KSLU Corner™ New AIBE previous QP

Law of Copyrights

LL.M. · 15 topics in 5 units

Past question papers for Law of Copyrights

Unit I 3 topics

  1. Copyright: history in India and the theories that justify itFrom the Statute of Anne to the Copyright Act, 1957 and its amendments up to 2012, and the labour, personality, utilitarian and critical theories an LL.M. answer is expected to set against that history.7 min
  2. Requirements of protection: originality, fixation and the idea-expression divideThe three tests of originality (sweat of the brow, modicum of creativity, skill and judgment), how Eastern Book Co. v. D.B. Modak chose between them, and the idea-expression dichotomy with merger and scenes a faire.7 min
  3. Subject matter of copyright: the six classes of workSection 13's closed list and the statutory meaning of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, cinematograph films and sound recordings, with the cases that mark the edges of each class and what falls outside all of them.8 min

Unit II 4 topics

  1. Salient features of the Copyright Act and a comparison with the UK, US and EUThe salient features of the Copyright Act, 1957 as amended up to the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, and the basic principles of Indian copyright set against the CDPA 1988, the US Copyright Act and the EU directives: subject matter, originality, formalities, ownership, term, moral rights, exceptions and enforcement.7 min
  2. Author and owner: who is the author, and who owns the copyrightSection 2(d) on authorship, section 17 on first ownership, the employment, commission and film exceptions, IPRS v. EIMPA and the 2012 royalty provisos, joint authorship, and authorship of computer-generated works.6 min
  3. Protected works and the economic rights of the authorThe six classes of work in section 13, the different bundles of exclusive rights section 14 gives each class, terms of protection, exhaustion and rental, and how software sits in this scheme.6 min
  4. Moral rights of authors and performersSection 57 and Berne Article 6bis, the rights of paternity and integrity, the 1994 and 2012 changes, Mannu Bhandari, Amar Nath Sehgal and Raj Rewal, performers' moral rights in section 38B, and the comparison with France, the UK and the US.6 min

Unit III 3 topics

  1. Assignment, licences and compulsory licensingSections 18 to 21 and 30 to 32A: the formal rules of assignment, the presumptions the Act writes into silent contracts, licences, compulsory and statutory licences, Entertainment Network v. Super Cassette, and the EU's author-contract rules for comparison.9 min
  2. Neighbouring rights: performers, producers and broadcastersWhy some rights sit beside copyright rather than inside it, the broadcast reproduction right in section 37, performers' rights in sections 38 to 38B, the Rome Convention, WPPT and Beijing Treaty, and the unfinished broadcasting treaty.5 min
  3. Collective management, copyright societies and the Copyright BoardWhy collective management exists, sections 33 to 36A on copyright societies and tariffs, the 2012 reforms, the bar on unregistered licensing, comparisons with the EU and US, and the Copyright Board from 1958 to its abolition.5 min

Unit IV 4 topics

  1. Infringement of copyright and the remedies for itPrimary and secondary infringement under section 51, proving copying, civil remedies and interim orders, criminal remedies after Knit Pro, border measures, jurisdiction after Sanjay Dalia, and the Commercial Courts regime.6 min
  2. Infringement in different works, groundless threats, slander of title and appealsHow the test of copying changes with the class of work (literary, software, music, artistic, architecture, films and sound recordings), the statutory remedy for groundless threats in section 60, the common law tort of slander of title, and the appeal routes after the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021.8 min
  3. Fair dealing, fair use and the educational exceptionsSection 52's closed list against the open US fair use doctrine, the three-step test, the Indian cases from Civic Chandran to the DU photocopy case, and the US decisions in Campbell, Google v. Oracle and Warhol.7 min
  4. Copyright in the digital environment and artificial intelligenceSoftware and databases, technological protection measures and rights management information, intermediary liability after MySpace, website blocking, and the two AI questions: who authors machine outputs, and whether training on works infringes.6 min

Unit V 1 topic

  1. International protection: Berne, the UCC, TRIPS and the WIPO Internet TreatiesThe Berne principles and revisions, the Universal Copyright Convention and why it faded, TRIPS Articles 9 to 14 and enforcement, the WCT and WPPT, Marrakesh and Beijing, and how India gives effect to them through section 40.6 min