Author name: Amlan Mohanty

Intermediary Liability for Copyright Infringement in India: Few Thoughts in the Wake of Viacom v. Youtube [Part II]

Continuing from my previous post, about the liability of intermediaries in India, after my reading of Viacom v. Youtube and the raging debates on this blog and elsewhere about the correct interpretation of Section 79 and Section 81 of the Information Technology Act, I put forth the following analysis with the assumption that there will be some clarity on the interpretation of S.81 soon, and if as expected, it mirrors the purpose, character and substance of the DMCA, the following […]

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Intermediary Liability for Copyright Infringement in India: Few Thoughts in the Wake of Viacom v. Youtube [Part I]

About a week ago, we had a guest post summarising the recently delivered judgement in the case of Viacom v. Youtube, a case that dealt exclusively with the liability of an intermediary in the case of widespread copyright infringement, a topic that is fast assuming significance and has formed the subject matter of litigation even in Indian courts. In the next two posts, I will proceed to do the following – (a) begin with a very quick recap of the

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Guest Post: Viacom loses $1 billion copyright infringement battle against YouTube

We are pleased to present to our readers a guest post by Ashish Arun on the recent motion for summary judgement in the Google v. Viacom case, dealing with intermediary liability for copyright infringement. Asish is a law graduate from the National University of Juridical Sciences and is the Managing Partner at Offshore Research Partners, a Legal Process Outsourcing firm based in Kolkata. His primary areas of work are litigation support and Intellectual Property Rights. ORP provides services to AmLaw

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Controller General Kurian Facilitates Trademark Transparency

With all the controversy surrounding the trademark portfolio, currently in the hands of PH Kurian, the the current Controller General, news that the Intellectual Property Office has made available to the public, complete details relating to Trademark Registry is heartening to note and is another example of his continued efforts to increase transparency and public accountability in the trademark office. From the IPO website’s homepage, a short news report states that: “In a further step to achieve complete transparency in

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Fair Dealings by Television Networks: SCIL v. Hamar Television

With all the hoopla surrounding the Copyright Act amendments, a recent decision of the Delhi High Court (Super Cassettes Industries Ltd. v. Hamar Television Network Pvt. Ltd) which throws some light on the extent of the fair dealing provisions that are statutorily provided under the Indian Copyright Act as of today, provides a good basis to anchor one’s arguments in support of or against the expansion of fair dealing provisions under the Act. I have attempted a brief examination of

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India Slams ACTA at TRIPS Council: Addresses Specific Concerns

A few days ago, we reported that India and China were going to take a brazen stand at the WTO TRIPS Council meeting, confronting several issues that emerged in relation to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (see our earlier posts on ACTA). While misgivings about the substantive provisions have continued for a while now, the wider concerns of non-negotiating countries such as India and China revolve around the undesirable precedent of multilateral and bilateral agreements mandating ACTA-implementation and the incorporation of

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Copyright Licensing: Online Streaming of Television Shows

I’ve noticed that my television viewing hours have drastically reduced off late and this triggered off a question in my mind – Has television become obsolete or has its content merely shifted to a new medium – the Internet? My friends abroad, stream episode after episode of their favourite shows online (legally), and I was curious to understand how the licensing of these shows worked, and whether India could ever benefit from this potentially inexpensive and easier to use distribution

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SpicyIP Tidbits: ACTA Mistrust Intensifies – India and China Come Together

When it comes to a discussion on the ACTA, the variables remain the same, and not much seems to have changed. The negotiations run their own course, in intermittent phases of secrecy and sudden displays of transparency, while civil society groups and other bodies continue their opposition, unabated. But more recently, we have seen the coming together of those countries that have been excluded from the entire process, making concerted efforts towards voicing their concerns at international fora. Recently, we

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SpicyIP Tidbits – Indian Official Expresses Concern about ACTA

Readers might recall a recent post on the potential impact of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement on developing countries. What was missing however, was any official communication from the Indian government on the issue, even after the official text was released. But as IP Watch reports the growing concerns of the public have been finally echoed in the statement of Ashutosh Jindal, an adviser at the Embassy of India to the EU, who attended a hearing organised by the Green Party

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Extension of Copyright Terms in the Copyright Amendments

EXTENSION OF COPYRIGHT TERMS: Photographs and Principal Directors Those of you who have been following the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act would have noticed the extended copyright terms for photographs and principal directors, who have also been accorded joint authorship in cinematographic films, by means of the proposed amendment. This post attempts to provide a simple and objective overview of the changes and a concise opinion on copyright term extensions in general, with a limited application to photographic and

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