Indian Music Firm Sues Yahoo Over Music Streaming

from the and-this-again dept

There is no DMCA-equivalent in India, apparently, meaning that there are no similar "safe harbors" that protect a service provider from the actions of their users. However, that still doesn't mean one should automatically blame the service provider for a users' actions -- but that's exactly what an Indian court has done. An Indian music company has sued Yahoo and won an injunction barring Yahoo from streaming any of the company's music. While the company had sent complaint letters to Yahoo, Yahoo (reasonably) had asked it to follow the basic takedown procedure, which requires proving that the company properly owns the copyright on the song and then requesting it be taken down.

However, the company says: "it is not possible for the company to spend time and resources to monitor copyright infringements on sharing sites." What they don't explain is why, if the copyright owners themselves can't do it, why they think sites like Yahoo and Google should be able to do it. In fact, it's even more ridiculous when you realize that many musicians want their music on these sites, and Yahoo, Google and others have no way of knowing whether or not a song on their sites has been put their legitimately or not. To have a court demand that Yahoo somehow "figure it out" simply isn't possible, unless it bars all use of music, which hardly seems like a reasonable request.
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Filed Under: copyright, india, liability, music, safe harbors
Companies: super cassettes industries, yahoo


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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2008 @ 4:45pm

    RIAA is setting the standard for all this BS!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Mike C., 2 Jun 2008 @ 5:05pm

    I see an easy answer in the future...

    No more streaming to any Indian IP from Yahoo... period. Won't surprise me when it happens either.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    ChurchHatesTucker, 2 Jun 2008 @ 5:51pm

    Proof? We don't need no stinkin' proof!

    "Yahoo (reasonably) had asked it to follow the basic takedown procedure, which requires proving that the company properly owns the copyright on the song and then requesting it be taken down. "

    Proving? Hah! That's not even required in the US.

    Yeah, that doesn't really change the larger point, but it's worth noting that even here there's no proof required, merely an assertion.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Saphomukatakinata, 2 Jun 2008 @ 6:06pm

    That is veddy veddy gould. Would u like some cuddy with that?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Solution Man, 2 Jun 2008 @ 6:18pm

    Simple Answer

    If India claims it is illegal in their country, then simply block everyone in Inda from accessing it. Then flip them off and tell them to STFU.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    cram, 2 Jun 2008 @ 6:51pm

    Ironical

    The company that sued was India's firt major audio pirate. That's how they started out in business, blatantly ripping off film tracks and selling them in the late 80s. But they were also responsible for bringing down the cost of recorded music (then cassettes) in the country, forcing the likes of HMV to cut cassette prices by more than 70%.

    "In fact, it's even more ridiculous when you realize that many musicians want their music on these sites."

    That's not true. In India, most of the popular music is film music, published and owned by companies. They call the shots; the musicians are at the mercy of movie makers and recording companies, because to make it big as a musician one needs a movie break. And musicians only get one-time payment for their music.

    Musicians in India mostly don't want their music on any Web site (many have actually said so), because as recorded music sales keeps falling, thanks to piracy, it becomes more difficult for them to negotiate decent deals for their next movie project.

    Piracy is so rampant in India it has nearly destroyed the recorded film music business. The only way out is for film companies to start giving away music for free and make their money elsewhere.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    cram, 2 Jun 2008 @ 7:01pm

    forgot to add...

    There's simply no respect for copyright in India and suing just won't get you anywhere, because it might take up to 10 years for the case to even come up for hearing.

    T-Series decided to complain to Yahoo only because it's an American Internet company. If they had tried it with any Indian web site, they would have got the middle finger.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    wasnt me, 2 Jun 2008 @ 7:03pm

    >>> the company says: "it is not possible for the company to spend time and resources to monitor copyright infringements on sharing sites.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Carnac the Magnificent, 2 Jun 2008 @ 7:04pm

    And here, I have the last envelope ...
    hermetically sealed and has been kept in a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnalls porch since noon today .....

    Ans: "You figure it out"

    Question: "What was the Indian court demand to webmasters across the globe."

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    wasnt me, 2 Jun 2008 @ 7:07pm

    Re:

    (not sure what happened)

    but was saying this reminds me of viacom's complaint about youtube.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    cram, 2 Jun 2008 @ 7:09pm

    fyi

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    cram, 2 Jun 2008 @ 7:12pm

    another link

    link to this | view in thread ]


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