Brainstorming the Copyright Amendments

As the dates for the 2 day conference on  the copyright amendments draw closer, here is reminder inviting all of our readers to this intense brainstorming session on the amendments, the various interpretative issues and their likely impact. 

Sai's earlier post on this outlined the various themes etc, and here is a brief recap.

‘The Copyright Amendments, 2012: A fair Balance?’ will be jointly hosted by the MHRD IP Chairs at the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) and the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) at the NUJS campus in Kolkata (Salt Lake) on November 27 and 28, 2012. The conference is supported by the NUJS law review and the Intellectual Property & Technology Law Society (IPTLS). 

The Conference will set the stage to brainstorm and reflect on the changes and various interpretative challenges to the provisions. The stellar panel put together by the organizers comprises academicians, policy makers, IP practitioners, industry voices, civil society organizations and students. And not to mention those responsible for the changes itself to give a comprehensive account to the legislative history of the amendments. 

The aim of this conference is also to elicit various articles on the amendments and produce a special issue of the NUJS law review (on the amendments) and a book as well. One hopes that these articles will serve as good fodder for the interpretative battles that ensue in court in the aftermath of these amendments.  

Here's a glimpse of what these two days have in store for you:

The keynote address by noted composer and lyricist Javed Akthar will be followed by an overview to the amendments by Prof. N. S. Gopalakrishnan and history of the amendments by the Registrar of Copyrights, Mr. G. R. Raghavender. 

Session I on ‘Copyrights & Entertainment Sector’ will undertake a discussion on provisions affecting Bollywood and the entertainment industry from eminent voices in music industry and legal practice. 

Session II on ‘Copyrights & Technology’ will brainstorm on the worrisome tech-related provisions of the Copyright Act. 

Session III on ‘Copyright Limitations & Exceptions’ comprising strong voices from the civil society organizations and legal academia will evaluate the laudable exceptions to copyrights in the amendments and will also take stock of missed opportunities. 

Session IV on ‘Copyright Enforcement, Adjudication and Governance Issues’ will address the constitutional challenges to the Copyright Board and transparency concerns in collecting societies. 

The schedule for the event along with the list of speakers and topcis can be accessed from here. 

If you wish to join in on any of the panels and have something interesting to say on any of these provisions, please do drop us an email at iptls@nujs.edu (with a copy to shamnad@gmail.com) informing us. If there is space in any of the panels, we will certainly accommodate you. Else, we look forward to your participation as a member of the audience. And we really hope you can join us and enrich the discussion. 

Registration 

The conference is open to all. Those interested to attend the conference are requested to send an email to iptls@nujs.edu, with their names and designations by November 24, 2012. No registration fee is required for students enrolled in any university and non-profit organizations. For others, the fee is Rs 5000 for registering and attending. We also have a special creativity laden evening (with dinner etc) planned for the 27th evening (entry by invitation only).

ps: We wish to thank the Ministry of HRD for supporting work of the IP Chairs including the holding of important conferences such as this one. We also thank K&S Partners (in particular, Mrs Latha Nair and Mr Rajendra Kumar) for offering some sponsorship for this comprehensive 2 day conference. We're still looking for additional funding to help support this conference...and we'd be very grateful if some of you could come forward to bolster this educational initiative.