Are Memes Protected By Copyright Law in India?

The consumption of memes on social media hasn’t lost its allure over the years, despite the fact that social media trends change virtually daily. Even if someone ignores the Internet and social media, they are almost certain to have come across funny memes via print media or marketing ads. Because memes have a lot of potential for molding ideas and creating a conversational environment, this is true.

Memes are amusing photographic or audio-visual representations made for entertainment purposes. They are typically based on sarcasm, satires, parody, or simple jokes, and they incorporate various pictures or fragments from the vast array of material available on the internet.

The meme culture industry flourishes in the intellectual property gray areas, where creativity and innovation flourish despite the lack of protection offered by IP laws. Paintings, sculptures, drawings (including diagrams, maps, charts, or plans), engravings, photos, works of architecture, and works of artistic handicraft all come under the definition of “artistic works” as stated in section 2 (c) of the Copyright Act, 1957. Most images/photographs used in memes are copyrighted, thus distributing them without permission constitutes an infringement.

Furthermore, as mentioned in section 14(c) of the Act, the Copyright Law grants the right holders sole rights to do or authorize someone else to do a copyrighted work duplicate. If a photograph of Akshay Kumar is used in a meme and the photographer owns the copyright to the photograph, both Akshay and the photographer have image and copyright to the photograph, and could sue for infringement.

Memes are continually and swiftly traced on social media platforms, and they go viral extremely quickly, however the question is whether or not it is permissible to copy someone else’s work (meme). The Copyright Act of 1957 safeguards the rights of meme authors who devote a significant amount of time, effort, and competence to developing a meme. The fact that the meme creator’s identity is mostly unknown does not absolve or shield him from legal action.

Are Memes Protected By Copyright Law in India?

However, when it comes to a meme, there is yet to be a true case of copyright infringement. This is due to the legal idea of “fair usage,” which steps in to save the day in copyright infringement cases. Section 54 (1) of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, defines fair use concept as “fair dealing with any work.” Fair use is a valid defense in circumstances where copyright infringement would otherwise occur. Only the owner of the copyright has the legal authority to create a derivative work, such as a meme posted on social media. The owner’s copyrights, on the other hand, aren’t absolute or irreversible.

In India, a creator must meet two elements in order to obtain the fair use defense: (i) there must be no purpose to compete with the copyright owner; and (ii) there must be no inappropriate use of the original photograph/image/video, etc.

Because the fundamental objective of a meme is to take a sarcastic or funny view of anything involving someone, rather than to compete with the copyright holder, the first requirement, often known as the market substitution test, is easy to pass.

Improper Usage

The second criterion deals with the concept of “improper usage,” which is a broad term that cannot be specified in a strait jacket definition and must be understood instead. Because memes are meant to be amusing, they rarely fall into the area of inappropriate usage unless they are clearly offensive to the right bearer.

The Copyright Act gives four factors to consider when determining whether or not copyright material is being used fairly, although none of them are conclusive. The first factor is the purpose and character of the use, while the second is the sort of copyrighted work.

The third factor to evaluate is the importance of the component in respect to the total copyrighted work, and whether it is significant. The impact of the usage on the potential market for the copyrighted work is the final consideration. When it comes to the last factor, memes are almost exclusively utilized for entertainment and are rarely employed for commercial goals.

Memes have limited economic value and are often protected by the fair use concept, as previously stated. While making memes for amusement is OK, if they are utilized for commercial or promotional objectives, necessary consents and licenses from copyright owners must be obtained to avoid legal ramifications. So, the next time you come across a meme you want to share, if you know who developed it, give credit where credit is due.

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– You could see Procedure of Trademark in India here.

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