Cyber crimes and IPR in India

The original works in the arts, including writing, photos, paintings, choreography in
written form, music, and video files, are protected by intellectual property rights. These
compositions are protected by the IPR in both tangible and intangible forms. Intellectual
property rights for which there are legal remedies accessible even for online
infringements include patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, industrial and layout
designs, and geographical indications.

The increasing and cyber crimes are not limited to cyber stalking, frauds, cyber bullying,
phishing, or spamming but also extends to infringement of IPR- copyright, trademark,
trade secrets of businesses carried online, audios, videos, service marks by illegal
practices like hyperlinking, framing, meta-tagging, etc.

What is cyber crime?

Any criminal activity that involves a computer, networked device, or any other related
device can be considered a cyber crime. Though, cyber crime is initially carried out to
damage or disable a device or computer in many cases it may also be executed to
generate profit. [1]

Legislations Enacted to Protect IPR [2]

In the year 1999, the government passed an important legislation based on international
practices to safeguard the intellectual property rights. The same are described below−

1. The Patents (Amendment) Act, 1999, facilitates the establishment of the mailbox
system for filing patents. It offers exclusive marketing rights for a time of five years.
2. The Trademarks Bill, 1999.
3. The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1999.
4. Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Bill, 1999.
5. The Industrial Designs Bill, 1999, replaced the Designs Act, 1911.
6. The Patents (Second Amendment) Bill, 1999, for further amending the Patents Act of
1970 in compliance with the TRIPS

CHALLENGES FACED IN PROTECTION OF IPR IN CYBER LAW

Copyright Infringement-[3] Any written artistic, literary, dramatic, or scientific work

is granted copyright protection to the owner in order to prevent anyone else from using it
in his name and making money off of it. These trademarks are violated when used
without the owner's consent, when software is copied and distributed without
authorization, when it is sold without authorization, and when content is illegally copied
from websites or blogs. Eg. Piracy of music

Linking- By clicking on a text link or an image without abandoning the current page, a
user of a website can be taken to a different webpage. It endangers the website owner's
rights and interests, and because of how dependent their income is on how many people
view their site, they risk losing money. Users might get the impression that the two
websites are connected and share the same domain and proprietors as a result.
In Shetland Times, Ltd. v. Jonathan Wills and Another, [4] it was held to be a
demonstration of copyright encroachment under English regulation and an order was
given as the Shetland News' profound connection should be with the implanted pages of
the Shetland Times' site, yet they were likewise connected to the Times' site.

Framing- Another challenge is framing, which becomes a legal issue as the

interpretation of derivation and adaptation under Section 14 of the Copyrights Act of
1957 is debated. The composer just gives clients the business as usual to get to protected
content which is recovered from a site to program the client is getting to so they can't be
considered liable for replicating, imparting, or dispersing the protected substance. The
question that arises is whether taking content that is protected by copyright from a
website and combining it with other content to create one's own qualifies as adaptation or
interpretation for the purposes of the law.

Piracy can be of following types [5]:

Software Piracy- Software piracy refers to making unauthorized copies of computer

software which are protected under the Copyright Act, 1957.

Soft lifting: sharing a program with an unauthorized individual without a license

agreement to use it.
Software counterfeiting: Producing counterfeit copies of software that imitate the
original at a lower cost than the original software is known as counterfeiting. This entails
providing the box, CDs, and manuals, all of which are customized to appear as authentic
as possible.
Renting: when someone rents a copy of software for temporary use without the
copyright owner's permission, which is against the software's license agreement.

Cybersquatting and Trademark infringement

A trademark is a one-of-a-kind identifier mark that can be represented by a graph. Its

primary purpose is to distinguish one person's goods or services from those of others.
Examples of trademarks include packaging, color combinations, and product shape.

Cybersquatting is a type of cyber crime in which a domain name is copied in such a way
that the copied domain name can fool users of the famous one in order to make money.
This is done by registering, selling, or trafficking a well-known domain name in order to
cash in on the goodwill of that domain name.

A domain name dispute occurs when a trademark that is already registered is registered
by another individual or organization that is not the trademark's owner. This occurs when
two or more people claim the right to register the same domain name. The ICANN's[6]
policy must be followed by all domain name registrars.

Meta tagging is a method to build the quantity of clients getting to a site by remembering
a word for the catchphrase segment so the web search tool gets the word and direct the
clients to the website in spite of the website having nothing to do with that word. When a
website contains meta tags that affect the business of other websites, this may amount to
trademark infringement.

International laws for protection of IP in Cyber world [7]

1. Berne Convention(1886)
2. Rome Convention(1961)
3. TRIPS(1994)
4. URDP(1999)

Indian laws on IPR

It is made abundantly clear in Section 51 of the Copyrights Act of 1957 that the owner of
the copyright owns all rights, and that anything to the contrary is considered copyright
infringement. Section 51 can be interpreted to include the facilitation of server facilities
by ISPs for stockpiling user data at their business locations and which is broadcasted for
profit through charging for services and advertisements because there is no explicit
legislation determining the liability of ISPs. However, "knowledge" and "due diligence"
are required to hold ISP liable for supporting copyright infringement in order to interpret
the other ingredients in a cumulative manner.

The Information Technology (Intermediaries) Guidelines Rules 2021 and Section 79 of

the Information Technology Act of 2000 provide online intermediaries with a conditional
defense against liability, but they are also subject to interpretation under any other civil or
criminal law. An intermediary is not responsible for any content hosted on its site by third
parties under the IT Act of 2000. The 2021 Guidelines require intermediaries to follow a
methodical approach in order to obtain protection or exemption under Section 79 of the
IT Act of 2000. As a result, it becomes essential for judicial interpretation based on the
particulars of each case

Cyber crimes committed outside of India that involve a computer, computer system, or
computer network located in India are subject to Section 75 of the IT Act of 2000.
Infractions that target a computer resource that is located in India fall under Section 4 of
the Indian Penal Code (1860). Through judicial activism and effective jurisprudence,
Indian courts are able to protect intellectual property owners from cyberspace intellectual
property infringements.

Conclusion

Protecting intellectual property and sensitive data online through more stringent legal
measures becomes increasingly important in light of technological advancements. As
newer forms of intellectual property-related cyber crimes emerge, it is necessary to enact
new laws because traditional regulations are insufficient to bring about justice due to the
difficulty of protecting intellectual property online and locating those who violate it.

1. https://blog.ipleaders.in/cyber-crime-laws-in-india/
2. https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=7045cf52-4a2c-465f-980b-b5af0
34e2064#:~:text=The%20Patents%20Act%2C%201970%20(%E2%80%9CPatent
s%20Act%E2%80%9D)&text=It%20is%20an%20exclusive%20right,of%20fillin
g%20of%20the%20application.
3. https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-3233-intellectual-property-issues-
in-cyberspace.html
4. https://www.casemine.com/judgement/uk/5a8ff8d660d03e7f57ece180
5. https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-3233-intellectual-property-issues-
in-cyberspace.html
6. ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is the private,
non-government, non-profit corporation with responsibility for Internet Protocol
(IP) address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name
system (DNS) management and root server system management functions. The
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) previously performed these
services.
7. https://enhelion.com/blogs/2022/09/01/role-of-intellectual-property-in-cyber-law/
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0IP%20IN%20CYBER%20WORLD&text=TRIPS%20(1994)%20is%20a%20mu
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