Monday 1 April 2013

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 77

Copyright rules notified
31.3.2013, Mumbai

According to an article on intellectual property published a few days ago in The Ecomomist ‘The conventional way to protect intellectual property is to patent it. This gives an inventor legal protection for his idea: if others want to use it, they must pay him.’ According to the paper digital thieves hail from all countries, but one stands out. In the 16 years since America’s Economic Espionage Act (EEA) made the theft of commercial secrets a federal crime, a third of all EEA prosecutions have involved people born in china or seeking to help its government or businesses. Since 2008, 44% of cases have had a Chinese connection.


Most trade-secret thefts like most tax raids involve insiders. These are typically employees or contractors who are given access to sensitive information, which they snaffle via flash drive/ mobile phone/ email. Respondents to the McAfee survey rated insider threats above those posed by software vulnerabilities or cyber-terrorism. We are privileged that our generation is a witness to dramatic changes in intellectual property globally.

The government of India has enhanced the registration/ license fee for copyrights issued by the Registrar of Copyrights. This follows an amendment in the Copyrights Act, 1957. Under the new Copyright Rules, 2013, the minimum fee for registration has been increased from Rs 50 per work to Rs 500 and maximum fee from Rs 600 to Rs 5,000. The Minimum fee for licenses has been upgraded from Rs 200 to Rs.2, 000 per work and maximum fee from Rs 400 to Rs 40,000. The new fee structure provided under Second Schedule of the Rules is applicable from March 14, 2013.

The Copyright Rules, 2013, have been notified by the Copyright Division, Department of Higher
Education and Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Bhawana Somaaya / www.bhawanasomaaya.com

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