IP Case Law › Acts & Sections › Copyright Act, 1957
Copyright Act, 1957
Select a provision to see the judgments in the database that turn on it.
Section 13 (1)Section 13(1)(a) (2)Section 13(1)(b) (1)Section 13(4) (1)Section 14 (2)Section 14(1)(c) (1)Section 14(a) (1)Section 14(a)(i) (1)Section 14(c) (1)Section 14(d) (2)Section 15(2) (1)Section 17 (2)Section 17(b) (2)Section 18 (1)Section 2(c) (1)Section 2(d) (1)Section 2(f) (1)Section 2(p) (1)Section 2(z) (1)Section 30 (1)Section 31 (1)Section 31D (1)Section 37 (1)Section 38 (1)Section 38-B (1)Section 38A (1)Section 38B (2)Section 44 (1)Section 45 (2)Section 48 (1)Section 50 (1)Section 51 (9)Section 52 (1)Section 52(1)(a) (1)Section 52(1)(i) (1)Section 52(1)(q) (1)Section 55 (2)Section 57 (1)
Judgments citing this Act
Amar Nath Sehgal v. Union of India & Anr.
The special or moral rights of an author under Section 57 of the Copyright Act, 1957 are independent of the economic rights of copyright and survive assignment of the work; they protect the author's personality, honour and reputat…
Artistic WorkAssignment And LicensingCultural HeritageIntegrity RightCopyrightANI Media Pvt. Ltd. v. Open AI OpCo LLC
An Indian court has jurisdiction if the plaintiff's principal place of business is in India, or if the defendant targets Indian users, even when the defendant's servers are located abroad. Even temporarily storing a copyrighted wo…
Artificial IntelligenceCopyright Fair DealingCopyright InfringementJurisdictionOtherArijit Singh v. Codible Ventures LLP & Ors.
A celebrity's personality and publicity rights protect his name, voice, vocal style and other identifying attributes against unauthorised commercial exploitation, including through artificial-intelligence voice-cloning tools that …
AI And DeepfakesDynamic InjunctionMoral RightsPersonality RightsCopyrightCryogas Equipment Private Limited & Anr. v. Inox India Limited & Ors.
Whether an artistic work is a design capable of registration under Section 2(d) of the Designs Act, 2000, so as to lose copyright protection under Section 15(2) of the Copyright Act, 1957 upon industrial reproduction beyond fifty …
Artistic WorkCopyright Design OverlapFunctionalityIndustrial ReproductionCopyrightDAZN Limited & Anr. v. Back.methstreamer.com & Ors.
Websites that are substantially and primarily dedicated to unauthorised communication to the public of exclusively licensed broadcasts may be restrained by a permanent, whole-site injunction under Section 37 of the Copyright Act, …
Broadcasting RightsCopyright InfringementDigital PlatformsDynamic InjunctionCopyrightDr. Ashok M. Bhat v. Harichand Nagpal & Ors.
An injunction against use of a registered artistic work follows the artistic work onto any label, not merely the one impugned in the plaint. In Order XXXIX Rule 2A proceedings justification is no defence: so long as an order stand…
Contempt of InjunctionCounterfeitingExemplary CostsOrder XXXIX Rule 2ACopyrightEastern Book Company & Ors. v. D.B. Modak & Anr.
Copyright in a derivative or compiled work requires the exercise of some minimum degree of creativity through the application of skill and judgment, and not merely labour and capital expended in copying. Inputs that involve only m…
Copyright InfringementLiterary WorkOriginalityPublic DomainCopyrightEntertainment Network (India) Ltd. v. Super Cassettes Industries Ltd.
An offer to license copyrighted broadcasting rights on unreasonable terms constitutes a refusal under Section 31(1)(b) of the Copyright Act, 1957, and the existence of one voluntary licence does not bar the Copyright Board from gr…
Broadcasting RightsCompulsory LicenceCopyright BoardMusic And Sound RecordingsCopyrightIndian Performing Right Society Ltd. v. Eastern India Motion Pictures Association & Ors.
Where music or lyrics are composed for a cinematograph film by an engaged composer or lyricist for valuable consideration, the film producer becomes the first owner of copyright in that contribution under Section 17 and thereby ac…
Assignment And LicensingCinematograph FilmCopyright SocietyFirst OwnershipOtherJaikishan Kakubhai Saraf alias Jackie Shroff v. The Peppy Store & Ors.
A celebrity's personality and publicity rights extend to protection against commercial exploitation of name, image, voice and mannerisms, including through an unlicensed artificial-intelligence chatbot or distorted video content; …
AI And DeepfakesFreedom Of SpeechParodyPersonality RightsCopyrightKrishika Lulla & Ors. v. Shyam Vithalrao Devkatta & Anr.
The title of a literary, dramatic or cinematographic work, being ordinarily a short combination of common words, is not by itself a work in which copyright can subsist under Section 13(1)(a) of the Copyright Act, 1957, since it la…
Copyright InfringementIdea-Expression DichotomyLiterary WorkOriginalityCopyrightMRF Limited v. Metro Tyres Limited
Copyright in a cinematograph film under Section 13(1)(b) of the Copyright Act, 1957 is not defeated by the absence of the kind of originality required for literary or artistic works, and infringement under Section 14(d) is establi…
Cinematograph FilmComparative AdvertisingCopyright InfringementOriginalityCopyrightMy Space Inc. v. Super Cassettes Industries Ltd.
An internet intermediary hosting user-generated content is not liable for copyright infringement merely because its business model derives revenue from such content or because it performs format-shifting or indexing; it forfeits t…
Copyright InfringementDigital PlatformsIntermediary LiabilityOnline InfringementCopyrightNajma Heptulla v. Orient Longman Ltd. & Ors.
A work of joint authorship under Section 2(z) of the Copyright Act, 1957 arises where the contribution of one author is not distinct from that of another and the two are merged into a single, unitary work; a person who gives indep…
Assignment And LicensingCopyright OwnershipJoint AuthorshipLiterary WorkCopyrightOpella Healthcare Group v. Pureca Laboratories Pvt Ltd (Copyright)
A defendant cannot defend a copyright infringement suit on the basis of a registration that has been cancelled by an unchallenged rectification order which found the artistic work to be a copy of the plaintiff's pre-existing get-u…
Artistic WorkColourable ImitationCopyright RectificationLabel DesignCopyrightPreity G. Zinta v. Google LLC & Ors.
When someone uses AI to create deepfakes or morphed content that distorts or alters how a performer's actual performance looks or sounds, without her consent, this violates her moral rights under Section 38-B of the Copyright Act.…
AI DeepfakesIntermediary LiabilityMoral Rights of PerformersPersonality RightsCopyrightR.G. Anand v. M/s Delux Films & Ors.
Copyright protects only the particular form of expression of an idea, theme, subject matter or plot, and never the idea itself. Substantial similarity of theme between two works is not infringement if the treatment, incidents and …
Copyright InfringementDramatic WorkIdea-Expression DichotomyOriginalityTrade MarksReliance Industries Limited v. Pawan Kumar Gupta & Ors.
In assessing the likelihood of confusion for interim relief, courts must apply a more stringent standard where the infringing goods are edible products sold through online marketplaces to unsophisticated consumers, since even mino…
Dynamic InjunctionOnline InfringementPassing OffTrade DressCopyrightSanjay Soya Pvt. Ltd. v. Narayani Trading Company
Copyright registration under the Copyright Act, 1957 is not mandatory to institute or maintain a suit for infringement; copyright subsists automatically in an original work upon its creation, and Sections 44, 45 and 48 merely crea…
Artistic WorkCopyright InfringementCopyright RegistrationEvidentiary PresumptionCopyrightSaregama India Ltd. v. Black Madras Films & Ors.
Copyright in a musical composition is distinct from copyright in the sound recording and cinematograph film in which the composition is incorporated. The composer, as author of the musical work, retains copyright in the musical co…
Assignment of RightsCinematograph FilmComposerLiterary and Musical WorksCopyrightThe Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford & Ors. v. Rameshwari Photocopy Services & Ors.
The exception under Section 52(1)(i) of the Copyright Act, 1957 for reproduction in the course of instruction is a substantive, purpose-based exception furthering access to education and is not confined by rigid quantitative fair-…
Access To EducationCopyright InfringementEducational ExceptionFair DealingCopyrightTips Industries Ltd. v. Wynk Music Ltd. & Anr.
The statutory licence for broadcasting under Section 31D of the Copyright Act, 1957 is confined to conventional, non-interactive radio and television broadcasting and does not extend to internet-based streaming or download service…
Assignment And LicensingBroadcasting RightsDigital PlatformsMusic And Sound RecordingsOtherTitan Industries Ltd. v. M/s Ramkumar Jewellers
A celebrity possesses an enforceable right of publicity in the commercial value of his or her identity, which may be validly licensed to an endorsing company; infringement of that right does not require proof of falsity, confusion…
Copyright InfringementFalse EndorsementPassing OffPersonality RightsCopyrightUniversal City Studios LLC & Ors. v. DotMovies.Baby & Ors.
Where rogue websites persistently pirate copyrighted content and reappear under mirror or alphanumeric-variant domain names, a court may grant a dynamic injunction that extends, without a fresh suit, both to future mirror or redir…
Copyright InfringementDigital PlatformsDynamic InjunctionFilm And OTT ContentCopyrightUTV Software Communications Ltd. & Ors. v. 1337X.to & Ors.
Where a website's predominant purpose is to facilitate copyright infringement on a commercial scale, evidenced by disregard for takedown notices, anonymised registration and the volume of infringing content, courts may declare it …
Copyright InfringementDigital PlatformsDynamic InjunctionOnline InfringementCopyrightYash Raj Films Pvt. Ltd. v. Sri Sai Ganesh Productions & Ors.
The idea-expression dichotomy protects only a generic theme and not its particularised expression; where a subsequent film reproduces the specific sequence of plot events, character arcs and dramatic situations of an earlier film …
Cinematograph FilmCopyright InfringementFilm And OTT ContentIdea-Expression Dichotomy