JAVED AKHTAR- IPRS ROYALTY DISPUTE CASE: THE DILEMMA OF MANDATORY ROYALTY SHARING

Abstract

The Copyright Act 1957 (as amended by the Copyright Amendment Act 2012) governs the subject of copyright law in India. the aim of such amendment was to bring about the change in the Indian Music Industry. This all starts when the Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS), a copyright society, which originally comprised of lyricists and composers was taken over by some well-known and strong music labels in India. The pushing out of lyricists and composors from the administration of IPRS incited a counterattack by famous lyricist and scriptwriter Javed Akhtar. This effort of lobbying was successful and the result was the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012. Applying the new amended law of copyright, if the lyricist and composers had to give away all the rights in any future technology then that would deemed to be void. Therefore, this meant that every time the new technology would come up, producers alone will not have a complete right on that medium.