This document summarizes issues related to online streaming, copyright laws, and digital defamation in India. It discusses how piracy of streaming content has increased and issues surrounding regulation of content on platforms. It outlines key copyright laws and cases related to piracy and digital defamation. Recent cases involving blocking channels on Telegram and restraining a web series for defaming lawyers are mentioned. The conclusion emphasizes the need for specific laws and monitoring of online content to balance free speech and preventing defamation.

2. Synopsis:-
 Introduction
 Online Streaming of Web Series and
Anti-PiracyIssues.
 Copyright Laws and Case Laws
 Landmark Judgments
 Digital defamation
 Defining Defamation
 Cyber Defamation
 Conclusion

3. Introduction
 The common man’s access to the internet has revolutionized everyone’s lives. The internet’s
platform has made human interaction easier than it has ever been. Nowadays, online streaming is
increasingly popular.
 In the internet, there are different platforms for online streaming, often known as video-on-demand
streaming services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Hotstar, among others. These
platforms provide online streaming services that allow users to watch a variety of content,
including TV shows, web series, sitcoms, films, documentaries, and more.
 These platforms are subscription-based, and users can use the tools provided by these platforms to
help them decide what they want to watch and what they don’t. These platforms provide video
content, as well as rating guides and episode synopses. However, there have recently been several
conversations indicating that there is a need for regulations to oversee two aspects of internet
streaming platforms. The first is to safeguard the content from piracy and duplication, and the
second is to regulate the content that is offered on these online streaming platforms.

4. Online Streaming of Web Series
and Anti-Piracy Issues
 In all of the technological improvements that have occurred over the last two decades, the
internet and other digital forms of networking and publication have made the greatest leap. With
approximately 566 million internet members, India has surpassed China as the world’s second-largest
online market. Of these, 251 million live in rural India. However, piracy has developed tremendously
in tandem with the increased use of new media and the development of related industries, resulting in
the dilution of the results of copyright owners’ earnings.
 Piracy is the illegal copying, distribution, and sale of copyrighted material without the
permission of the rightful owners. The ongoing desire of online viewers to obtain free access to
premium OTT material in the form of movies and web series has resulted in a growth in online video
piracy. The tremendous demand for such free content has resulted in a myriad of ways for online
viewers to obtain a pirated version of the content that was originally owned by OTT media firms.

5. Continued….
 To give an example, Telegram, a cloud-based instant messaging and voice-over IP service
located in Dubai is a popular site for users to distribute pirated content like movies and web series
that are generally available on OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar, and
others. Peer-to-peer piracy has risen as a result, allowing users to distribute and share digital media
obtained illegally. This rise is harmful to such platforms and content providers because it eliminates a
significant portion of their potential earnings.
 Because of the omnipresence of digital media and the associated exponential number of pirates,
copyright owners are unable to identify those who are infringing on their rights, making digital piracy
very risky and difficult to combat. The Indian government (GOI) and succeeding authorities have
been aware of this technical threat for some time, and several institutional and regulatory measures
have been made to address it. Improvements in Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) regulation,
management, and enforcement have resulted from constant and relentless developments, as well as
sweeping and far-sighted regulatory and institutional reforms.

6. Copyright Laws and Case Laws
 The Copyright Act of 1957 and the Information Technology Act of 2000 both include safeguards to combat
the threat of piracy. Section 14 of the Copyright Act defines copyright and outlines the many exclusive rights
that a copyright owner has, including the ability to create copies, reproduce the work, and store it. Any
deliberate storing of work, as well as its unauthorized reproduction and dissemination, is considered copyright
infringement, according to Section 51 of the Act, and is punishable both civilly and criminally. Sections 65A and
65B were added to combat copyright infringement in the digital world by ensuring the preservation of
technological measures as well as rights management information.
 According to Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, read with Rule 3 sub-rule 4 of
the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules, 2011, it is an intermediary’s responsibility to act
with due diligence while performing its duties and ensure that it does not host or publish any information that
infringes on an individual’s or entity’s Intellectual Property Rights. It is the intermediary’s responsibility to
inform users to refrain from disseminating any information that may infringe on an individual’s proprietary
rights, and if any user is found to be engaging in such illegal activity, then the intermediary has the authority to
terminate the access of the user.

7. Continued…
 The Indian judiciary uses the John Doe order, also known as the Ashok Kumar order, to
bring such people accountable. In the case of Taj Television & Anr v Rajan Mandal & Or, it was
used for the first time. A John Doe order allows an intellectual property rights owner to defend his
work by issuing a notice and taking action against anyone who infringes on the owner’s rights but
whose identity is unknown to him.
 In the recently concluded Delhi HC court case of Jagran Prakashan Limited v. Telegram FZ
LLC, the Court ordered Telegram to take down particular channels where users were replicating and
sharing copyrighted content of the plaintiff firm, which distributes a digital e-paper to its subscribers.
The court also ordered Telegram to reveal the basic subscriber information of the channels’ users.

8. Digital Defamation
 “Hasmukh,” a Netflix web series starring Vir Das and Ranvir Shorey, has gotten into difficulties.
Some New Delhi lawyers have filed a legal notice with Netflix asking them to stop streaming the
comedy web series because it negatively portrays lawyers. According to AshuDubey, these
sentiments are exceedingly insulting and humiliating, and they discredit the legal profession and
lawyers in the eyes of the general people.
 The suit also pleads to direct the producers, directors, and writers of the web series to issue “an
unconditional apology online for slandering the image of the lawyers’ community”. The Delhi High
Court’s judge Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva heard the case on April 27, 2020, a plea seeking to restrain
online media-streaming platform Netflix from airing its web series Hasmukh for sabotaging and
defaming the image and reputation of lawyers. (Ashutosh Dubey vs Netflix, Inc & Ors.)

9. Cyber Defamation
 Although cyber defamation is a novel idea, the classic definition of defamation is harm done to
a person’s reputation in the eyes of a third party, and this harm can be done by spoken or written
communication, as well as signs and visible representations. The statement must be directed at
the plaintiff, and it must be made to damage the reputation of the person against whom the
remark is made. Cyber defamation, on the other hand, is defaming someone using a new and
significantly more effective approach, such as the use of current electronic gadgets. It refers to
the dissemination of derogatory information about another person in cyberspace or via
computers or the Internet. Cyber defamation occurs when a person makes a defamatory
comment about another person on a website or sends E-mails containing defamatory material to
the individual to whom the statement was made.


10. Continued…
 Defamation laws have sparked debate about whether they violate the basic right granted by
Article 19 of the Constitution of India. The Supreme Court has concluded that defamation laws
are constitutionally valid and do not conflict with the right to free speech. The court also stated
that the right to free speech and expression is “absolutely fundamental” but not absolute. Article
21 stipulates that a person’s right to life includes his or her right to reputation, which cannot be
jeopardized by others’ freedom to free speech.
 The second requirement for bringing a defamation complaint is missing in this case. In his
words, the character in the web series ‘Hasmukh’ alluded to the entire community of advocates
rather than naming any one of them by name. As a result, the entire premise of the argument
collapses.

11. Some Case Laws
 Kalandi Charan Lenka vs. the State of Odisha — In this case, the petitioner was hounded
regularly, and the offender created a bogus account for her and sent obscene messages to her
friends. On the walls of the hostel where the victim slept, a modified naked picture was also put.
The perpetrator was found guilty of his crime by the court.
 Smt. Nilangi Rajiv Gadkari vs Rajiv Dinesh Gadkari through P.A. Depamala Gadkari – After
obtaining a divorce letter from her spouse, the respondent filed a lawsuit against him for
harassing her and defaming her by posting lewd images on social media. The offense has
already been registered and maintenance of Rs. 75,000 per month has been claimed by the
wife(respondent).

12. Conclusion
 “With great power comes tremendous responsibility,” a classic slogan from Spiderman stories,
aptly captures the issue surrounding the use of technology and its possible misuse. The ease of
communication has greatly improved with the introduction of the internet age. However, there
is a catch to such convenience.
 The rise in the number of streaming services available on the internet and corresponding
increase in the content will only lead to more piracy from such video streaming services. Even
though the current laws provide for certain measures to deal with this problem, it is essential to
enact more specific laws which are in line with international standards along with strict
implementation. This will ensure that the rights of creators of copyrighted works are protected,
which will consequently lead to a decrease in OTT video piracy.

13. Continued…
 When free speech contradicts a person’s reputation, the State must establish a boundary, lest
free speech becomes a weapon in the hands of certain individuals. A system that educates and
informs people about what to do and what not to do in cyberspace, what is wrong and what is
right, and what is defamatory and what is not defamatory, is desperately needed. Furthermore,
the intermediaries that provide such an open platform should monitor the content that is placed
on it and take necessary action against users who upload defamatory content to prevent such
occurrences.