Filing a Copyright Claim against an Indian website

sameerparwani

What's the best way to handle copyright issues in India? Of course I can contact a lawyer and have him handle it for me. But are there easier methods. For example, in the USA a DMCA takedown request will usually do the trick. Anything similar in India? And if I do contact a lawyer, how difficult and lengthy will the process be? Is the law sufficiently strong that once a violator receives a cease and desist letter he will likely remove the offending content and stop future theft because he knows he can easily be taken to court?

Basically, many of our competitors copy and paste our content. Even more source their content from us, which is probably legal as long as they paraphrase. But the ones that copy and paste are definitely breaking the law, and I want to know how easy it is to force them to stop. One of those copy and paste thieves is even a registered member of this forum, but I don't think I want to turn this into a Zomato vs Burrp public issue, so I won't name him. I did contact him directly asking him to stop, so now they copy and paste my content and change a few words and put it live on their site.

Tarun

Sameer,

For content in India on an Indian webhost you can try a couple of things not necessarily in the order listed below:-

1. India more or less implements current SOPA like functionality for the *.in domains already without having to specify it black & white by awarding discretionary powers to bureaucracy ( Cyber Appellate Authority ). Sending an email to CERT-IN should be entirely sufficient for taking down an entire .in domain where it is a super obvious case of blatant plagiarism for commercial benefit.
2. Your first choice is to send a legal takedown notice on the email of copyright violator.
3. Incase the violator is too dumb to understand it ( this happens a lot ), contact the abuse@ address of their webhost/SAAS provider ( or CERT-IN who would do the same: send a word to webhost & domain registrar ) with a request to takedown. If it is blatant plagiarism easily proven it is very likely the webhost would comply. This wouldn't work for complicated cases where a webhost wouldn't want to get involved.
4. Lastly your options are limited to legal remedies the old fashioned way of getting a lawyer to do the dirty work for you.

Regards
-Tarun
http://e2enetworks.com/

pranesh

There is no obviously right thing to do here. Some questions for you:
1. Do you want to proceed against your competitor, to get them to remove the content? or
2. Do you want to proceed against your competitor's web host and tell them that they are hosting infringing material?

The second approach is supported under the severely-flawed free-speech nightmare law that we have right now in India (the Intermediary Guidelines Rules), and intermediaries have to comply with complaints within 36 hours (which they generally do, without examination as to the truth or validity of the claims in your complaint[1]). I don't believe that is the right thing to do, as they (or anyone else) could just send your web host / ISP / DNS provider false complaints that they will have to comply with under Indian law even without notifying you.

Does this Indian law apply to non-Indian service providers? Yes, according to the IT Act. Does this Indian law apply to non-Indian content? Yes, according to the IT Act. So, it would seem, our law applies to the whole world, despite other countries' laws applying only to that territory. For instance, the DMCA only applies to the US, and not to the EU or India, etc.

The first, which is to go after the offender instead of the intermediary, I believe is the preferable option. A cease and desist notice citing sections 14 and 51 of the Copyright Act should suffice. Note that if you send a vexatious notice that you know to be false, then that too is a wrong under the Copyright Act.

- Pranesh

Rajesh

Sameer,

Websites like DMCA.com help you in removing copyright protected content from any website. DMCA take downs can be used on websites all over the world. You can also try using htmlguard.com that will prevent unauthorized copying of your content. I am sure who do Ctrl + C & Ctrl + V won't be interested in reproducing the content manually or atleast this give us some peace of mind. :)

sameerparwani

DMCA only works when there is some of American connection, which is often but not always. I'm specifically interested in Indian copyright law.

yashg

If the site's hosted on servers in the US that means there's some American connection isn't it? Check it out. Use www.whoishostingthis.com to find out where the servers are located and send them a DMCA notice. If they don't act contact the hosting provider ISP.

yashg

FAQ on whoishostingthis states

DMCA is applicable in US as well as any EU country.

http://www.whoishostingthis.com/dmca-faq/

sameerparwani

@Yashg, Thanks for the info. But, I'm looking to learn how it works when you're dealing with an Indian company hosted on an Indian server.

KumarSudeep

Sameer, the DMCA does not apply in India, nor is there a corresponding law in force in the country at present (this point has been categorically stated by the Delhi High Court in a recent case involving Myspace and Super Cassettes, where Myspace was alleged to be infringing copyrights).

A good way to deal with the type of infringing websites in India that you mention is to send them a legal notice to cease and desist under the Copyright and Information Technology Acts. This should generally be sufficient to make them comply; otherwise you can move Court for an injunction against the infringing websites. Grant of injunction in such cases does not take too much time, and fortunately is not in-line with the notorious image of protracted Court proceedings.

Hope this helps, feel free to drop me a line in case you want to discuss further.

ramanuj

Indian law on this is contained in the Information Technology Act and many rules under it. See this excerpt from Information Technology (Intermediaries guidelines) Rules 2011:

You shall not host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, update or share any information or share/list(s) any information or item that:
(a) belongs to another person and to which You does not have any right to;

(d) infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights or third party’s trade secrets or rights of publicity or privacy or shall not be fraudulent or involve the sale of counterfeit or stolen items;

.............etc

ramanuj

the IT act any intermediary like hosting service, websites, SAAS provider is liable to take down content that violates copyright. First step: send a notice to the intermediary specifically pointing out the provision of law under which u r asking for take down (copyright violation here). practical tip: mentioning the section or rule number will show that you are serious and know the law. provide your full identification details, address phone number, use a printed letterhead etc so that your request looks credible. This will work 95% of the time. If iot doesnt, get a lawyer to file a case making the intermediary and the violator of copyright parties to the case - intermediary will take it down as soon as they get a notice from the court - its unlikely you'd have to fight it out in the court.

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