Abstract

The rapid proliferation of internet users backed by technological advancements has facilitated many conveniences and opportunities, however, the same has also gradually developed into a breeding ground for numerous copyright violations. The research highlights that as the technological dynamics continue to leap as the days go by, it comes with the risk of advanced methods of infringing the exclusive rights of content creators. The issue of ease of access to copyrighted materials through the internet was first addressed by the state-of-the-art, Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 1998 of the United States, which could be regarded as a promising attempt to strike a balance between the exclusive rights of content creators and customers. India has also adopted rules that are on similar lines to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, however, the same has been sluggish and not very substantial. The study using qualitative data scrutinises the current copyright protection framework of India vis-a-vis the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 1998. The research further suggests measures that could be incorporated into the current Indian copyright protection framework to reinforce the framework cut above. The research in the course of establishing the same delves into accessing the effects of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act from an economic, innovation, artistic and technological standpoint while analysing its commendations and criticisms. In the current state of the rapidly proliferating digital era, protecting the exclusive rights of content creators is paramount. However, the same shall not be provided prejudicially jeopardising the rights of customers. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act came in with a lot of promises but it undermined the rights of customers by providing excessive authority to copyright owners. Therefore, it is a pressing priority to develop a framework that balances the exclusive rights of content creators as well as customers.

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