The Intersection of Intermediary Liability and Copyright Law in India: An Evolving Discourse

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-515-7_15How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Intermediary Liability Guidelines; Information Technology Act; Secondary Liability; Copyright Law

Abstract

India, being the world’s fastest-growing economy, is facing serious issues with counterfeit products in the online market. In this regard, the Indian courts have tried to maintain the balance of equilibrium between the rights of the e-commerce platforms, such as intermediaries, with the rights of brand owners and the welfare of the general public at large. Given the massive copyright infringement cases by the peer-to-peer (P2P) software, legal action shall be initiated by the copyright holders against the vicarious and contributory infringers of the copyright. The secondary liability of Copyright jurisprudence has significantly developed through the numerous unprecedented judgments, including A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc. (2001), and Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. (2005). Simplifying the intricacies of the copyright law and intermediary liability is the need of the hour. In fact, the Copyright Act, 1957, does not provide any distinction between the actual and virtual space. Instead, the definition of intermediary is given under 2(1)(w) of the Information Technology Act of 2000. The broader definition of intermediary under the Act does not only encapsulate the media platforms such as “Facebook” and “Meta”, but also a wide range of participants in the online ecosystem, such as search engines like “Google Inc.” And “Yahoo Inc”., online payment platforms such as “PayPal”, “PhonePay”, and “GooglePay”, and online marketplaces like “Amazon”, “Flipkart”, “Myntra”, and others. Over the past two decades, to a greater extent, India has made significant efforts to tackle the issues of intermediary liability and copyright issues. Notwithstanding the fact that the scope of intermediary liability was challenged by the “Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021,” It raised some serious questions on the role of the contributory infringers under the copyright law, including the right to privacy and free speech and expression. Thus, this chapter delves deeper into the scope of the intermediary liability and its impact on the secondary liability cases. Further, it examines the growth of the intermediary liability in India from a comparative perspective. The conventional understanding of free speech and the doctrine of notice and takedown has been critically discussed. Moreover, the chapter will unravel the uncertainty related to the Copyright Act and intermediary liability guidelines. Above all, it will evaluate the role of the Indian Courts in nurturing the intermediary liability jurisprudence.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Nehal Ahmad
AU  - Sreelatha Annamaneni
AU  - Zartab Ansari
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/26
TI  - The Intersection of Intermediary Liability and Copyright Law in India: An Evolving Discourse
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Law and Technology (ICLT 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 161
EP  - 172
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-515-7_15
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-515-7_15
ID  - Ahmad2025
ER  -