article has been written by Mr. Arjun Singh Tamang, a 2nd year student of Faculty of Law, University of Delhi.
Intellectual Property Rights are the legal rights that are given to the person for their innovative and imaginative creation. Intellectual property is an intangible asset which is the result of human intellectual or creative mind. The Intellectual property has different types of Law like Copyright, Trademark, Industrial Parent, Patent law etc. There are basic concepts in laws relating to intellectual property.
Copyright law is based on the idea of originality, reproduction of the work etc. It is drafted to prevent replication of existing tangible material work in the field of literature and art. The utmost important purpose of the copyright statute is to provide safeguard to the artist or writers from the unwanted and unlawful replication of his imaginative & intellectual work of art.
This statute is based on the Doctrine of unjust enrichment as copyright laws are made of that one cannot make profit by reproducing the skillful & creative work of someone else.
Copyright gives exclusive rights to the person who has created something g original in the field of art and literature. It motivates the authors, composers and artists to create more original and beautiful piece of art.
Due to the great modernization in the field of science and technology apart from the print medium, audio recording music and other methods of spreading the creative works. It became very easy to propagate the work but where all these developments has created new opportunities for the economic exploitation of the work but has actually led the serious difficulties in safeguarding the rights of copyright owners. Furthermore, it became very difficult for the rightful owner of work to protect its piece of work from replication and reproduction. That’s why copyright societies are formed so that these problems can be tackled in more efficient way
Introduction to Copyright Society –
Copyright Society is a legal body that protects and safeguards the interest of the rightful owner who has created some unique piece of work. They give a license of brand in original work, issuing clones of the work, and locating violation of the same. With the inception of the brand act, in 1994 the vittles related to the brand societies and their powers are stated in the act. The brand society was started to overcome the difficulties of the possessors of the creative work by precluding violation, tracking the uses of their work by others etc.
A copyright society is collective society having authors, writers and artists as its members. This society is mentioned in Sec 33 of Indian Copyright Act 1957.
Copyright societies have the duty to watch out for infringement of the copyright and have the authority to take appropriate legal actions against the infringers.
Evolution of Copyright Societies
The performance rights societies were covered by Sections 33 to Section 36 prior to the passage of the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1944. Previously, this society conducted business by providing or granting licenses for the performance in India of any work protected by copyright. However, the scope of such a society’s influence was restricted to the creation of musical, theatrical, and literary works. Provisions relating to copyright organizations were stated in the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1994, which went into effect in 1994.
Registration of Copyright Societies in India
Section 33 of Indian Copyright Act 1957 defines copyright society is a registered collective administration society formed by rightful owners like authors, composers, artists etc. The minimum number required to form a society and to get registered is seven. Once the copyright society is registered then it may conduct the business of issuing and granting licenses in relations to the field in which copyright exists like music, literature, drama, artistic work, including cinematography.
The registration of Copyright Societies is necessary to get into the business of issuing performance rights. There is a proper steps involved in the process of registration. The application form is to be submitted to registrar in form VIII.
Each application must be submitted with:
1. A genuine copy of the application used to incorporate or establish the applicant.
2. The agreement of each member included in the application to serve as a member of the application’s governing body.
3. A statement outlining the applicant’s goals, the organizations it will work with, and the arrangements for accounting and auditing.
4. An undertaking stating that the instrument is constituted or incorporated calls for compliance with the Act’s and these Rules’ provisions.
A copyright society’s registration is valid for five years, but it may be renewed on occasion before that time by submitting an application on Form IX to the Registrar of Copyrights. However, the Central Government has the discretion in matter of renewing the registration, which is done after taking into account the report from the Registrar of Copyrights on how the copyright society operates under Section 36.
Functions of Copyright Societies
1. The copyright society has the power to issue licenses to the rightful owner of the creative work – It is the most significant function of the society. As per section 34 of Copyright act 1957, the copyright society has the inherent power to issue the license to the legal owner. Once the content of the work is unquestionable in the eyes of law as well as the copyright society, then they are empowered to issue the license to the owner of the creative work without any restrictions. They are also empowered to collect the fee for the same.
2. Duty to inform owner of work about full procedure – The copyright organization has the authority to tell the author about the complete procedure and provide them with comprehensive information about the same under Section 35 of the Copyright Act. Additionally, the author must give permission before the copyright society can begin collecting license payments. Furthermore, it is necessary to use the fees that the society has collected.
3. Section 33 of the statute along with rule of 1958 enumerates the concept of tariffs scheme and distribution of the scheme.
Copyright Societies in India
1. Photographic Performance Limited (PPL)
It was found in 1941 and known as PPL India is a performance rights organization having rights of licensing in the field of sound created by its members to the public. Currently PPL owns or controls public performance right of 350+ music labels with more than 4.5 domestic and international sound recordings.
2. Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS)
It was founded in 1969 and it is the sole-authorized body to issue licenses for the use of musical works in India. It is a representative body of music owners, including composers, lyricists (or authors), and music publishers.
3. Indian Reprographic Rights Organization (IRRO)
This copyright society was founded in 2000 under section 33 of Indian Copyright Act 1957. It safeguards the copyright of the rightful owner like authors, writers in the field of literature. It is the sole licensing authority for distributing royalties on behalf of rights holders and issuing licenses to users of copyrighted works created by its members. The goal of IRRO is to strengthen a network that promotes creators’ and publishers’ economic and moral rights while also working to protect authors, visual artists, and publishers’ copyrights.
There are certain case laws which highlights the friction in working of these copyright societies.
1. IPRS LIMITED v HELLO FM RADIO
In this case defendant was broadcasting the songs without prior permission of the society. The Delhi High Court held that defendant are not allowed to use the work of someone else without permission of IPRS and granted the injunction restricting the defendant from broadcasting.
2. PHONOGRAPHIC PERFORMANCE LIMITED V. HOTEL GOLD REGENCY & ORS.
Under the Copyright Act 1957, there is no right to use their name on behalf of someone else as an infringer. The arguments in the judgment refer to sections 33, 34, 54, 55 and 61. The defendant argued that only the copyright owner can sue under section 55, while section 54 specifies that the copyright owner can only grant a license and not file an application suit on his behalf. In the present case, the plaintiff himself argued that he did not have an exclusive license before the Delhi High Court and argued that the Copyright Society cannot be a licensee. Therefore, the licensee has the right to file a lawsuit
3. INDIAN PERFORMING RIGHTS SOCIETY VS KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
In this case it was considered during the opening ceremony of the IPL match the performances were conducted where the owner of the team Shah Rukh Khan came up with the performances but not only his songs but also the songs of other movies where the songs weren’t belonging to him still he performed on the fourteen songs out of which many weren’t his songs as a result the case was filed against the KKR by the concerned society and consequently the instruction for the same granted to the society and also only to work upon what’s important to understand that there’s copyright violation for not only playing the defendant play tracks but also other pictures play track and this matter is still pending in the court.
Conclusion
There are numerous Copyright Societies in all over the world just like it is in India. Also, there are various other difficulties in copyright societies regarding enrollment, licensing, power rights, etc. The main purpose of the brand society is to collect royalties and take colorful measures against the person who contravenes according to the various copyright works. This creates numerous controversies and puts a negative light on Copyright Societies. Copyright Societies helps to copyright possessors to club with foreign Copyright Societies of various countries. Therefore, Copyright Societies plays a major part in copyright proprietor’s life as it helps them in associating in business and in earning a lot of plutocrat.
References
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