{"id":37458,"date":"2023-09-27T01:20:57","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T19:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=37458"},"modified":"2025-04-22T20:39:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T15:09:51","slug":"copyright-infringement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/copyright-infringement\/","title":{"rendered":"What is copyright infringement and when does it apply?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The Delhi High Court has issued summons to an Instagram account called People of India (POI), in a copyright infringement suit filed by the storytelling platform Humans of Bombay (HOB).<\/li>\n<li>Besides copyright infringement, HOB\u2019s plea said that the similarities between the infringing content and its own amounted to \u201c<strong>passing off and unfair competition<\/strong>\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What\u2019s in Today\u2019s Article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>What is Copyright and its Infringement?<\/li>\n<li>What is Passing Off?<\/li>\n<li>The Delhi HC\u2019s Observation in the HOB vs POI Case<\/li>\n<li>What is Intellectual Property (IP)?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is Copyright and its Infringement?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cCopyright\u201d refers to the <strong>right given by the law to creators<\/strong> of literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works and producers of cinematograph films and sound recordings.<\/li>\n<li>It is a <strong>bundle of rights that includes<\/strong> rights of reproduction, communication to the public, adaptation, and translation of a work.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Copyright Act 1957<\/strong> aims to safeguard creative works, which are considered to be the creator\u2019s intellectual property (IP).<\/li>\n<li>A copyrighted work will be considered \u201cinfringed\u201d <strong>only if a substantial part is made use of without authorisation<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>In cases of infringement, <strong>the copyright owner can take legal action<\/strong> against any person who infringes on or violates their copyright and is entitled to remedies such as injunctions, damages, etc.\n<ul>\n<li>An <strong>injunction <\/strong>is an official order given by a law court, usually to stop someone from doing something.<\/li>\n<li>In HOB Stories Pvt. Ltd. vs. POI social media, the HOB was seeking an injunction restraining infringement of the copyright of its copyrighted content.<\/li>\n<li>However, <strong>an injunction only acts as a deterrent<\/strong> and does not mean that all alleged instances of misuse will be corrected immediately.<\/li>\n<li>This is because even when a court grants it, <strong>it is not easy to track all such cases and act on them<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"media\">\n<div data-oembed-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=1iYnzI91Xq0\">\n<div><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1iYnzI91Xq0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is Passing Off?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Suppose a brand logo is misspelt in a way that is not easy for the consumer to discern. In such cases, <strong>the infringing products need not be identical.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>But the <strong>similarity in the nature, character, and performance of the goods<\/strong> of the rival traders has to be established, as laid down by the SC in Cadila Healthcare Limited vs. Cadila Pharmaceuticals Limited (2001).\n<ul>\n<li>The court also said that passing-off is <strong>a species of unfair trade competition or of actionable unfair trading.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>By passing-off one person, through deception, attempts to obtain an economic benefit of the reputation which another has established for himself in a particular trade or business.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Therefore, <strong>to make a claim of \u2018passing off\u2019<\/strong>, some form of deception, misrepresentation, or harm to the goodwill and reputation of the owner of a mark has to be established.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Delhi HC\u2019s Observation in the HOB vs POI Case:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>While acting on HOB\u2019s plea, which stated that POI had created a portal or service identical to theirs, the court found \u201c<strong>substantial imitation<\/strong>\u201d between the two.<\/li>\n<li>The term \u2018substantial\u2019 varies from case to case, as it is a matter of quality rather than quantity.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>For example, <\/strong>if a lyricist copies the catchiest part or phrase from another\u2019s song, this will be considered infringement, even if that phrase is short.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is Intellectual Property (IP)?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>IP refers to <strong>creations of the mind<\/strong>, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs and symbols, names and images<strong> used in commerce.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>IP is protected in law <\/strong>enabling people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create.<\/li>\n<li>By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system<strong> aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Types of IP:<\/strong> Copyright, Patents, Trademarks<strong>, <\/strong>Industrial designs, Geographical indications (GI) and Trade secrets.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Governing regulations:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS): <\/strong>It is an international legal agreement, which <strong>establishes minimum standards <\/strong>for the regulation by national governments of different forms of IP.<\/li>\n<li><strong>IP rights in India are governed under the: <\/strong><u>The Trade Marks Act 1999<\/u>, The Patents Act 1970 (amended in 2005), The Copyright Act 1957, The Designs Act 2000, The GI of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 1999, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/media\/editor_images\/2023\/9\/27\/11\/59\/8\/6513cbb46ea8101e8b99361e_OI.PNG\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) What do you mean by trademarks, which is a type of intellectual property?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. Trademarks date back to ancient times when artisans used to put their signature or &#8220;mark&#8221; on their products.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) What are Geographical indications (GIs)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>GIs are signs used on goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities, a reputation or characteristics that are essentially attributable to that place of origin.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/humans-of-bombay-vs-people-of-india-case-explained-8957397\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Humans of Bombay vs People of India: What is copyright infringement and when does it apply?<\/u><\/a><br \/>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A copyrighted work will be considered \u201cinfringed\u201d only if a substantial part of a creator\u2019s (literary, dramatic, musical, artistic) work is made use of without authorisation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":37459,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-37458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}