MUMBAI: The much awaited Copyright Bill was approved by the Rajya Sabha yesterday. The bill provides for amendments to the Copyright Act to remove operational difficulties and address new issues concerning the digital world and internet.
The Copyright Amendment Bill, 2010, moved by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, also seeks to bring Indian laws originally enacted in 1957 in conformity with international norms and World Intellectual Property Organisation, a PTI report said.
Sibal said that a clause with a provision of giving royalty to the principal director of a film has been dropped in keeping with the suggestion of the Parliamentary Standing Committee. "We wanted to actually give this right over royalty to principle director. He is perhaps principal creator. But there was a feeling expressed by Parliamentary Standing Committee that time is not ripe to give that right. So, we are dropping (it)," he said.
The HRD Minister said piracy issue has been dealt with properly in the Bill. "We have embraced the wisdom of the Standing Committee in bringing about various provisions of this Bill," he said.
While moving the bill, Sibal said, "We are in the midst of new era, which I call digital era. In this digital era, the nature of rights of stakeholders needs to be looked afresh." He said as technology develops, "We need to understand complexities and ensure that key stakeholders' rights are protected and take benefit of digital era."
The minister also said that work of dubbing artists would be protected by the act.
Nominated member Javed Akhtar and Samajwadi Party member Jaya Bachchan were among those who participated in the discussion. Akhtar complained that companies have sway over songs and the writers and singers do not get much from the commercial success. "Music company dictates terms to even noted musicians like AR Rahman and others," he said.
Bachchan talked about widespread prevalence of piracy of songs and music and urged that the Bill should address the issue. She stressed that everybody associated with creation of a song of film should be rewarded as these are "created collectively."
There are seven broad areas that are reflected in the bill. These include right of author and music composer, right to visually impaired, extending compulsory regime to unpublished work, and imposition of punitive actions among others.
Ravishankar Prasad (BJP), Shantaram Naik (Cong), S P Singh Baghel (BSP), N K Singh (JD-U), Tiruchi Siva (DMK), M P Achuthan (CPI), Prabha Thakur (Cong) and Bharatkumar Raut (Shiv Sena) also participated in the debate.
Speaking with Radioandmusic.com, Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI) president Anurradha Prasad said, “The Copyright Bill has been cleared in the Rajya Sabha but it has to be passed in the Lok Sabha, which shall happen by next week. We are very happy and will wait till it will finally culminate.”