Our recent knowledge sharing session was titled ‘COPYRIGHT LAW: THE NEED FOR MODERNIZATION’. Dhruv Goel, Managing Associate, focused on  the need to overhaul current copyright law in India.

The Copyright Act of India dates back to 1957 when most current forms of expressions and technologies did not exist. While the statute has been amended from time to time, it does not yet recognise / protect new age technologies and platforms such as NFTs, Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain, Metaverse etc. or cater to current market demands specifically in the software and web-design industry.

Suggestions made by Dhruv included inter alia extending the categories of works which are protected under the current law, simplifying the registration process for webpages and software and re-aligning the scope of licences issued by copyright societies. he also emphasised the need for clarity vis-à-vis the overlap with designs law in respect of GUIs and discussed the amendments currently proposed by the DPIIT  that seek to extend the term of protection for authors and artists and introduce single remuneration for producers and performers of phonograms.