IPR in India: strategies and challengies for digital content

Abstract

Copyright infringement is a problem closely tied to technology. In most ways this is quite obvious. Since much of the copyright law was written with pre-digital technology in mind, artifacts of these assumptions continue in the law despite attempts to modernize it. This paper looks particularly at the relationship between technology and copyright enforcement and begins with the three key technology factors that matter to rights holders who want to earn money from their creative works: copying technology, distribution technology, and sales technology [8]. This paper covers the traditional intellectual property rights (IPR) laws and associated concepts from printed to digital works, and discusses how the characteristics of digital replication pose problems for traditional IPR systems. It provides some insight into the Indian software industry by discussing the scope of Indian copyright law, the rights of owner, infringement, penalties etc. Also the paper discuses the distinction between “public” infringers who make works available to others, either for free or for profit, and “private” infringers who are making a personal copy. The copyright law in most countries allows copying for private use, which makes most private infringement legal.