Hotels Must Obtain Copyright Licence to Communicate Literary and Musical Works to Guests Through Cable TV: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court has ruled that hotels cannot rely solely on a cable connection obtained from a cable operator to commercially communicate copyrighted literary and musical works to their guests through televisions installed in hotel rooms. The Court emphasized that such use of copyrighted works constitutes “communication to the public” and “commercial exploitation” under the Copyright Act, 1957, and requires separate licensing and royalty payments. Background of the Case…