The
entertainment
and media industry growth and challenges in India are imminent.
With this growth, the legal
issues of entertainment and media industry in India are going to
increase. The media and entertainment industry of India must be well
prepared to deal with these challenges.
According to India’s exclusive techno legal IP and
ICT law firm Perry4Law,
the media and entertainment industry is attracting attention of
significant stakeholders in India. India’s media and entertainment
business is estimated to grow by 18% over the next 5 years and is
projected to grow into a 1.157 trillion industry by 2012.
Further, online entertainment business is the next
big market for studios and broadcasters. The major changes are likely
to occur in the video games, internet, casinos sectors and television
distribution. A greater part of this development is anticipated from
"BRIC" countries, i.e. Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Presently, the great markets of China and India are
dominating this growth potential of media and entertainment industry.
However, along with these market potentials there are some cause of
concerns as well. The dealing of Intellectual
Property Rights (IPRs) matters in India is one such concern. It
would be appropriate to know what the legal arrangements and
challenges are in this regard.
Indian media and entertainment industry may face the
legal challenges of IPRs laws and cyber
laws in India. IPRs laws like copyright, trademark, etc may be
repeatedly violated and intermittently invoked to redress IPRs
violations of media and entertainment industry in India. Likewise,
media and entertainment industry must consider the directives akin to
due diligence and supplementary provisions of Information Technology
Act, 2000. There may be additional requirements which may carry
certain new impugns - the Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) being one of them.
Furthermore, the media and entertainment industry
will face new technological challenges. For example, the concerns
relating to digital
preservation in India of entertainment industry products may
assume implications in future. This entails a domain specific and
techno-legal expertise that India may not presently possess. We need
to develop techno
legal skills development in India in this regard.
The state of affairs moreover requires a move in the
academic and professional education in India that needs to be duly
implemented envisaging the modern and up to date needs. However,
technological up gradations and educational improvements may not
bring desired outcomes in the lack of public awareness in this
regard.
Ignorance of law is no excuse. Therefore, even if
India has basic level laws and suitable technology, it may tolerate
IPRs and cyber law infringements due to ignorance of applicable laws.
In the dearth of public awareness all other ingenuity will fall
short. However, it looks like, the time ahead for the media and
entertainment industry will be both - exigent and exciting.
