Lok Sabha passed Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010

The Lok Sabha, the lower house of the parliament, passed the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010 on 22 May 2012. The bill seeks to provide royalty to the lyricists and remove operational difficulties.

The Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010 was approved by the Union Cabinet on 24 December 2009, and introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 19 April, 2010. The bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on 17 May 2012.

Major provisions of the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010 are presented below:

•    The amendment bill provides lyricists and artists a level playing field with the music companies and producers to negotiate the terms of royalty for their artistic creations.
•    According to the new legislation it is mandatory for radio and television broadcasters to pay royalty to the owners of the copyright each time a work of art is broadcast.
•    The bill exempts work, prepared for the physically challenged in special formats such as Braille, from copyright.
•    It also permits compulsory licence to be granted for a certain number of copies in non-special formats to non-profit organisations working to help disabled persons
•    The bill provides exmptions to the students from the copyright laws who use artistic works for research purposes.
•    It seeks to impose a fine and two years' imprisonment on persons indulging in piracy.
•    The bill seeks ban on bringing out cover versions of any literary, dramatic or musical work for five years from the first recording of the original creation.