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The digital age has revolutionized news consumption and public discourse, with online platforms becoming hubs for critiquing current events and sharing diverse perspectives, often by using short excerpts (“clips”) from existing news broadcasts and other copyrighted material. This practice, while fostering a dynamic information ecosystem, lies at the intersection of copyright protection and freedom of expression. A recent dispute between a major news agency and online commentators has brought India’s “fair dealing” doctrine to the forefront, questioning its application in the digital realm. This article examines fair dealing under Indian copyright law, focusing on short clips in news reporting and online commentary, supported by judicial precedents, and offers suggestions for navigating copyright issues.Continue Reading Fair Dealing in the Digital Age: Navigating Copyright for News and Online Content in India

‘Fair Use’ in the Age of AI

The advent of large language models (“LLMs”) such as OpenAI’s GPT and Google’s Gemini has revolutionised how content is created, consumed, and commercialised. These generative AI systems, trained on massive volumes of publicly available data, can now generate human-like expressions at unprecedented pace and scale. While such technological advances are to be welcomed for their potential to enhance human capacity and to contribute to the progress of knowledge, they also raise fundamental yet profound questions about the extent to which the law is equipped to regulate such an foreseeable development.Continue Reading ‘Fair Use’ in the Age of AI

Reptilian showdown in Court

In a landmark decision that concluded a protracted legal saga, the Delhi High Court (“Court”) has recently resolved a 23-year dispute between two global fashion titans – Lacoste S.A. (“Plaintiff”) and Crocodile International Pte Ltd (“Defendant”). The Court issued a permanent injunction against the Hong Kong-based Crocodile International, prohibiting the use of the Crocodile trademark, which was found to infringe upon the iconic trademark of the French luxury sportswear brand, Lacoste.Continue Reading Reptilian showdown in Court

Mastery of Moment Marketing: Maximum Impact & Minimal Legal Risk

Introduction

In the dynamic world of digital marketing, moment marketing is emerging as a potent strategy for leveraging real-time events and trending issues to engage audiences across social media platforms. Its agility and virality have helped many brands successfully connect with the general public, particularly social media users, across the globe in unprecedented ways. As brands race to capitalize on such viral moments, the relevance of moment marketing in generating a high number of impressions on their social media posts and even physical hoardings has never been more pertinent.Continue Reading Mastery of Moment Marketing: Maximum Impact & Minimal Legal Risk

The Price For The Sound Of Music: Impact Of The 2012 Amendment On Royalties

The ownership of derivative works has been hotly contested by authors, composers and lyricists (collectively, “authors”) on the one end of the bargaining spectrum; and producers, music labels and broadcasters on the other. This tussle has raised certain rudimentary questions – first, will the author’s copyright in the underlying work continue to subsist after its incorporation in the final (derivative) work; and second, will authors continue to receive royalty for utilisation of their work as part of such final work. These questions turn the focus on whether the 2012 Amendment (“Amendment”) to the Copyright Act, 1957 (“Act”) “fundamentally changed” the treatment of authors’ rights with respect to original, underlying works created by them.Continue Reading The Price For The Sound Of Music: Impact Of The 2012 Amendment On Royalties