Web Scraping & Indian Law

 

Statute

1. Civil
1. Violation of Copyright law - Section 2(o) of Copyright Act, 1957
2. Section 13(1)(a) of Copyright Act, 1957 - permission of copyright holder
2. Criminal
1. Section 43 of IT act provides sanctions against damages 
2. Section 66 of IT Act - penal section punishment for acts mentioned in section 43 of IT Act.

Important Point

1. Copyright Subsists in a compilation which fulfils the criteria of skill and judgment doctrine.
1. Any compilation which is NOT novel or non-obvious but at the same is not merely a product of labour and capital and involves a minimal degree of creativity shall have copyright.

Remedies

1. Content importer need to prove that there has been some min degree of creativity involved in compilation
2. Said work is being used for a NON-COMMERICAL purpose or fall under Section 52 of Copyright Act, 1957.
3. Always advisable for the importer to take prior permissions from the copyright holders before initiating the process.

Case Law

1. EBC Vs D.B. Modak - link

Source

1. Data Scraping & Legal Issues in India - link