Digital Streaming Platforms and Copyright Act, 1957

Streaming and Copyright

India’s main copyright law, created in 1957, was designed for a non-digital world. Yet, it still acts as the legal guide for today’s internet streaming platforms. However, it doesn’t fully deal with all the special issues that streaming presents. This means judges and government officials must constantly update its rules to keep up with new digital tools and online information.

How Digital Streaming Works

When you stream, you’re enjoying videos, music, or other digital media directly over the internet. You don’t have to wait for the whole file to download beforehand. Instead, the service sends tiny pieces of the content to your device one after another. This allows you to begin watching or listening right away. The rest of the content then loads up silently as you go, a process known as buffering.

How streaming services earn money

Businesses that offer streaming often earn money in different ways:

• Monthly payments (like Netflix or Disney+): Users pay a fixed amount each month. In return, they get complete access to all the shows, movies, or music on the platform, ready to watch or listen anytime they choose.
• Free with commercials (e.g., YouTube or Spotify’s free option): These services let you use them without paying anything directly. However, in exchange, you’ll encounter ads — either watching them or listening to them — during your use.
• Blended choices: Some platforms provide both kinds of access. You might use a basic version at no charge (with advertisements), or you can pay for a premium version that removes ads.

Types of Streaming Platforms

Here are the different kinds of places where you can watch and listen to things online:

• Video On-Demand (VOD): Websites or apps where you pick a movie or TV show to watch whenever you feel like it. Examples include Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and YouTube Premium.
• Audio Streaming: Services that let you listen to songs, playlists, and podcasts. Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music are common ones.
• Live Streaming: Platforms that let you watch events or people as they happen in real time. Twitch and YouTube Live are well-known for this.

Copyright Issues with Streaming

When we watch movies, shows, or listen to music online (streaming), there are important rules about who owns that content. In India, the Copyright Act protects the people who create books, plays, songs, art, movies, and sound recordings.

Main copyright challenges related to online streaming

• Public sharing: When something is streamed online for many people to watch, the law sees this as “communicating it to the public.” If someone streams pirated content without permission, they are breaking the law.
• Official permissions (licenses): Streaming platforms must get special permission from the content owners (film studios, music companies). This permission is called a license. Without it, streaming the content is illegal. Websites that offer pirated content often skip this step.
• Temporary copies on devices: When you stream, your device makes tiny, temporary copies of the data in memory or in a cache to ensure smooth playback.

Section 52(1)(b) of India’s Copyright Act permits temporary digital copies, like those used for streaming, as long as they are “transient and incidental.” While this exception is crucial for facilitating modern technology, courts interpret it narrowly to prevent commercial misuse. This has led to ongoing legal debates about the liability of online platforms and how to balance innovation with creator rights.

This law ensures that simply buffering content for a short time is not seen as a copyright violation. But if someone were to save that content permanently or copy it without permission, that would still be against the law and not covered by this exception.

Content uploaded by users

On websites where anyone can upload videos (like YouTube), users sometimes upload copyrighted material without permission. The websites themselves can be held responsible. However, they are protected by a “safe harbour” rule (from the IT Act, 2000) if they quickly remove the illegal content once they are informed about it.

Anti-piracy tools (DRM)

Online streaming services use special digital tools to protect their content. These systems, often involving hidden codes, stop people from illegally copying or sharing content. Trying to get around these digital safeguards violates copyright rules and specific computer laws.

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. It is a set of technologies companies use to control how digital media and software are used and distributed. DRM aims to stop people from seeing, copying, or sharing copyrighted content without permission — including movies, music, e-books, and video games.

These measures help ensure creators are paid for their work and that online entertainment remains legal and fair for everyone.

Key Legal Judgments in India

India’s courts have made important decisions about online content:

• Myspace Inc. v. Super Cassettes (2016): The judges ruled that online platforms must take steps against users who post content illegally.
• Star India v. Piyush Agarwal (2013): The court decided that sharing live sports scores online without permission violates copyright rules.

These cases show how India’s copyright laws are evolving to address streaming and other digital issues.

The Way Forward

India’s laws for protecting creative works have seen important updates. However, more changes are still necessary to properly handle the challenges brought by digital streaming services.

For instance, we need clearer definitions for terms like “temporary copies” and stronger guidelines about how much responsibility online platforms have. We also need more effective ways to protect digital content from misuse.

India can also look at successful approaches from other countries:

• European Union (DSM Directive, 2019): Made online platforms more accountable and requires platforms to obtain permission and pay artists fairly.
• United States (DMCA): Protects online service providers from legal issues, but only if they quickly take down infringing content when notified.

Adopting some of these global strategies would help India balance creator rights, consumer access, and platform responsibility in the digital landscape.

Europe’s New Copyright Law — Making Platforms Accountable

The EU’s Digital Single Market (DSM) Directive, particularly Article 17 (formerly Article 13), aims to ensure platforms pay creators fairly. It shifts responsibility onto large online platforms: they must either obtain licenses or take reasonable steps to prevent unlicensed content from being available.

This approach often requires upload filters — automatic systems that check uploads against a database of copyrighted works and block matches. While intended to protect creators, upload filters have raised concerns about over-blocking and censorship, including the potential to block legitimate uses such as parody or criticism.

This European model offers a lesson for India: it shows how platforms can be held responsible before content goes live, rather than relying only on a notice-and-takedown approach.

Conclusion

Streaming has emerged as the dominant way people access entertainment, but it brings complex challenges for India’s Copyright Act, 1957. Although this law has guided the digital transition, it must be updated to address issues like the legal status of temporary copies, platform liability, and protection of digital content.

To stay aligned with global standards and ensure a fair environment, India should refine its copyright framework and enforcement mechanisms. Such reforms are essential to safeguard creators’ rights, promote consumer access, and ensure platform accountability. A balanced copyright regime — one that protects creators while ensuring consumer access and platform responsibility — will be vital to India’s digital future.