Copyright infringement or usage of any type of content without
a license from the copyright owner has
serious economic & legal implications
for any individual/organization/entity. In other words the concerned individual/organization/entity
may not only be required to pay a
hefty fine in case of copyright
infringement
but also undergo serious criminal prosecution in courts
of law.
Under ‘CHAPTER XIII’ (Offences) of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, following
are some of the
highlights of the
negative implications
of copyright infringement (but not limiting to):
Excerpts from the Copyright Act
·Section 63(Offence of infringement of copyright) -
Any person who knowingly infringes or abets the infringement of - (a) the
copyright in a work (b) any other right conferred by this Act, except the right
conferred by section 53A shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which
shall not be less than six months but which may extend to three years and with fine
which shall not be less than fifty thousand rupees but which may extend to two lakh
rupees
·Section 63A (Enhanced penalty on second and subsequent
convictions) - Whoever having already been convicted of an offence under
section 63 is again convicted of any such offence shall be punishable for the second
and for every subsequent offence, with imprisonment for a term which shall not be
less than one year but which may extend to three years and with fine which shall
not be less than one lakh rupees but which may extend to two lakh rupees
·Section 64 (Power of police to seize infringing copies)
- Any police officer, not below the rank of a sub-inspector, may, if
he is satisfied that an offence under section 63 in respect of the infringement
of copyright in any work has been, is being, or is likely to be, committed, seize
without warrant, all copies of the work, and all plates used for the purpose of
making infringing copies of the work, wherever found, and all copies and plates
so seized shall, as soon as practicable, be produced before a Magistrate
·Section 65B (Protection of Rights Management Information)
- Any person, who knowingly,—(i) removes or alters any rights management
information without authority, or (ii) distributes, imports for distribution, broadcasts
or communicates to the public, without authority, copies of any work, or performance
knowing that electronic rights management information has been removed or altered
without authority, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to two
years and shall also be liable to fine
·Section 69 (Offences by companies) - Where any
offence under this Act has been committed by a company, every person who at the
time the offence was committed was in charge of, and was responsible to the company
for, the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company shall be
deemed to be guilty of such offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against
and punished accordingly.
·Apart from the Copyright Act, any person who
uses/exploits the contents without obtaining license from Shemaroo, such person
may be prosecuted under several sections of Indian Penal code such as receiving,
retaining and exploiting stolen property, cheating, dishonestly making wrongful
gain for himself and causing wrongful losses to Shemaroo and may be punished for
such offences by Hon'ble court on evidence. It is always to be remembered that "copyrights"
are held as property of owner/right holder of copyright.
·The only exclusions are provided in Section 52 of the Copyright
Act.
The above mentioned pointers are only some of the implications. Hence it is mandatory
for an individual / organization / entity to acquire the license
of any content from the content owner or copyright owner in case the content is
to be used.
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