BROADCASTING RIGHTS OF SATELLITE – AIRTEL SUPER SINGER

Submitted by
PRAVEEN KUMAR V
BA0140042

Project Submitted to
Preetham Balakrishna
Associate Professor of Law

TAMIL NADU NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

(A State University established by Tamil Nadu Act No. 9 of 2012)
NavalurKuttapattu, Srirangam (TK), Tiruchirappalli – 620027.

NOVEMBER 2018

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 DECLARATION

I V. PRAVEEN KUMAR, Registrar NumberBA0140042, hereby declare

BROADCASTING RIGHTS OF SATELLITE – AIRTEL SUPER SINGER that this
project work entitled has been originally carried out by me under
the guidance and supervision of Preetham Balakrishna Professor of Law,
Tamil Nadu National Law University, Tiruchirappalli - 620 027.This work has
not been submitted either in whole or in part of and Degree / Diploma at any
University.

Place: TRICHY

Date: 02.11.2018

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INDEX

 INTRODUCTION
 BROADCASTERS RIGHTS IN RELATION TO INDIA
 THE CONVENTION RELATING TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF PROGRAMME-
CARRYING SIGNALS TRANSMITTED BY SATELLITE 1974
 WIPO COPYRIGHT TREATY,1996(WCT)
 WIPO PERFORMANCE AND PHONOGRAMS ACT 2996 (WPTT)
 BEIJING TREATY ON AUDIO VISUAL PERFORMANCE, 2012
 PROTECTION OF THE PERFORMANCES UNDER VARIOUS TREATIES
 DIGITAL RIGHTS AND SATELLITE BROADCASTING RIGHTS
 CHAIN OF TITTLES
 PERFORMERS RIGHT IN THE CASE OF AIRTEL SUPER SINGERS:
 CONCLUSION

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INTRODUCTION

Digitalisation is the main aim of the 21st century after the advent of the computers,
broadcasting industries make a huge sum of the money to the governments and its one of the
main money sources of the government. Countries like India which is densely populated
where the number of users is as more than all the other nations. In a recent survey conducted
by the IBIF it stated that “India reached a growth of 61% and its aiming to reach 72% in the
upcoming year”1. The main component of the transmission that is widely used and the most
economical one is the direct to home transmission. This one of the most developing industry
in the world as it contains a numerous uncountable consumers and everlasting ones. The
industry was once only concentrating on the local territories but where after this update of the
DTH and other satellite transmission the market became wide and a global priority in nature.
Now this sector doesn’t have any limitations towards the reginal prescriptive. Where after the
implementation of the Geo Targeting where as the contempt producers and the transmitting
company locate the territory of the consumers and target their advertisements towards a
particular community or the particular people of the region. The broadcasting rights of the
companies were not protected under the previous Indian copyright Act 1957, whereas the
government didn’t feel the necessity of the same, because of the such drawbacks where many
broadcastings international corporations cannot enter into India and their rights were not
protected. This resembled to a huge loss to government of India and where as that it made a
drastic amendment in 2012 for the sole purpose of upholding the rights of the broadcasters.
After that there was drastic improvement in the field of the broadcasting and its one of the
major tax contributors to the government.

1
http://www.ibfindia.com/industry-growth-story (last viewed on 31/10/2018, 7.00PM IST)

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Research Questions:

 What are the rights that are conferred to broadcasters in India?

 Does chain of tittle apply to the performers rights and is it Absolute?
 To examine the rights conferred by the performers in Airtel super singers show?

Research Objectives:

The objective of the researcher is to study the impact of rights of the broadcasters through
satellites and to differentiate between the rights offered for cable transmission and satellite
transmission. To analyze the protection given by the Rome convention and the WIPO for the
protection of the digital transmission in a global scale. To do a detailed study in regarding of
the webcasting and the anti-circumvention provisions missing in the trips and Rome
convention.

To validate the broadcaster rights of Airtel super singers and to analyze the rights of the
performers and producers.

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BROADCASTERS RIGHTS IN RELATION TO INDIA

In the early stages where there was no law or any act to govern, in 1994 there was an
amendment made in the Indian copyright act, 1957 that included the basic rights of the
broadcasting organisations under the Copyright law in India. Still there was no absolute scope
in the previous amendments so that the government of India introduced another amendment
in the year 2012 and this was considered as the significant amendment that protects and gives
rights to the broadcasting organisations. Tis amendment gave a special right called
“Broadcast Reproduction Rights” to all the major broadcasting companies in India. It also
gave the protection years up to twenty-five years from the date of production and from the
next year to twenty-five years.

The Indian Copyright Act allows the fair usage of the broadcast like using it for the purpose
of news, for the purpose of Academic research, and other fair usage are mentioned in the
section 52 of the same act. This act also provided an option for the rebroadcast, where as a
company can rebroadcast the content created by any other company it can be a show, video,
music, or any art form by paying certain royalty fees to the original owners and the rates are
fixed by the copyright board. The right to broadcast the already published content has been
given statuary right under section 31D of the Indian Copy Right Act. The clause contains in
such a way that all the performers name and authors name should be displayed in the re
broadcast also.

“In the case of super cassettes Industries Ltd2, the company challenged the constitutional
Validity of the section 31(D) of the copyright Act along with the section 31(1)(b)”. The
company stated that this provision brings discrimination between the both broadcasters and
the copyright owners. Where the company even stated that there was a violation of the Article
14 of the Indian constitution.

2
W.P(c) No. 2316 of 2013, Delhi High Court.

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THE CONVENTION RELATING TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF PROGRAMME-
CARRYING SIGNALS TRANSMITTED BY SATELLITE 1974

In the case of the proposed issues to the WIPO treaty where as the broadcasters protection
and rights there are more benefits included in the convention relating to the distribution of
programme- carrying Signals Transmitted by satellite 1974 and they have been upheld in the
TRIPS and this treaty gave the clauses like where if the organisation doesn’t authorise any
broadcast then its considered to be as an unauthorised broadcast and it applies only to the
member countries to the organisation and not three rest. “This convention had a flaw stating
that it does not prescribes any protection years under it” 3. The convention did not give any
body or governing rule and it does have any significant power to remedy.it comes under or its
governed by the United Nations. If there is any need for the amendment or ratification then it
has to only done under the powers of the General secretary of the UN. The point to be noted
is that India is not a member to this convention.

WIPO copyright Treaty,1996(WCT)

This treaty equipped the Autor’s and the content creators to give authorization or authorises
their work in the mode of distribution of rental rights. This treaty was trying to protect the
rights of the authors of literary and artistic works related. It gave the right to use over the
content in the internet medium. It tried to address the threats and the protection from the new
technological developments in the same field.

WIPO PERFORMANCE AND PHONOGRAMS ACT (WPTT)

This treaty was in the full form of the support to the performers where the main significant
changes mentioned is performers rights in relationship with rights of “reproduction,
distribution, and distribution of the content in a fixed type of phonograms 4” Article 15 of the
treaty states that this treaty gives the equal importance to both the performers rights and the
producers right.

3
The convention relating to the distribution of programme- carrying Signals Transmitted by satellite 1974
4
WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty, 1996, Articles 6-10

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BEIJING TREATY ON AUDIO VISUAL PERFORMANCE, 2012

Its also called as Beijing treaty and Article 6 of the treaty provides right to the performers
with the authorization of the communication and the broadcasting. The important clause
added in this treaty is to where it gives a direct and indirect reproduction rights that are vested
in the hands of the performers in the field of the audio-visual fixations as mentioned in the
Article 7 of the treaty. “The rights of the distribution and copies of the performances are
governed under the article 8(1) of the treaty”5.

PROTECTION OF THE PERFORMANCES UNDER VARIOUS TREATIES

Article 9(1) of the broadcast theory gives an exclusive right to the transmission of signals in
all the commercial aspects in the only motive to reach the common public. While taking the
Berne Convention into account the copyright holder has the right in the case of the public
performance and the communication for the public in regard with the works related to the
musical and videos. These are mentioned under Article 7 of the Berne Convention. In the
other had the Rome convention under Article 7(1)(a) it safeguards the broadcast and
communication to the public to protect performances being exploited through that mode. The
exceptions to this where the content that is already broadcasted. The Beijing treaty also has
the same rights as conferred in the Rome convention.

DIGITAL RIGHTS AND SATELLITE BROADCASTING RIGHTS

Digital broad casting rights is the new form of rights that will be given by the producer to
different companies or people, this is way of out sourcing the content of a producer. Where as
that for example if a movie is released in theatre where it has two types of rights the digital
and satellite rights, companies like QUBE is a satellite broadcasting companies that get
content from the producer and it transmits the content to the theatre for a prescribed time and
the same content where as will be given to one more company or people as digital right in
which that they will publish the content in a medium like internet. Netflix, Prime video, Viu
are the examples of the digital rights holders. Where as companies like QUBE, UFO, all the
channels that use satellite as a mode of transmission is known as satellite broadcasting rights
holders. The important point to be noted is that where as there can be both digital and satellite
rights for the same content. In the recent times many Indian companies and television

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Beijing Treaty, Article 8(1)

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broadcasting companies have acquired the satellite rights for a huge sum of money, the movie
named 2.O an upcoming Rajinikanth movie the satellite religion rights were acquired for Rs
110 crores and it is noted as the one of the first biggest deal of a channel in acquiring rights.
The same channel acquired movie called Dangal an super hit in Hindi language for nearly
around 75 crores. The movie 2.O whereas only the television satellite rights are only acquired
and the digital rights of the movie is still under discussion of the producer and online digital
platforms like Netflix, and Prime video are trying to get the digital rights in this competitive
market. In the recent days where the digital rights are more tough to get than the satellite
rights.

CHAIN OF TITTLES

Chain of title is the new method or new way to sort out the producer’s problems and to avoid
the suits relating to the claims of the rights it been used by many. The chain of title starts
form the producer and it ends with the last person having the right to the content. For
example, where in the case of a movie the producer has the whole rights. There are two types
of rights in it where as exclusive right and restricted right. The producer has the exclusive
right in the beginning where his rights become restricted only when he gives or transfers his
part of the right to some on. In the same way as such that the performer also has the exclusive
right when does not gives up his right to the producer for any consideration. In the case of the
performers under the musical rights the composer has the majority right and the performer in
the music like singer has a less claim to the content. If the singer gives up his right for any
consideration to the composer then the playback singer won’t have any claim to the same in
the future.

Saregama India Limited vs The Indian Singers Rights6 the case was filed against the
restaurant located in Delhi and for playing the music in the restaurant without any valid rights
frim the company and the performer but where as that the case become exparte but the court
upheld using a music without any proper acquiring of the right is an infringement of the
copyright and its leads to a crime and whereas that it held liable. In the case of the Indian
singers’ rights ... vs night fever club & lounge where as that the song played in the club was
not acquired through proper copyright and the court held this is a violation to the performers

6
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/172801283/

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right and if they are using then are bound to pay a royalty fee to, he performer of the
company that owns the content.

In the case of the ISRA against the Red FM stating that where the Red FM has acquired the
copyright for playing the song in the FM but where as that it was challenged that the content
had the performers right and the red FM had failed to get clearance from the performer and
it’s a violation of the performers right and whereas the Delhi high court added that there must
be royalty paid to the performer if anyone is using the content in a mass media like FM and it
stated that there is a violation and us valid and the court directed pay back the royalty and the
this held that the performers in the music industry has the right to the content they have been
a part to it.

PERFORMERS RIGHT IN THE CASE OF AIRTEL SUPER SINGERS:

Airtel super singer is a television program that is conducted by Start Vijay, a part of the Star
group and its now currently owned by a 21st fox century fox productions an American
production company having its headquarters in America New York Manhattan. The star
Vijay is one the subsidiary of the Star India function and telecasting in Tamil language has
more than 20 million viewers around the globe. The channel is broadcasted in India, Sri
Lanka, UK, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, and more. Where the concept of the Super singer is
that where the participants are allowed to sing songs based on the given theme and all the
songs performed by the participants are being already copyrighted content and they have
been registered under the same.

The main issue here is that the songs and music that played in the show are violating the
performers right or not? where as to answer this question we have to apply the chain of tittle
method because after recent Delhi high court judgments it has been a little confused state. In
the show basically, a song is being sung by a participant and the music is performed in the
background. Where the producer of the music has the exclusive right and next the performers.
The performers can give up their right for any valid consideration to the producer. In the
early times where the performers cannot have the right over the content but now after some
judgments it been clear that performers do have the rights. If the performer gives the right
under any agreement to the producer then he cannot claim any right under that. Where as that

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in the present case the singer has the right and the music composer has the right and even the
music company that has the registered label also has the right. If some channel has to use
such things then it has to get the copyright from the producer if he has exclusive music rights
for the all under the same. If the producer has a restricted right the performers right should be
acquired for any valid consideration or by paying any royalty to the performer.

After the ISRA vs Fever night club case it has been a little confused state that even if the
producer has an exclusive right there should be a royalty paid to the performer for the fair
use. The usage of the music is the main breach of the performers rights.

IN the case of the Airtel super singers it violates all the possible rights of the producer, the
registered music brand or label, the performers and composers right.

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CONCLUSION

In the early era it was as simple as the all the rights of the content produced is owned by the
producer and he has the exclusive right toward it. But in the later era where after recent
developments in the intellectual property rights there a new brand started stating that the
performers also have the right to it if it used without proper authorisation. After the cases
filed by the Indian singer’s right association and the judgments reading to that it has been
clear in some aspects there is part of the right they have in the content. In the recent times
where there are different judgments contradicting to each other and where still there no
particular judgments giving guide lines to the producers, the performers and the content
creators. After the Red FM case it was strongly implicated and brought too much tension the
cinema and music field. Where now all the producers and the music companies like Zee, T-
series, and many are searching legal assistances to save themselves from the suits and even
many clubs and other mediums are in a confused state regarding the usage of the content. The
persons aware of the legal consciences and performers working in the relevant field are
safeguarded. But where the common people should be made aware of the usage of the fair
usage. In the upcoming years there will be more suits relating to the seeking of the rights to
various claims. It’s the duty of the government of India and the courts to establish good laws
and precedents to take care of the one of the biggest industries in the world. The government
should appoint a commission or a body to examine this and major an amendment stating that
what are the actual rights that performers have in the songs and who can claim exclusive
rights and restricted rights in the following. This even leads to the monetary loss to the
producers and this will lead to the set -back in the industry. After analysing the above-
mentioned ones will create a huge impact in the cine and music industry. The major
production houses and the music companies will survive but where small music industries
and production house will face too many complications and monetary losses and the industry
won’t be having a healthy relationship. This actually brings a huge monetary loss to the
government and unemployment within the Music and cinema related industry.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Review of Literature:

Securing Authors' Rights in Satellite Transmissions: U.S. Efforts to Extend Copyright

Protection Abroad

Heather Dembert, Securing Authors' Rights in Satellite Transmissions: U.S. Efforts to

Extend Copyright Protection Abroad, 24 Colum. J. Transnat'l L. 73 (1985)

The author in the above mentioned that United States was the ninth country to ratify the
Brussels satellite convention and he stated the flaws in the conventions and the lack of legal
provisions in the convention. The author partially discussed about the improvements and
introduction of the space satellites and the methods of the transmitting and receiving in regard
with the relevant legal provisions.

DIRECT BROADCAST SATELLITES AND THE DETERMINATION OF

AUTHORS' RIGHTS UNDER THE BERNE CONVENTION: LUCY IN THE SKY
WITHOUT RIGHTS?

Iris C. Geik, Direct Broadcast Satellites and the Determination of Authors' Rights
under the Berne Convention: Lucy in the Sky without Rights, 15 Suffolk Transnat'l L.J.
563 (1992)

The author discusses about the television broadcast signals and he also states that one country
to households in every country within the span of the satellite. He gives a classified view
about the Berne convention and the protection of the litetry and artistic works. He focuses
mainly on the author’s right. Then the author studies about the Berne convention and satellite
technology and gives the plus and minus of the same.
DIRECT TELEVISION BROADCASTING BY SATELLITES AND FREEDOM OF
INFORMATION

Mandred A. Dauses, Direct Television Broadcasting by Satellites and Freedom of

Information, 3 J. Space L. 59 (1975)

The author discusses about the UNESCO declaration of principles and article 5 of the same
and he does a legal analysis of the satellite directions and the law relating to the transmitting
of the content from the transmitter tot the television and also discusses about the trips
agreement framework for the further references.
The Performer and the Law in India, School of Legal Studies. URL:
http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/68019/14/14_chapter%207.pdf

The article depicts the intellectual property rights protection have been high on the
performers organizations and it has huge impact and huge importance throughout the country.
The approach towards the performers right has been not done in a straight manner and it has
always been implies or not directly approached by the courts of law in India. The author

13
states that there should be more legal judgments regarding performer’s right to bring a wide
scope in this field of study.
Martin Cave, Robert W. Crandall, Sports Rights and the Broadcast Industry, 4, The
Economic Journal, 111 (2001)
The author tries to understand if the selling of broadcast rights creates a monopoly in the
industry and also goes a step further by analysing effect of broadcaster’s ownership of teams
in sporting events and its effect on competition. For this project the article helps in analysing
the ways of granting broadcasting rights and its effect on competition. As the researcher
focuses on the current regime the regime used in this article can be found to be similar in
nature.

JUDICIAL AND LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF PERFORMERS’ RIGHTS IN

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The aforementioned article discusses about the interlink between copyright act and
performers rights in U.S.A. This article also explains the evolution of the performers rights
thorough various judicial pronouncements. It also talks about the protection of audio visual
rights of a performer. Further, it also discusses about the performers moral tights in the united
states.

Performer’s Rights In India — A Study With Special Reference To The Audiovisual

Industry

https://dyuthi.cusat.ac.in/xmlui/bitstream/handle/purl/3061/Dyuthi-T1035.pdf

This article talks about the history of performers rights in India and how it has evolved
though out the years beginning from medieval period. It also discussed about the status of
the performers in the audio-visual industry in India. It also discusses about an assessment of
collective organizational initiatives and contractual practices in the audio-visual industry.

RIGHTS OF BROADCASTING ORGANIZATIONS: DO WE NEED LEGAL REFORM?

Girish Kumar R Relfi Paul https://www.nalsar.ac.in/IJIPL/Files/Archives/Volume%202/5.pdf

14
The article discusses about legal reforms in organisation of broadcasting rights and it also
discusses about the challenges of the technology in public broad casting. It also discusses
whether India need law reforms with regard to the same.

PROTECTION OF BROADCASTING RIGHTS UNDER INTELLECTUAL

PROPERTY LAW IN INDIA

http://journal.lawmantra.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/9.pdf
the aforementioned article discusses about the meaning of broadcasting rights in
detail. It also discusses about the international perspective on the same, on the lines of
performers rights. The author refereed to the constitutional perspectives of the
broadcasting rights which were discussed in detail. Finally, in the last chapter it
discusses about the trends in the broadcasting rights.

List of reading material (tentative):

 SCOPE OF RIGHTS OF BROADCASTING ORGANISATIONS UNDER

COPYRIGHT ACT, 1957
http://www.rslr.in/uploads/3/2/0/5/32050109/scope_of_broadcasting_organizations.pd
f
 Protection of Rights of Broadcasting Organizations.
http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/mdocs/en/wipo_reg_cr_sin_15/wipo_reg_cr_sin_1
5_t_18.pdf.
 Copyright and Related Rights: The International Dimension. https://www.cjc-
online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/827/733
 COPYRIGHT PROTECTION IN THE CABLE TELEVISION INDUSTRY:
SATELLITE RETRANSMISSION AND THE PASSIVE CARRIER EXEMPTION.
https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4619&context=flr.

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