Tuesday, May 4, 2010

CopyrightS??????

I'm not really sure if Gizmodo did the right thing by buying "stolen" property for the "benefit of its readers" and running stories on the 4th generation Apple iPhone which is yet to be launched (some people say that it will be launched in June). Because I do not have access to first hand information and it is a sensitive topic, I will not write about it here.

Scott Adams is a genius. Check out: www.dilbert.com

Closer to home, there are other issues to be debated. For example the arrest of Guruji.com executives in Bangalore for allegedly making available copies of copyrighted musical works owned by T Series. The police arrested Anurag Dod, CEO of Guruji.com and other executives on Friday.

The First Information Report (FIR) registered in Bangalore states that this is “for infringement and displaying in Guruji.com web site film songs of 1) Om Shanthi Om 2) All the best 3) Bhool Bhulaiya 4) Apka Suroor 5) Aashiq Banaya Apne which belong to Super Cassettes Industries Ltd Copy Right Owner Ship”.

Guruji.com is a search engine. Now if it is advertising pirated products as such, then perhaps we have a case here. But otherwise, it is quite stupid to arrest those guys. Its like arresting L&T executives because people have been transporting hooch over the flyover they built. A search engine's job is to search and give results. Which it does based on an automated process. It however, has the responsibility of taking off offensive content (including pirated ones) once it has been informed. The IT act of 2010, which is the amended version of the IT act of 2000, can't be used to prosecute here. However, T Series can try the Copyright act -- Not against the search engine though. If that is not the case, it will have to sue

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