Javed Akhtar all praise for Copyright Amendment Bill
Iti Shree Misra, TNN May 20, 2012, 12.00AM IST
Writer, poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar says it's a remarkably happy day for the writers, singers and lyricists of India. The Rajya Sabha finally passed the proposed amendments in the original Indian Copyright Bill enacted in 1957. Some of the core points reflected in the Copyright Amendment Bill include the right of author and music composer, right to the visually impaired, extending compulsory regime to unpublished work and imposition of punitive actions.
(Javed Akhtar More Pics)
So, does he feel vindicated? "Of course, I feel vindicated. It's nearly been a two-year long struggle. Yeh bahut hi progressive aur important step hai Hindustan ke artistes, writers, singers, scriptwriters aur lyricists ke liye. We had been protesting for long against the gross exploitation of the artistes," he says.
But is he satisfied with the present amendments? "Yes, we are all very satisfied with the amendments that have been made. Now our creations will be non-assignable. We will sell the rights. Right now, we sell our compositions to the production house and they re-sell it to music companies, cellphone companies as ring tones, ads and use it wherever they can. In return, we, the creators of that song, music, tune, we don't get anything. But now, hopefully, those rights will lie with us. Now our words, songs, stories, tunes, will be ours and ours only in the legal terms. Even in the present law, we have a share but we are shortchanged by production houses and music companies. We can claim the royalties they earn from such dealings legally and also on our own," he explains.
Actress and RS member Jaya Bachchan hoped the bill would address the issue of music piracy. She stressed that everybody associated with creation of a film song should be rewarded as these are "created collectively".
Article Link
No comments:
Post a Comment