This article has been written by Shobhana Aggarwal.

Abstract 

The Internet revolutionized technological application and gave birth to a new place namely Cyberspace. Like any other field, cyberspace is also the result of the labour done by people. The only difference is this labour is not physical rather intellectual. With the development of cyberspace, many challenges also emerged. Discussion started on labour done in cyberspace. Those who were engaged in cyber-labour started demanding state protection of their work through legislation as infringement became common along with an increase in cyberspace. 

Traditional art changed and a new field emerged along with many other intellectual properties namely copyright in cyberspace. It was not possible to regulate copyright in an orthodox approach hence any countries passed new legislation and amended their existing laws. Monetary values of copyrighted work also increase simultaneously. 

This article discusses the meaning of cyberspace and copyright in detail with a focus on the Indian approach. It further highlights remedies that will be available to the creator of copyrighted work in case of infringement. Rights and protection available to copyrighted work’s author has been also discussed in detail. This article also highlights the attitude of courts while deciding a case related to copyright infringement in cyberspace.

Introduction 

Technology has changed the way we work, the way we communicate, and the ways we travel, among many other things. It affected all aspects of our life and a change came in our traditional ways of doing things. With a high-speed internet connection, it became too easy to share information, collect information, conduct online meetings, and sign a business deal, etc. without bothering about geographical boundaries. 

There is no field in today’s world which is not affected by technology but the most important change came in the field of communication. Information sharing became more convenient, cheap and it gave rise to a new culture and a new world. This new world is termed ‘Cyberspace’. Cyberspace becomes an essential thing in today’s world and it is impossible to imagine a world without the Internet as most of the businesses, education system, government agencies, and their data is stored in cyberspace and a big amount of their work is being done by the help of the internet. 

With cyberspace becoming giant with the passing of every day, challenges associated with it have also risen in number. It is giving birth to numerous legal issues as well. Its Growth has also raised the number of crimes committed in cyberspace. Everything has pros and cons, it applies to cyberspace as well. The growth of cyberspace has increased a large number of opportunities for businesses as well as private individuals. Customers now have access to a large number of shops and businesses have larger customer groups (It is termed as e-commerce).

Meaning of cyberspace and copyright

From a layman’s perspective, cyberspace is a virtual world that connects computers through a network which is called the internet. But it has a wide meaning. It provides facilities to its users to share information, communicates with each other, expands their businesses, entertainment (watching videos online, playing games, etc) among many other things. 

The term Cyberspace was coined by William Gibson in his book titled “Neuromancer”. But the term still doesn’t have one globally accepted definition. Jurists of the field define it in their own understanding. It is usually defined as a global network containing data/information in a virtually accessed infrastructure that can be accessed from any part of the world.

Name	Method of murder	Year	Location	No of victims	Victims	Characteristics
Cyanide Mallika (KD Kempanna)	Poisoning- Cyanide	1999 and 2007	Karnataka, Bangalore	6	Vulnerable women	Poisoner- Robberies
Seema Gavit and Renuka Shinde	Starvation, Smashing heads of victims against walls, poles etc	1990 and 1996	Pune, Kolhapur, and Nashik, Maharashtra, India	5-13	children- between 1yr to 5yr	Kidnapping children and forcing them into begging and petty thefts

Copyright is legal rights that vest in the creator of intellectual property and person/business/organization if authorized by the copyright creator. Copyright is an exclusive rights to use, utilize, or license to someone an intellectual property. It provides the creator of, copyright product protection from unauthorized use and fabrication. Copyright work is protected in India under the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957. It recognizes computer software, programmers, digital database, literary, musical, photos, intellectual art, publicity rights, and table works as copyright material. Copyright vast with its creator for his/her lifetime plus sixty years after her death. 

If work is published anonymously, the copyright ends after the expiry of sixty years from the date of such publication. The most important requirement for obtaining copyright for any work is that it should be in a tangible form; hence mere ideas cannot obtain copyright if they are not in tangible form. Following are the common right created by copyright:

• It entitles you to produce and reproduce your work (duplicate copies), physically or in Cyberspace;
• It gives a right to license your copyright work for legally permitted things to another. The License may be temporary, condition, and/or for a particular thing; and
• It creates a right to perform the copyrighted work publicly.

To know more about Copyright please visit 

Copyright infringement in cyberspace

The use of the internet has become a necessity in today’s world. There is no single sector that doesn’t benefit from the use of the internet or whose work is possible without the internet. The only difference is that some sectors such as the share market, video content makers, etc. are wholly dependent on the internet and running their business in cyberspace, while some sectors are using it to increase their productivity, sell and reach. 

With the rapid development and increase of cyberspace and its easy access to websites, new issues have also emerged which include copyright infringement as well. The most common example of copyright infringement is copying material from a website and producing it as original work. Intellectual property (which includes copyright work), is no different from orthodox creation. The only thing which differs between the two is the availability of form. Traditional work is generally found in the form of books, magazines, documents, pictures, or any other thing which can be touched which means it is available in physical form:

• On the other hand, copyright material and other intellectual property are available in the drive, CD, DVD, software, or any other form which is there in cyberspace. Infringing copyright in cyberspace is easy because of the following reasons:
• It is easily accessible to all;
• Infringer doesn’t need to worry about geographical distance;
• There are no time restrictions so the infringer can use it at any time which suits him. On the other hand for stealing information from a traditional source, time is the most important factor;
• It is so cheap, as tons of material can be accessed on a single topic free of cost;
• No language barriers as with a single tap one can change any information which is there in cyberspace into one’s mother tongue; 
• It is not easy to differentiate between the original copy and the infringed copy.

In cyberspace most commonly committed copyright infringement includes downloading, and distributing music, videos, and games without obtaining permission from its copyright owner. Publishing pictures of celebrities (which is known as a separate Intellectual Property as well namely Publicity/Personality rights) and unauthorized use of the logo are among commonly committed copyright infringement in cyberspace. 

Terminologically, infringement in cyberspace takes place in the form of framing, caching, linking, and display in cyberspace. While the content on a website is framed relying on the information from other sites, and it is available to a user to view is called framing. Dispute of copyright infringement in framing arises because the site which allows users to view the content changed the appearance of the content and tries to create an impression that the copyright owner of that content either authorized them or voluntarily associated with them. Linking is a method used to provide access to another webpage. 

It is problematic because it infringes the rights of the copyright owner of the page by providing direct access to material published or sometimes direct links for files (Pdf, doc, MP3, video, games, etc). Caching and display in cyberspace by unauthorized means also infringes copyright.

Remedies for copyright infringement 

To sue a person or organization for copyright infringement, registration of copyright is not mandatory as copyright arises by mere use in India. If any of the following conditions are satisfied, it will amount to copyright infringement:

• If an unauthorized person, registrar of copyright or people authorized for use in a particular manner contradict with such guidelines;
• If such person uses copyright work with an intention to sale it, rent it or in any such manner that he earns any benefit out of it;
• If uses or distribute with an intention to cause harm to the original owner of such copyright;
• If he exhibits in Public;
• If he imports such copies into India which are the result of copyright infringement.

If copyright is infringed by a person, there are multiple remedies that are available to the original owner of the work as well as to the person with whom such copyright vast by way of licensing:

1. She is entitled to file a suit to obtain an injunction and can prohibit infringer from further use of such copyright work;
2. If any loss is suffered (it includes both monetary and loss of reputation), a suit can be brought for damages;
3. A suit can also be brought to claim all the profit which infringer earned by infringing such copyright; or
4. Delivery of infringing goods can also be claimed.

Other than these general remedies, several rights are given to the creator of a copyrighted work under the Copyright Act, 1957. It gives the creator of a copyrighted work exclusive right to use, exploit, enjoy provided rights which include the right to produce and reproduce the work, publishing it in the public domain, exhibition in public in physical form, translation and licensing copyright work to any other person/organization.

Attitude of judiciary

Judicial approach and attitude reflect in delivered judgments. Intellectual property including copyright is a subject where approach in interpreting plays an important role. US Court held that downloading unauthorized photographs or for that purpose making them available on websites, right of distribution which vest solely and exclusively with the author of copyrighted work were infringed. For a work to be qualified for copyright, a minimum degree of creativity is a must. Simply taking material from different sources will amount to infringement of the copyright of others. Indian courts also have the same opinion on the creativity aspect of all intellectual property work including copyright. 

So basically the principle is like other physical work requires labour, there must be some sort of intellectual labour used for creating a new intellectual work otherwise it will have no protection under the law. While deciding a copyright infringement case Indian court held that defendant’s work is nothing more than a combined piece or original with some variation, it will amount to copyright infringement and the act of piracy. 

Permitted users visiting your website or platform to upload and download copyrighted material will make you liable for the copyright infringement. This view was taken by the court in the Saga Enterprises case, where the defendant managed a BBS that allowed users to upload and download copyrighted games. 

Conclusion

Almost every field depends on cyberspace nowadays. Some businesses totally exist in cyberspace. The only difference between physical and virtual artistic work or any other intellectual property is of the form. Virtual intellectual property swims in the cyberspace hence chances of its being violated are also high. As information is just a click away, so is their misuse. We cannot deny the fact that copyright infringement rapidly increased after cyberspace came into existence. But at the same amount, we cannot deny the fact that work available before cyberspace was not even 0.001% of what we have today. 

The growth of cyberspace has increased freedom to artistic work on the one hand, and it’s an infringement on the other hand. Copying from websites, publishing copyrighted pictures and artistic works are among common examples of copyright infringement.  In case of copyright infringement, there are a number of remedies including obtaining an injunction, damages, profit which the infringer earned by infringing copyright and delivery of infringing goods. Although we have legislation dealing with the subject it are not elaborate. New legislation dealing in length issues related to copyright violation in cyberspace is needed to make cyberspace a safer, profitable and beneficial place.

Bibliography

• The Copyright Act, 1957
• Law of Copyright and Neighboring Rights by V.K. Ahuja
• Law Relating to Intellectual Property by Dr. B.L. Wadhchara
• Cyberspace: The World of Digital Architecture Hardcover

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