The Copyright Quandary: Criminalization and Judicial Backlog in India

Abstract

India is facing 45 million overall pending cases only in the subordinate courts (excluding the Supreme Court and High Courts), which is very alarming and needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Law commissions, Supreme Court judges, and legal experts have all expressed concern about the increasing pendency of cases. The study investigates the criminalization of copyright cases, its impact on the judiciary, and how it contributes to the pendency of cases. The study is doctrinal however it used both primary and secondary data. Primary data include data published on the NCRB website. Secondary data include literature, online articles, news articles, scholarly articles etc. The study found that although copyright case registration is very less its disposal is less than 1% of the current year filling because the time taken for investigation and submitting charge sheet is very long up to three years and two years respectively. This further accelerates the current pendency of cases in India. The study suggests that rather than making copyright infringement a crime let it be civil or we can make it criminal on repeat infringement as currently under Section 63A of the Act, on repeat infringement enhancement of punishment is there. Establishing a specialized tribunal to deal with these cases can be solved within a reasonable time.