The social lives of people are likewise changing as the world around us does. Various laws relating to one’s rights and way of life also alter as a result of changes in one’s social existence. A potential challenge to the Copyright Laws is the daily introduction of new technology to the world. The digital world, for example, has a significant impact on copyright rules and shows that, while online content and works should be protected, originality shouldn’t be compromised by copyright laws. As a result, the industry has used every new invention to its advantage by developing new ways to exploit art, expanding markets, and boosting earnings. The Copyrights law faces several difficulties because the internet is now more accessible than ever thanks to advancements in technology. This is why it’s so simple to alter, duplicate, and manipulate data that are available online.
A database’s core concept is storage space where all data, information, and other crucial work-related materials are gathered. It may also be referred to as a compilation of the work. The database keeps the data in a methodical, chronological, and systematic manner. According to Lord Atkinson, “it is necessary that labor, skill, and capital should be exerted sufficiently to give to the product some characteristic or character which the raw material does not possess and which differentiate the product from the material” for copyright to survive.
As was already said, a database is a collection of particular data that may be systematically preserved. It was noted that even while the data kept in databases may not always be original works, copyright laws nevertheless need to be followed to safeguard it. The facts themselves cannot, in theory, be protected, but the order and arrangement can provide the author used some imagination in creating them. Because each is governed by a separate set of legal guidelines, it is important to distinguish between creative and non-creative databases when discussing databases. The database is covered by Indian intellectual property rights under clause 2(o) of the Copyright Act, 1957. Although not clearly defined under this clause alone, works of art and literature also include databases and computer programs that are kept on a computer system. The Australian court ruled in Telstra Corporation Ltd v. Desktop Marketing Systems Pty Ltd that an individual’s creativity and labor must be safeguarded. It was also mentioned that any author’s literary work includes computer data or databases. Anything saved in the form of a table, words, or anything in figures or symbols is considered a literary work under the Copyright Act.
The Copyright Act of 1957’s section 13(1)(a) governs database protection in India. Simply put, it says that the individual’s originality and genuine work and labor should be emphasized and maintained. If someone tries to violate the security or replicate the work that has been done, there are also more serious repercussions. Section 63B defines the punishment, which specifies that such activities can result in jail for at least seven days to three years and/or a fine of at least $50,000.In Apple Computer Inc. v. Mackintosh Computers Ltd, it was determined that the work in the form of literature that was kept on the computer and was replicated had been infringed upon. As a result, the court determined that this was a total violation of someone’s intellectual property.
The copyrights of the work’s originality are held by all of the content and work made on and placed on the internet. When such information or content is published online, or on a digital platform, without having the appropriate copyrights granted to it, the uploaded work has violated the copyright of the original work. Due to the size of the internet and the difficulty in regulating its users, once content is placed online, it essentially becomes accessible to all users. There aren’t any clear-cut guidelines or rules that define this, but if tone finds that the original work’s copyright has been violated, a decision can be drawn. Sometimes the user is not aware that he or she is copying another person’s work and violating their copyright. In the case Playboy Enterprises Inc v. Frena, the defendant claimed that he was unaware that by creating the BBS, the content provided was infringing on copyrights.
The ability to copy material produced digitally or with the use of current digital technologies has increased. The right to reproduce plays a crucial part in copyright laws and has eventually led to serious concerns about those laws. The Berne Convention, but in 1967, also addresses the right to reproduction. A new version for Article 9(1) was added in the Stockholm Revision of 1967, which Stuart described as “both lapidary and incorporating both existing and future activities.”The reproduction right has been at the center of copyright law for more than three hundred years, ever since the Statute of Anne, the forerunner of contemporary copyright law, was adopted. The reproduction right per se hasn’t been clearly defined by the international copyright protection instruments, although being acknowledged as a fundamental authorial right. The Berne Convention’s original wording did not contain any clauses that specifically safeguarded the reproduction right since there was disagreement over the scope and content of the right. This particular privilege is the subject of numerous queries and disputes. The Berne Convention grants the privilege of the right to the reproduction of the work, as stated under Article 9. As a result, it is defined in the manner in which it is stated that the provision of the right to reproduction is made under this article. The phrase “in a form” has now led to a lot of confusion in the article and elsewhere. Does that imply that the person covered by this article is not free to replicate the content but is instead limited to reproducing it in a different physical form while retaining the spirit of the original text?
Therefore, under the WIPO, two articles define and safeguard the right to reproduce content. It expressly indicates and defines whether the right to reproduce the content is directly or indirectly authorized. The right to reproduce, which simply refers to the idea of duplicating anything with updated elements in it, gives the members or users the freedom to recreate, change, and reform the content. The development of the work is protected under Section 13 of the Copyright Act of 1957 since it represents intellectual labor. But it also has a clause that specifies that anyone who creates content has the right to modify or copy their creations, though this clause is not perpetual. It has a deadline attached to it.
Author’s Name: Saloni Singh (UPES, Dehradun)
References:
- Kurth, T. A. (2002). Digital Rights Management: An Overview of the Public Policy Solutions to Protecting Creative Works in a Digital Age. WISE Journal of Engineering and Public Policy, 6.
- Saikia, M., & Eqbal, M. (2012). Copyright act in the digital age: An overview. Vidhigya, 7(2), 75.
- Hitchcock, D. L., & Needleman, K. E. (2001). Current Status of Copyright Protection in the Digital Age and Related Topics. Wesleyan L. Rev., 8, 539.
