Copyright subsists in Cinematograph film as an original work: Delhi HC

 The Delhi High Court has held that in a suit for Copyright infringement of a
Cinematograph film, the infringing copy need not be an exact copy of the
Cinematograph film, made by a process of duplication or a substantial/material
copy.

 It has opined that the blatant copying of fundamental /essential/distinctive features

of a Cinematograph film on purpose would amount to copyright infringement.

 It was plaintiff’s grievance that the defendant who was involved in the same
business of manufacturing and marketing of tyres had produced an advertisement
“Bazooka Radial Tyres” which was similar to its advertisement titled “MRF NV
Series present REVZ”. It was alleged that a bare perusal of the two
advertisements showed that defendant’s advertisement was nothing but a
substantial and material copy of the plaintiff’s advertisement as it showed a
similar sequencing, form, treatment and expression.

 The defendant, on the other hand, argued that the present case was not a case of
trademark infringement or passing off and therefore it could not be a “confusion
based action” against the defendant.

 Since in the present case, the defendant had made neither a physical copy of the
plaintiff’s advertisement over a physical medium nor a copy of a photograph of
any image, which formed a part of the impugned advertisement, there could be no
case for Copyright infringement, it was pleaded.

 In order to ascertain duplication, the court would “compare ‘the substance, the
foundation, the kernel" of the two advertisements to consider whether one was
‘by and large a copy’ of the other and whether an average viewer would get an
unmistakable impression that one work was a copy of the other.
 In the instant case, however, the Court after viewing the plaintiff’s and
defendant’s advertisements and applying the test stipulated in RG Anand, prima
facie opined that the two advertisements were neither substantially nor materially
or essentially similar.

Lok Sabha Clears Bill to expand powers of National Invesigation Policy:

 The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the National Investigation Policy

(Amendment) Bill 2019, which seeks to expand the powers and jurisdiction of the
NIA.

 The NIA has powers to investigate the offences listed in the Schedule of the NIA
Act, which now includes offences under Unlawful Activities (Prevention)
Act,1967, Atomic Energy Act, 1962, Anti-Hijacking Act, 1982, Suppression of
Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Maritime Navigation and Fixed Platforms on
Continental Shelf Act, 2002 etc.

 The Bill seeks to give powers to NIA to investigate scheduled offences committed
outside, subject to international treaties and domestic laws.

The Central Government can direct NIA to investigate such offences as if they
were committed in India. The Special Court at New Delhi will have jurisdiction to
try those cases.