COPYRIGHT IN WEBINARS

The unprecedented outbreak of Covid-19 leads to online teaching through webinars and conferences. The Copyright Act, 1957 covers webinars as literary work where protection will be granted to the written and original form of speech of the speaker. Section 13 read with section 2(n) of the interpretation part forms the pillar of webinar protection under the Copyright Act, 1957.

COPYRIGHT IN WEBINARS

INTRODUCTION

With the emergence of Covid19 in early 2019 in various parts of the world, the depicted global concern brought pandemic into the picture. The unprecedented outbreak of SARS caused schools and colleges to shut down which lead to online teaching through webinars and conferences. The number of webinars rose exponentially kicking in the strict lockdown implemented. Whether the recording of the webinar will bring the question of copyright infringement or not is the current issue.

The Berne Convention for the protection of literary and artistic works under section 2(1) provides for the protection of expression in literary form.[1] Here, literary work is defined as the expression in the form of books, pamphlets, speech, lectures, stories, etc. Copyright protection persists from the time the work or creation is fixed into a tangible form or writing from.[2]

The primary concern is the protection of content delivered during the webinar session. The speeches, lecture series, discussion, and resource materials delivered during the webinar are a matter of copyrighted work covered under the literary work under section 13 of the Copyright Act, 1957.

Section 2(n) of the Copyright Act provides that a lecture in the form of speech, address, or sermon is protected as a literary form of work. A webinar that contains speech for academic purpose, presentation, content, speech before the audience, or lecture is covered by this section. Section 13 of the Act read with section 2(n) of the interpretation part forms the pillar of webinar protection under the Copyright Act, 1957.

Also, under section 17 of the Act, it is provided that the author of the original work shall be the first owner of the Copyrighted Work. By virtue of sub-section (cc) of section 17, copyright is granted to the person who has delivered the speech and shall be regarded as the first owner of the work. Similarly, in a webinar where speech or lecture is delivered through the medium of the internet to the students or scholars at large, protection is granted to the speaker of the webinar.

Section 17(cc) is only applicable to that webinar lectures which are delivered in Public or to a specific audience. In GARWARE PLASTICS V. TELELINK [3], it was reiterated by the court that here ‘Public’ refers to the part of the audience who has some common interest in attending the lecture and possess some unifying link. Where the portion of the public does not have a common interest or unifying link will be set aside as the general public. The webinar must address a certain group of like people.

Under section 14 (a)(iv) of the Act, the organizer or the speaker of the webinar have the right to record the session. Recording made by any other person apart from the person authorized one will lead to copyright infringement.

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CONTRACT OF SERVICE AND WEBINAR PROTECTION

Generally, copyright protection is granted to such a person who delivers the speech or addresses the public through lectures. The copyright protection shall be granted to the speaker of the webinar and not the organizer of the webinar. This is not applicable if the speaker is under a Contract of Service with the organizer or delivering a lecture on behalf of some other person.

In NEETU SINGH V. RAJIV SAUMITRA & ORS.,[4] it was held by the Delhi High Court that the proprietor of the organization and not the author of the work will be the first owner of the copyright in case there is an agreement on the contrary.[5] Therefore, where the speaker of the webinar is in Contract of Service with the organization then the copyright subsists with the organization and not the speaker.

SCRIPTED VERSUS SPONTANEOUS SPEECH

This section will deal with the protection of speech of the speaker in the webinar in reference to scripted versus spontaneous speech. The Copyright Act, 1957 covers webinars as literary work where protection will be granted to the written and original form of speech of the speaker.[6] On the contrary, unscripted, spontaneous, and impromptu speeches are not given proper protection because they don’t qualify the test of originality.

In the case of FALWELL V. PENTHOUSE INTL. LTD. (1981),[7] the District Court, West Virginia held that, if copyright protection is given in every utterance of the word, opinion, private conversation, thoughts, or spontaneous answer during the interview then every word will be a valuable property right of the speaker. Therefore, published and scripted speech should be encouraged for copyright protection.

Contrary to this opinion, in FEIST PUBLICATION INC. V. RURAL TELEPHONE SERVICE CO. INC.[8] the U.S. Supreme Court held that greater weightage is given to originality and not written or scripted speech. The work must be an original work of the author with a minimal degree of creativity and originality.

With the analysis of the above cases, it is recommended to record the original contents of the webinar in writing. Scripted, recorded, and written lecture or speech in the webinar is given adequate protection under the Copyright Act, 1957. Besides that, unscripted speech or content in the webinar will be given minimal protection as a lesser degree of originality will be perceived from this work.

CONCLUSION

Unlike UK legislation, in the Indian Copyright Act, the speaker or reporter is required to present the written or print form of such presentation to be communicated to the public. Copyright protects the originality of work when the speaker delivers the speech which is an outcome of its intellectual capacity. UK Copyright Act protects the unscripted and impromptu speech of the speaker.

The general rule in the protection of webinar content is that the webinar is made solely for educational purpose before the public. Private and public webinars, both are protected under the copyright law irrespective of the concerned public. The speaker of the webinar is the owner of the copyright and not the organizer unless it is bound by the contract of service in the course of employment. It is always advisable to seek protection for recorded and scripted content of the webinar.

 

BY - SOUMYA SONI

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[1] Section 2(y) of the Copyright Act, 1957

[2] Eynon, A., 2016. Book review of Secker, J. and Morrison, C. (eds). 2016. Copyright and E-learning: a guide for practitioners. 2nd ed., London: Facet. Journal of Information Literacy, [online] 10(2), p.107. Available at: https://ukcopyrightliteracy.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/chapter-6_secker-m_copyright-e-learning-2nd-edn.pdf

[3] AIR 1989 Bom 331

[4] CS(COMM) 935/2016

[5] Section 17 (a) of the Copyright Act, 1957

[6] Cala Homes (South) Limited v. Alfred McAlpine Homes East Ltd., (1995) F.S.R. 818

[7] 215 U.S.P.Q. 975

[8] 499 U.S. 340