In my last post I had stated that the amendments to the Copyright Amendment Bill, 2010 would now allow for only for one copyright society to subsume the functions of both IPRS and PPL. As pointed out in the comments section to my last post, such an interpretation may not be entirely accurate. The amendment would allow IPRS and PPL to continue their businesses separately provided that they re-register themselves. Having said that I don’t think that there is any bar against the Registrar of Copyrights from considering an application for a new copyright society which combines the functions of IPRS and PPL. Such a move makes it much easier for content users since they will now have to negotiate with only one body instead of two. In fact this was the logic for Select Media Pvt. Ltd. to collect royalties on behalf of both PPL and IPRS. I’m not sure of the status in other countries but I do know that the E.U. was asking India to for such a clause in the FTA that it was negotiating with India.
About The Author
Prashant Reddy
T. Prashant Reddy graduated from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, with a B.A.LLB (Hons.) degree in 2008. He later graduated with a LLM degree (Law, Science & Technology) from the Stanford Law School in 2013. Prashant has worked with law firms in Delhi and in academia in India and Singapore. He is also co-author of the book Create, Copy, Disrupt: India's Intellectual Property Dilemmas (OUP).
Well Its very much questionable from time to time regarding the royalties collected from Public. Now suppose I am playing a music in my Hotel why should I pay thrice for that particular song. is it not possible that their will be a single window and then all the societies like Novex, PPL. IPRS and others distribute among themselves.