This Legislative Comment has been written by Gokul. He is a 3rd-year B.B.A. LL.B. (Hons) Student at VIT School of Law. He is more inclined towards legal research and understanding the core purpose of law.

ABSTRACT

The overactive proliferation of Over-the-Top (OTT) platforms as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ Hotstar, has radically altered the landscape of entertainment in India and introduced a level of affordable, true democratic access to content, as a side effect of becoming an incubator of advanced levels of digital media piracy. As opposed to classical pirating with CDs or through torrents, modern pirating continues to prosper in encrypted systems such as Telegram and WhatsApp, with copyright materials getting leaked and shared within a few hours of their publication. This legislative comment is a reaction against the failure of the existing legislation, especially the Copyright Act, 1957 and the Information Technology Act, 2000 to deal with encrypted digital piracy. Even with amendments in place, these laws are ill prepared to address the level, anonymity as well as transboundary characteristics of piracy enabled by encrypted platforms.

The legislative comment examines the legislation gap, failures of intermediate liability and ineffectiveness of John Doe orders in these digital environments. It highlights the necessity to conduct urgent legal reform, in particular, an implementation of co-liability regime of platforms, implementation of real-time takedown procedures, redefining of digital piracy based on the Copyright Act and reshaping closer alignment with the Intermediary Rules, 2021. It also promotes greater cooperation among countries by means of Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs) and data localization. Finally, the comment makes a recommendation to drastically change the copyright law in India to reflect the realities of the digital age of distributing content so that they ultimately protect economic gains, but also the integrity of creative work in the age of OTT.

This legislative Comment is written by Palak Bharadwaj, a 4th year B.A.LL.B. student at Dr. Hari Singh Gaur University, she is a passionate student with ability to simplify complex legal concepts.

ABSTRACT

A design is anything that is applied to an article; it is not an item in and of itself.  It must be supplied as completed goods to the manufacturer. By offering a legislative framework for the preservation of designs, the Design Act is essential to preserving the aesthetic appeal of industrial goods. Articles’ aesthetic rights are governed by the Industrial Design Act, which makes sure that unique and creative designs aren’t stolen or used for commercial purposes without permission. As part of an all-encompassing legal framework, the Copyright Act of 1988 also offers overlapping protection for specific creative designs. Design registration is explicitly covered by India’s Design Act, 2000, which gives designers the ability to get exclusive rights to their original creations. Under the Design Act of 2000, a design can be registered by submitting an application to the Controller of Designs, which will then be reviewed, published, and, if all requirements are satisfied, certified. When combined, these legal tools seek to safeguard intellectual property, foster innovation, and elevate industrial design’s aesthetics.

This Legislative Comment has been written by Keerthana N R. She is pursuing LLM in Intellectual Property Rights. She has a keen interest in legal drafting and in-depth research, aiming to bridge theory and practice within the evolving field of IP law with an aspiration to contribute impactful insights and precise analysis through both her academic and professional endeavors.

ABSTRACT

The Digital Data Protection Act 2023 is a vital piece of legislation reacting to the changing dynamics of data privacy and protection in India, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s momentous ruling in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy vs Union of India that declared the right to privacy as a fundamental right. Previous legislations, such as the Information Technology Act 2000, did not well cover the intricacies of contemporary data use and privacy issues. The new Act has given a holistic, cross-sectoral legal environment for protecting personal data in the face of rapid technological advances. It reflects India’s resolve to create effective privacy governance structures that are necessary not merely for individual rights protection but also for the promotion of transparent, sustainable organizational behavior. By addressing business risks and reputational concerns of data breaches, the Act places India at the vanguard of international data protection efforts, attesting to the emerging status of privacy in the digital era.