Copyright draft is tough on covers

Broadcasting organisations will have to give prior notice to the Copyright Board for airing published literary or musical work. This is among the many stringent norms proposed in the draft Copyright Amendment Act 2009.

According to the draft, any broadcasting organisation desiring to communicate to the public by way of a radio broadcast a literary or musical work which has already been published, shall give prior notice of is intention to broadcast the work stating its duration and territorial coverage. Such an organisation must also pay to the owner of rights in each work royalties in the manner and at the rate fixed by the Copyright Board.

‘Communication to the public’ means making any work or performance available for being seen or heard by the public, by any means of display or diffusion, the draft states.
Communication through satellite or cable or any other means of simultaneous communication to more than one household or place of residence shall be deemed as communication to the public, it states.

The Copyright Board may require broadcasting organisations to pay an advance to the owners of rights, the proposed legislation has said. Also, the names of the authors and the principal performers of the work shall be announced with the broadcast as per the suggested norms.

The draft has said that the broadcasting organisation shall maintain such records and books of account, and render to the owners of rights such reports and accounts, as may be prescribed by the Copyright Board. The rights owners or their authorised agents will get to inspect all records and books of account relating to such broadcast.

A new section has been proposed on cover versions also. Any person desiring to make a cover version (sound recording of a published work) with the consent of the rights owner, should not sell it in any form of packaging/ label/ cover which could mislead or confuse the people. Also, no alterations can be made in the sound recording without the consent of the rights owners. Importantly, no such sound recording shall be made until the expiration of five calendar years after the first sound recording of the work was made.

For all such sound recordings, royalty shall be paid for a minimum of 50,000 copies of each work during each calendar year in which copies of it are made, the proposed draft has pointed out.

The broadcasting industry has opposed the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act.
It has already expressed concern over the unilateral way in which the new legislation is being processed. Broadcasters want the government to consult them on the amendment issue.

Although the Copyright Act falls under the ambit of the HRD ministry, it deeply influences the media and broadcasting industry, which is administered by the I&B ministry.

The planned amendments to the Copyright Act would have an adverse impact on the TV broadcasting industry in India, according to the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF). The amendment would only help a couple of music companies, at the cost of producers, artists and lyricists, it said.