Broadcasting rights and copyright law.

INTRODUCTION 

Advancement in technology has modernized the techniques of broadcasting live coverage and also has motivated thousands of people to take part in a spectacular enthusiasm of showcasing major live events.

Copyright and other related rights, it has strengthened the relationship between the broadcasters and the performers/producers.

One may worry, how media houses and broadcasters maintain relationships between them. Media houses pay huge sum of money to the broadcasters to exercise their exclusive rights to broadcast top life events/ For most of the organization, the sale of broadcasting rights and media rights have become a major and biggest source of income in order to generate funds, such funds may be used to finance live events, performers, decorations and music equipment.

The royalty received by the broadcasters from selling their exclusive footage to the other media outlet enables them to earn more and invest in more costly structure organization and technical infrastructure for setting up the broadcasting space.

Provisions in the copyright Act:

The foremost objective of the act deals with the rights of copyright in its original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, cinematographic films and sound recordings.

The provision relate to broadcast had been in Chapter VIII of the Copyright act inclusive under section 37-39A, let's discuss in detail

Section 2(dd) of the act defines Broadcast as a mean of the communication to the public

• BY, any means of wireless diffusion whether in any one or more of the forms of signs, sounds or visuals images

• By wire and includes a rebroadcast

Section 37 of the Copyright act provides for the protection of the special broadcast reproduction rights of the broadcasting organization. This broadcast reproduction right subsides for 25 years from the beginning of the calendar year next to the year in which broadcast is made.

Under copyright law if any person without any valid license of ownership of these rights re-broadcasts or causes to broadcast as to be heard or seen by the people on payment of any charge or sell or hires to the public then such person shall be deemed to have been infringed the broadcast reproduction right of the owner and would be liable under the act.

Section 38 of the act. Provides the protection of performers right(Performs has been defined under section 2(qq) as to include an actor, musician,  dancer, acrobat, conjurer, snake charmer, a person delivering a lecture or any other person who makes a performance.)

The performers have a special right for appearing or engaging in any performance. Such right shall subsist till fifty year from the beginning of the calendar year till the next performance has been made.

Section 39 of the copyright states the acts which do not infringe broadcast reproduction rights or performer’s rights.

Such act is as follows

(a): Making any sound or visual recordings for the private use of such person or solely for purpose of bona fide teaching or research

(b): use of excerpts of a performance or a broadcast in the reporting of current events or for bona fide review, teaching or research.

©: such other acts with necessary adaptations and modifications which do not constitute an infringement of copyright under Section 52 of the copyright act.

Recent Issue:

The issue with regard to broadcasting of live sports came into light by the Delhi HC case named a Star India Pvt. Ltd. v/s Piyush Agrawal and Ors 13 March, 2013 whereby an agreement entered between Star India and BCCI specified that Star India shall broadcast all the matches organized by BCCI and shall have all the rights related to the matches including the right to create or broadcast text messages.

By the said agreement, Media rights including mobile activation right and mobile rights were entrusted to star India exclusively for a 72 hour period, Star India contested that the Respondents were violating these rights by sending live scores text messages and thereby a suit was filed by the plaintiff for infringement of its exclusive rights.

The main issue in the case were

1. Whether the rights claims by the plaintiff are covered in the Copyright act

2. Whether the plaintiff has exclusive right of the information which is made available in public domain after its first broadcast of the audio/visual means.

The court in the given case finds that

1. A cricket match falls within the purview of performance and thereby cricketers, commentators and umpires are performers under the act.

2. The agreement entered by both the parties cannot itself create a right no envisage under the act.

3. The news or events available in the public domain can’t be monopolized

4. Under copyright law, the principle of fair dealing and public policy will be defeated if the monopoly of 72 hours is exercised by the plaintiff for the event which is exercised in public domain.

Conclusion:

To tackle signal piracy in copyright law, domestic law provides a different form of setup like shutting  off illegal websites, restricting sites for which access is given on the subscription and broadcasting organisations have suggested better legal protection at national and international levels.

India historically placed its reliance on the primacy of public interest and continues to do so for its socio economic development. Infringement of online, electronic and digital uses has been a real challenge before India where the protections are lacking. India needs legislative reforms to balance the public’s ever-increasing desire for appropriate wants to view digital material against the legal rights of the owners of the material, while also aiming to maintain a forward-looking perspective in an attempt to foresee potential technologies advancements that may pose considerable challenges to the traditional copyright law.

written by:

Priyanshu Jain.