The Complex Terrain of Digital Copyright Laws in India’s Gaming Industry

The Indian gaming industry is growing at a rapid pace, propelled by advancements in technology and a youth demographic that is quickly embracing this new hobby. Amidst this growth, there are several challenges in the form of Copyright Laws that exist on a digital medium, and the young programmers who are grappling to evolve and create new games face these issues. This article will therefore look at the evolution of Copyright Laws in India and discuss how they apply to the gaming sector today. This article will argue that the use of gaming today is far removed from that of playing on a traditional brass-framed arcade box, and that today’s digital gaming is based on creating games through a combination of AR, VR and AI. With this form of gaming, comes certain challenges in the form of protecting creators from piracy and plagiarism, and the judicial and quasi-judicial apparatus in India has worked to put in place boundaries to protect the interests of creators and promote innovation. The Copyright Act of 1957 in India forms the backbone of the law and was amended for the first time in 1984, and again in 1994. Legally, the plays within the digital medium require a nuanced approach to copyright infringement. The judiciary is now faced with the more difficult task of deciphering whether the infringement occurred in the online medium only. The 2000 WTO agreement under the TRIPS is another facet that influences balance the principles of this trade. It is clear that there is a need to reform copyright law to meet the needs of the gaming industry and the young entrepreneurs who are driving it.