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The draft Copyright Amendment Rules 2019, released by DIPP, proposes setting up an Appellate Board to replace the Copyright Board, among various other proposed amendments. It also proposes to make it mandatory for copyright societies to publish annual transparency report besides revamping norms for tariff fixation by such societies.
The DIPP said such amendments are being brought in to bring the Copyright Act on par with other relevant legislations and to ensure it is in sync with the technological advancements in the current digital era. It has sought comments from stakeholders for the same.
“The Chairman and other members of the Board shall be appointed as per the provisions of the Trade Marks Act, 1999,” the draft said.
It also proposes to amend the manner in which copyright societies fix their tariff schemes. A copyright Society is a legal body which protects or safeguards the interest of owners of the work by giving assurance to the creative authors of the commercial management of their works. These societies issue licences and collects royalties in accordance with a tariff scheme.
While the copyright society needs to fix the tariff in accordance with the guidelines issued by any court or the board, DIPP has proposed in the amendments that when fixing its tariff the copyright society may consider, “cross-sectional tariff comparisons , economic research, the nature and scope of the use of the work, the commercial value of the rights in use and the benefits to licensees,”.
In addition, the amendments propose to make it mandatory for copyright societies to publish “the annual transparency” report for each financial year on its Website. Such a report will contain details regarding the activities of the society in the financial year, information on refusals to grant a licence, description of its legal and governance structure besides financial information related to rights revenues for each category of rights administered among other.
The draft also proposes to set rules in cases when copyright societies cannot distribute royalties when “the relevant author or other could not be identified or located.”
The copyright regime is governed by the Copyright Act, 1957 and the Copyright Rules,2013. The Copyright Rules,2013 were last amended in 2016 through the Copyright Amendment Rules, 2016, DIPP said.
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