Impact of Internet in Modern Lifestyle and Online Piracy with Respect to Copyright

Law in India: A Critical Analysis

Ashnika Vishnoi*1
Sukhwinder Singh Mandair*2
ABSTRACT
The period of Internet has taken India higher than ever of vividness in all the areas either in giving products
or services. The technology innovation in India has engraved a specialty in the worldwide economy. The
worldwide advancements have affected on various backgrounds. The increasing utilization of computerized
media or web has set a phase, where necessity of progress in the current laws is awaiting. This is more
explicitly suitable to the copyright laws. Piracy vis- a- vis right to life in India as analysis of affects on music
and video Compact Disk vendors.
The aim of this article is to show that laws regarding copyright, use of internet and prevention of piracy have
come to a serious attack on the poor C.D vendors in the Indian streets.
“Status now is not whether you are awake or asleep, it is whether you are online or offline”

Key words: Internet, digitalization, development, infringement, software, copyright.

1 INTRODUCTION
The internet is generally seen as the quickest developing communications speculate ever. From 1990-1997
the assessed number of internet clients around the world developed from 1million to roughly 70million, in
the year 2002 exceed to 250 million clients, in the year 2006: 300-500 million clients, in the year 2012:
2,405,518,376. In the year 2017 there were 8.4 billion and in the year 2018 it expanded to 9.2 Billion. It is
normal to expect that in the year 2020 the associated gadgets in the worldwide would be around 20.8
Billion.3

The Smartphone’s, has turned into a basic requirement of all the clients consistently bends over as different
to diminishing, the Internet has made the lives of the person comfortable and pleasurable. It has also made
the lives of the general population beneficial. With the increase of utilization of the Internet the indulgence
for using it, the security of them and the wellbeing has likewise increased. So we ought to be careful while
giving the subtleties on the Internet stage. In any case, we can see a great deal of fundamental advances is
being taken yet at the same time protecting your information is still basic.

There is an imperative expansion of the idea of the substance transported over the Internet: at first it was
records (data), then amusement games, videos, communications, television, video on interest and so forth.
There has likewise been broadening of the limitation of substance: with every client possibly to a peer to
1
Final year student B.B.A.LL.B (Hons.), Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University.
2
Assistant professor, Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University.
3
Available at, https://www.softscripts.net/blog/2019/01/future-of-iot/

1
peer file sharing (shared applications). New associations with information are showing up, as in Web 2.0 or
the semantic Web, and applications proceed to develop and require new frameworks, estimations and the
management instruments.4

India has a developing Copyright Act. The rapid use of Internet has raised numerous issues under the
copyright law as duplicating and transmission of data, by means of web, copy has no disgrace and each
duplicate is flawless. Digitalization has caused the expense of replicating and misuse for all intents turned to
zero. The distinction between ‘original’ and ‘copy’ has lost its way. 5 Copyright materials uploaded on the
internet or stored on the web servers are considered as the same with that of other media over the internet.
The material uploaded on the internet does not make the waiver of copyright or require any implied licence
to reproduce or to download any data without seeking the permission of the copyright owner.
In the case of Apple Computer Inc. v. Formula International6, the court held that whatever copies are stored
in random access memory (RAM) were totally temporary and accessing a computer programme from RAM
does not create any infringing copy.

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 does not contain the word ''internet'' or ''digitalization''. Indian
Copyright Act, 1957 deals with the assurance of computer software. The amendment Act of 2012 has also
neglected to give a meaning of ''digitalization'' or ''internet''. Section 4 of the Copyright Act, 1957 lists out to
represent the acts for which Copyright is accessible. In this manner, the creator of any dramatic, literary,
artistic or musical work will be qualified under the allocation of the Act. All allocations appropriate to
owners to represent their work under section 14 of the Copyright Act, 1957, will be pertinent to the owners
of 'digitalized products' that establishes a heap of Copyrights. Consequently, any infringement of such
'digitalized work' or any work on the 'internet' will establish infringement.7
Copyright infringement is not only done intentionally but due to ignorance also. The infringement in
Cyberspace takes place in:8
1) Framing
2) Linking
3) Caching
4) Public display of the Right by uploading on the Internet
5) Archiving.
2 ONLINE PIRACY
Piracy means using of another’s work without proper authentication and without the permission of the
original owner. In lay man language piracy means ‘theft’. Piracy basically means the unauthorized use of

4
Ibid.
5
Alka chawala, Laws of copyright 193 (LexisNexis, Gurgaon, 1st edn., 2013).
6
Id. at p.205.
7
Available at, https://www.ip-watch.org/2013/01/22/development-in-indian-ip-law-the-copyright-amendment-act-2012/ (Visited
on March 20, 2019)
8
Available at, https://blog.ipleaders.in/copyright-infringement-on-the-internet/ (Visited on March 20, 2019).

2
data, importing or exporting of the work as a whole or the substantial part of the data protected by the
copyright. The owner of the copyrighted work enjoys the certain rights of their work. The rights include
reproduce, to publish, to adopt, to translate, and to perform in public, apart from these rights if anyone else
use it without the owner’s permission it amounts to copyright infringement.9
India has emerged one of the online piracy hub including, Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai amounting to illegal
downloading. The copyright (Amendment) Act 2012 has made certain laws against piracy. The section 65A:
says that in case an individual keeps the copyright of the secured work with the expectation of encroaching
the rights of the owner then that individual would be punishable with detainment up to 2 years and shall also
be liable for fine. Protecting the technological protections measures (TPM) utilized by copyright owners to
avoid infringement of Information rights management (IRM) which protects the sensitive information
against unauthorized access. Section 65B: expels information about management rights of criminal
administration with no authority. The Copyright Act had recently attempted just for civil liability. After the
start of this section, the infringement of the work without the approval calls for criminal liability. Any
individual, who sells, circulates imports, transmits or conveys duplicates of any work or performance
without public authority, realizing that the information of the management of rights the management has
been expelled or not the difference in power is punishable under this section. Maximum punishment of two
years has been set by the Act; it may be without punishment or with it which helps the film, music, and
distributing industry in battling theft (piracy).10
Online piracy is murdering the universe of entertainment and harming the developing artists. Independent
producers are battling in building their career and when such performers face burglary, they lose salary and
lose confidence. But fortunately, there are numerous laws against online piracy to spare individuals from
paying an overwhelming amount. In India, the Copyright Act, 1957 secures all type of music, melodies,
videos and recordings, literary and artistic works. The Stop Online Piracy Act (STOP) is also an Act that
restricts access to sites facilitating pirated content. The principle reason for STOP is to take action against
copyright infringement.11

2.1 HISTORICAL GLIMPSE OF PIRACY IN INDIA

In India, copyright was presented during the British rule and has come way long back. The law on Copyright
was made in 1847 by the governor general of India. When copyright Act 1911 came into in England; it came
into force for India also, getting to be one of the India’s fundamental part of the British Raj. This Act was
applicable in the nation after independence when it was the upgraded one. The Copyright Act,1957 came
into force in 1958. After that the Act has been experienced numerous amendments. The most recent is the
amendment of the 1994, which came into force in May 1995.12

9
Available at, http://www.lawyersclubindia.com/articles/Copyright-Piracy-In-India-7085.asp (Visited on March 20, 2019)
10
Ibid.
11
Available at, http://www.businessworld.in/article/Online-Piracy-Things-You-Need-To-Know/06-07-2018-154163/ (Visited on
March 25, 2019).
12
Available at, https://sites.google.com/site/thepiracysitethatgivesyouinfo/home/history-of-piracy (Visited on March 20, 2019).

3
Indian copyright Act includes:
a) Copyright on original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works
b) Cinematographic films and
c) Sound recordings.

The word 'original' means that it should not be copied it should be the result of other efforts or alternatively
it is an independent effort. This empowers the Act to hold or authorize a number of activities, these are:
a) To reproduce work as content
b) Publishing work
c) To work publicly or to communicate with the public
d) Produce, reproduce, display or publish any translation of the work
e) To make a record in relation to any cinematographic film or work
f) To make any customization of the work
g) Regarding the translation or optimization of the work, any work that is specified.13
Work in sub-sections of (a) to (f) rights given are 'exclusive' in that just the producer (chariot envelope) has
the right to enjoy these for the blacklist of others. Based on its creation, the author becomes the 'owner' of
copyright at work. The exceptions are:
a) The manufacturer can be employed by any one and can be employed to create a work rights are to the
employer- Manufacturer (s), and
b) The producer can transfer his copyright to another person by writing a document in writing it's known as
an assignment.

The grant of copyright is a constrained monopoly. It is restricted in the extent of the given rights and
conditions of time in India, for the lifetime of the creators, copyright are given on the artistic, literary work
for sixty years after his death. On account of a joint author, it is determined from the starting point of the
sixty years of the said calendar year after the year in which the last deceased writer dies. With respect to
copyright photo, cinematographic work and sound recordings for sixty years of its publication. Also, to
make a harmony between the requirement for society and the need to reward learning to the original creator,
limited utilization of copyright protected works, are permitted without the assent of the authors. 14 The
copyright is called 'fair use' under Section 52 of the Indian Copyright Act allows some activities which do
not amount to infringement. In this 'exception list' there are important literary, dramatic, music or
reproduction of artistic work for educational purposes, e.g. Research, review etc., and reporting in
newspapers, Magazines, Letters, etc.

The Copyright Act of India provides dual legal machinery to the writers to implement their rights
enforcement:
13
Hemant Kumar Pandey (ed.), Laws relating to Intellectual property (Universal Law Publishing LexisNexis, Gurgaon,5th
edn.,2015).
14
Ibid.

4
a) is possible through the Copyright Board and
b) Courts.
Legitimate measures incorporate monetary and fiscal fines (depends on the seriousness of the crime).
Occasionally treatment seizure and demolition of infringement duplicates used to make such duplicates. The
amendment of 1984 has made copyright infringement a subjective non-bailable offense under which any
individual who intentionally damages the provisions of the Act or violates copyright is considered as a
criminal and punishable with no less than a six months of imprisonment and upto three years and fine upto
fifty thousand to two lakh rupees.

In amendment of 1994 a special penal provision was incorporated into the purposeful utilization of
infringing computer programming. The punishment provided for this Act is from seven days to maximum of
three years and fine up to fifty thousand to two lakh rupees. If there should arise an occurrence of
encroaching duplicate of computer programming it is not utilized for financial increase or business, can be
detained and fines can be up to a limit of fifty thousand rupees.

Apart from amending the Copyright Act, the Government of India has taken some other steps to strengthen
enforcement in the country. A Copyright Enforcement Advisory Council was set up to deliver advice on
Government training programs on measures to improve copyright enforcement and Seminars were organized
for police personnel. The necessary legislation was made to bring video shops, Cable operators under
regulation State Governments are encouraged to install Intellectual Property Right (IPR) cell in particular
areas and copies of copyright and other IPR violations despite all this, the enforcement of the IPR violation,
particularly copyright infringement has not been sufficiently strong in the country and theft comes out in all
the types of copyright do remarkably musical work, video films and software.

In the case of Lancashire and Yorkshire railways v. Mac Nicoll15, it was held that damages while dealing
with goods in a manner inconsistent with the rights of the true owner, provided that it is also established that
there is also an intention on the part of defendant, to deny the owner’s right, or to assert a right which is
inconsistent with owner’s right.
Autodesk Inc vs. AVT Shankardass16, Delhi High Court issued guidelines on the considerations which judges
should weigh before granting such orders in software piracy cases. Ominously, the guidelines stipulate that
"The test of reasonable and credible information regarding the existence of pirated software or incriminating
evidence should not be subjected to strict proof". Instead, the court prescribes that "It has to be tested on the
touchstone of pragmatism and the natural and normal course of conduct and practice in trade." 17

Right to life Article 21 of Indian Constitution includes right to work: (Right to livelihood) though right to
work has not been declared as fundamental right but it is an humble duty of State to provide adequate means

15
(1919) 88 LJ KB 601.
16
AIR 2008.
17
http://delhicourts.nic.in/Jul08/Autodesk%20Inc%20Vs.%20AVT%20Shankardass.pdf (Visited on March 26, 2019).

5
of livelihood to poor and weaker sections of society, the dalits and tribes and distribute material resources to
the needy for common welfare. India Statutory Corporation v. United Labour Union.18
The increase in online piracy has led the government to take strong actions. The recent amendment in the
Copyright act is an example of the various initiatives taken by the government.

3 AFFECTS OF PIRACY LAWS ON STREET C.D VENDORS

Piracy is done from numerous points of view, for example, video piracy, and DVD/CD piracy. Video piracy
happens when a video is created as a video tape without proper approval from the original creator. Often,
movie producers offer video rights to some other party (usually, after six weeks of releases in cinemas),
which makes video tapes for selling or lending. Video tapes are just available to be purchased at home.

Cable piracy refers to the unapproved transmission of movies through cable network systems. Ordinarily,
movies particularly new releases are shown through the cable without consent from the rights holder. Piracy
is a rare event in satellite channels because they are systematic and more often do not show movies without
obtaining the proper rights.

In the case of Mirabai Films Pvt. Ltd. v. Siti cable networks 19, the Delhi High court granted the temporary
injunction restraining screening, telecasting, exhibiting of the movie ‘monsoon wedding’ on cable networks.
Similarly in, Entertaining Enterprises v. State of Tamil Nadu 20, it was held that the unauthorized exhibition
of a movie through videotapes was held to be violation of copyright in a cinematograph films.
In the case, where the film 'Udta Punjab' was released online two days before it's an official release, a
complaint was filed by the director of the movie. The Cyber Crime cell of Mumbai police arrested the
twenty-five year old for uploading the movie on his site and was charged under the Information Technology
Act, (IT).
In 2012, a complaint was filed by a film station who had bought the distribution rights of the movie
'Bachelor Party', following which, the Kerala Anti-piracy cell followed down the IP addresses of over a 1000
people who were associated with the illegal upload and download of the movie and arrested them.
In 2015, the Delhi High Court passed an order limiting the sites from streaming or broadcasting the movie
'Piku' online, after an appeal for the equivalent was filed by the producers of the movie.21

Music piracy refers to the unapproved replication of a music tape that flows in the market with the launch of
other releases. The pirated compact discs and course flows caused tremendous income for music
organizations, as they are accessible at far lower costs compared to that of the stores. DVD/VCD of Indian
movies is in the piracy of worldwide markets. Printed for the film's abroad screening are pirated, usually at

18
1997 (9) SCC 377.
19
2003 (26) PTC 473 Del.
20
AIR 1984 Mad. 278.
21
https://legodesk.com/blog/online-piracy-in-india/ (Visited on March 24, 2019)

6
airport terminals in any country, in the Middle East, etc. DVD/VCD prints are arranged and sent to Pakistan
and from that point those prints can go to Nepal and can enter the country.

4 DATA OF PIRACY
With the recent surveys the analysis of data is collected and is given below:22
S.No. Title (Most Pirated items on Piracy Rate
Internet)
1) Movies 35.2 %
2) TV Shows 14.5 %
3) Music 2.9 %
4) Software 6.7 %
5) PC / Console Games 6.7 %
6) Pornography 35.8 %
7) E- book 0.2 %

Most pirated items on Internet:

1) Movies 35.2 %
2) TV shows 14.5 %
3) Music 2.9 %
4) Software 6.7 %
5) PC/ Console Games 6.7%
6) Pornography 35.8 %
7) E- book 0.2 %

Top 10 most pirated software on Internet:

1) Adobe Photoshop CS
2) Microsoft office
3) Nero 9
4) Windows Vista
5) Windows XP and windows 7
6) Magic video converter
7) AVG pro
8) Sony Vegas Pro
9) All antivirus like AVG, Kaspersky, Quickheal, Norton, Netprotector
10) Magic ISO Maker

[22% of all global Internet bandwidth is used for Online Piracy.

22
Available at, https://www.go-gulf.com/blog/online-piracy/ (Visited on March 24, 2019).

7
98.8% of Data transferred using P2P networks is copyrighted.
91.5% of filed available for download on Cyberlockers sites (Rapidshare, Megaupload,etc) are copyrighted
material.
Only 1 out of 10,000 pcs of the most popular content on the OpenBitTorrent tracker is non-copyrighted.
Websites hosting pirated content receive more than 146 Million visitors per day.
95% of music downloaded online is illegal.
More than 75% of computers have at least 1 downloaded illegal application.
Two-Thirds of Torrents available online are illegal.
Pornography is the most pirated item on web with 35.8% followed by Movies with 35.2%.
Hollywood Movie “Avatar” is the most pirated movie of 2010 and was downloaded more than 17,000,000
times.
China has the highest online piracy rate of 91% in world. Columbia with 90% and Russia with 80% online
piracy rate and India is rated to 60 % data in online piracy.]23

5 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

Internet was created for sharing and communication to facilitate human interactions. The main purpose of it
is to create a universal platform for humans across the globe to present their ideas and to freely express
themselves in any field, even they can go anonymous and upload their original work. But now a day’s
people have taken it in a wrong path and they are misusing the internet services they have converted the
activities from physical to online world, everything goes online now and because of this the online piracy
has taken a new troll in the new lifestyle of people. People use to copy from internet and everything goes
viral but the origin is still unknown to the last receiver. The online connectivity has taken the different way
like conducting business, music, movies, education, communication, etc in the cyber world but at the same
time it has given the rise in several activities in the cyber world. For piracy various laws have been made
which are in working and strict actions have been taken from long time back but the prevention of
unauthorized use of it ‘is still a core problem’ of the copyright law which is significantly challenged by the
new technologies.
The internet network is a huge storage of information resources and it is growing huge every day. The most
special thing on the Internet is its easy access which can make a huge world of information with a click of a
button, can be accessed in the desktop or Smartphone. While it adds tremendous value in our activities and
an environment like Internet copyright is in serious danger. Internet has turned into the cheapest way for
doing anything, recovering any information, matter. Indeed, even the books are online accessible, as before
individuals don't need to go out long paths to access such book for example NDL (National digital library of
India), google books, etc.
Our Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi has made the India digitalized more by paying through cell phone,
purchasing or selling, money transfers, shopping, and so on; everything is under one rooftop i.e. “access to
23
Ibid.

8
Internet”. Because of availability of everything on your door step individuals tend to become more lethargic
and they prefer easiness rather than working hard. The world is going all over digital; the poor sections have
also started utilizing internet benefits through cheaper smart phones, cheaper internet services. Just like with
the launch of ‘Jio’, it is providing the internet benefits in affordable rates. There was the time when 2 Gb
internet was given for a month and today is the time when 2 Gb internet services every day is not sufficient
especially for the youths. Meanwhile, everything is easily available movies, Series, videos, news, food,
clothes and so on. The CD sellers are facing problems as no one buys CD, DVDs. people lean toward
primevideos, Netflix, My galaxy, etc., for watching movies, series, etc. Infact most of the people stopped
visiting theaters. People wait for the time to get it uploaded on the internet and watch it at their comfort
level.
Through copyright one can protect their any data, original work and if this won't happen, then individuals
will fear in coming up with their new thoughts. In history copyright protection was given to the owner and
people felt relaxed and came up with their innovations with copyright protection. Technical development has
created a challenging society, inventive work in digital media increased its utilization and enjoyment in
innovative work has presented a challenge at international level in different ways. Today, ripping music files
from CDs and saving it on a PC or a portable music gadget has turned out to be simple until it was not
possible and latest ‘youtube’ is in the trend. The permission or lisence is taken from the employer and can
work imitated in way, which should be possible in a moment and disseminated all through the internet.
Literary work, musical issues work, sound recordings, cinematographs and all other writers direct applies to
computer software or programs. Copyright issues promptly unapproved duplicates can be made because of
the digital technology with regards to the electronic system, where a requirement has given rise to the law
has to tolerate the expense of protection from the infringer.
As per the latest research India is rated to 60% online piracy which is more than enough to analyze that the
originality is lost its way even after having the Copyright Act and following Stop Online Piracy Act the
protection is not provided. The strict action should be taken as with the development of the country in digital
world it is somewhere a serious downfall for the original makers, they somewhere feel afraid to share their
data with others or open to public. The law should be amended immediately because in this digital age, we
have the opportunity to transform the lives of people in many ways which was hard to imagine decades ago.