CHAPTER XIII
OFFENCES
63.
Offence of infringement of copyright or other rights conferred
by this Act.— Any person who knowingly infringes or abets the infringement of—
(a)
the copyright
in a work, or
(b)
any other right conferred by this Act except the right conferred by section
53A, shall be punishable with
imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to three years and with fine which shall not be less
than fifty thousand
rupees but which may extend
to two lakh rupees:
Provided that where
the
infringement has not been made
for
gain in the course of trade or business the court may, for adequate and
special reasons to be mentioned in the judgment, impose a sentence
of imprisonment for a
term of less than six months or a
fine of less than fifty thousand rupees.
Explanation.— Construction of a building
or other structure
which infringes or which, if completed, would infringe the copyright
in some other work shall not be an offence
under this section.
63A. Enhanced penalty on second and subsequent convictions.—
Whoever having already been convicted of an offence under section 63 is
again convicted
of any such offence shall be punishable
for the second and for every subsequent offence, with imprisonment for
a term which shall not be less than one year but which may extend to
three years and with fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees
but which may extend
to two lakh rupees:
Provided that where the
infringement has not been made for gain in the course of trade or business
the court may, for adequate and special reasons
to be mentioned
in the judgment,
impose a sentence of imprisonment for a term of less than one
year
or a fine of less than one
lakh rupees:
Provided further that for the purposes
of this section,
no cognizance shall be taken of any conviction made before
the commencement of the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1984.
63B. Knowing use of infringing copy of computer programme to be an offence.—
Any person who knowingly makes use on a computer of an infringing copy
of a computer programme shall be punishable with imprisonment for a
term which shall not be less than seven days but which may extend to
three years and with fine which shall not be less than fifty thousand
rupees but which may extend to two lakh rupees:
Provided that where the computer
programme has not been used for gain or in the course of trade or
business, the Court may, for adequate and special reasons to be
mentioned
in the judgment,
not impose any sentence of imprisonment and may impose a fine which may
extend to fifty thousand
rupees.
64. Power of police to seize infringing
copies.— (1) Any police officer, not below the rank of a sub-inspector, may, if he is satisfied
that an offence under section
63 in respect of the infringement of copyright
in any work has been, is being,or is likely
to be, committed, seize without warrant,
all
copies of the work, and all plates used for the purposes of making infringing copies of the work, wherever
found, and all copies and plates so seized
shall, as soon as practicable be produced before a Magistrate.
(2) Any person having
an interest in any copies of a work , or plates seized under sub-section (1)
may, within fifteen days of such seizure, make an application to the Magistrate
for such copies , or plates being restored to him and the Magistrate, after
hearing the applicant and the complainant and making such further inquiry as
may be necessary, shall make such order on the application as he may deem fit.
65.
Possession of plates for purpose of making infringing copies.—
Any person who knowingly
makes, or has in his possession, any plate for the purpose
of making infringing copies of any work in which copyright subsists
shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to two years and
shall also be liable
to fine.
65A. Protection of technological
measures.—
(1) Any
person who
circumvents an effective technological measure applied for the purpose
of protecting any of the rights conferred by this Act, with the
intention of infringing such rights,shall be punishable
with imprisonment which may extend to two years and shall also be
liable
to fine.
(2)
Nothing in sub-section (1) shall prevent
any person from,—
(a)
doing anything referred to therein for a purpose not expressly prohibited by this Act:
Provided that any person
facilitating circumvention by another person of a technological measure
for such a purpose
shall maintain a complete record of such other person including his
name, address and all relevant particulars necessary to identify
him and the purpose
for which he has been facilitated; or
(b)
doing anything necessary to conduct encryption research using a lawfully obtained encrypted copy; or
(c)
conducting any lawful investigation; or
(d) doing anything necessary for the purpose of testing the security of a computer
system or a computer
network with the authorisation of its owner; or
(e)
operator; or
(f) doing anything necessary to circumvent
technological measures intended for identification or surveillance
of
a user; or
(g)
taking measures necessary in the interest of national
security.
65B. Protection of Rights Management Information.— Any person, who knowingly, —
(i)
removes or alters any rights management information without
authority, or
(ii)
distributes, imports for distribution, broadcasts or
communicates to the public, without authority, copies of any work, or
performance knowing that electronic rights management information has been
removed or altered without authority, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to
two years and shall also be liable to fine:
Provided that if the
rights management information has been tampered with in any work, the owner of
copyright in such work may also avail of civil remedies provided under Chapter
XII against the persons indulging in such acts.
66. Disposal of infringing copies or plates for purpose
of making infringing copies.— The
Court trying any offence under this Act may, whether the alleged offender is
convicted or not, order that all copies of the work or all plates in the
possession of the alleged offender, which appear to it to be infringing copies,
or plates for the purpose of making infringing copies, be delivered up to the
owner of the copyright or may make such order as it may deem fit regarding the
disposal of such copies or plates.
67.
Penalty for making false entries in register, etc., for producing or tendering
false entries.— Any
person who,—
(a) makes or causes to be
made a false entry in the Register of Copyrights kept under this Act, or
(b) makes or causes to be
made a writing falsely purporting to be a copy of any entry in such register,
or
(c) produces or tenders
or causes to be produced or tendered as evidence any such entry or writing,
knowing the same to be false, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to
one year, or with fine, or with both.
68.
Penalty for making false statements for the purpose of deceiving or influencing
any authority or officer.— Any person who,—
(a) with a view to
deceiving any authority or officer in the execution of the provisions of this
Act, or
(b) with a view to
procuring or influencing the doing or omission of anything in relation to this
Act or any matter thereunder, makes a false statement or representation knowing the same
to be false, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to one
year, or with fine, or with both.
68A. Penalty for contravention of
section 52A.— Any person who
publishes a sound recording or a video film in contravention of the provisions
of section 52A shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three
years and shall also be liable to fine.
69.
Offences by companies.— (1)
Where
any offence under this Act has been committed by a company, every person who at
the time the offence was committed was in charge of, and was responsible to the
company for, the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company
shall be deemed to be guilty of such offence and shall be liable to be
proceeded against and punished accordingly:
Provided that nothing
contained in this sub-section shall render any person liable to any punishment,
if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he
exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.
(2) Notwithstanding
anything contained in sub-section (1), where an offence under this Act has been
committed by a company, and it is proved that the offence was committed with
the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any negligence on the part of,
any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such
director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty
of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished
accordingly.
Explanation.— For the purposes of this section—
(a)
“company” means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of persons; and
(b)
“director”, in relation to a firm means a partner in the firm.
70. Cognizance of offences.— No Court inferior
to that of a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Judicial
Magistrate of the first class shall try any offence
under this Act.
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