Dr. Sreerengan V R

14 January 2012

COPYRIGHT PROTECTION IN MEDIA

CRITICAL STUDY ON THE RIGHTS & REMEDIES AVAILABLE UNDER THE COPYRIGHT ACT, 1957

SREERENGAN V.R.

Asst. Professor

Ramaiah Institute of Management Studies

MSR Nagar, Banaglore - 54

e-mail sreerengan@hotmail.com

PREFACE

The term Intellectual property came into existence when Copyright and Confidential information added to the Industrial Property. Originally Patents, Industrial designs and Trademarks were included in Industrial Property. The intellectual property is recognized as important tool for economic growth. The economic capability of the skill of an author or creator is protected by an Act passed by the legislators in order to promote innovative ideas and attract people towards new creations.

To convey the views to others, creator may choose different media as per his skill. He may express his opinions by writing poems, stories, novels or by making paintings, caricature or by creating a movie. Digital and cinematographic are the medium which cover and reaches very fast to the large, hence participation and development in media are increasing immensely. The technological advantage and development in the media gives easy access to the hackers in equal speed. This warrants the protection of the ideas of the creators and usage of technology. The right and interests of the originator has to be protected from pirating the same by others and such safe guard assures the ownership of the creator in his work. This study is intended to understand the different protections given to the creators of media generated ideas and creative works.

Intellectual Property Rights and the legal enactments especially in the area of copyright will be the main area of this study. The study envisages the legal provisions which provides and protection and remedies available against the infringements. Study will cover the topics on copy rights presented in the international covenants.

In order to secure copyright protection what is required is that the author must have bestowed upon the work sufficient judgment, skill and labour or capital. For such creator will be provided with a conclusive work which will visualize the entire legal provisions especially for the protection of his work in media.

INTRODUCTION

Properties can be broadly classified into Movable, Immovable and Intellectual property. Transfer of rights in immovable and movable properties is dealt with Transfer of Properties Act and Sales of Goods Act respectively. The creative intelligence of man is displayed in multiform ways of aesthetic expression. To provide price for research and intellectual brains, the law protects the creative ideas by providing certain rights to masters. Such laws are commonly called as Intellectual Property Rights. There is no separate law so called IPR but it is a combination of different laws which protect rights of intellectual brains. The term intellectual property covers patents, industrial designs, copy rights, trade marks, know-how and confidential information.

A patent is a monopoly right granted to a person who has invented a new and useful article or an improvement of an existing right to new process of making an article and such rights are conferred to the inventor by Patent Act 1970. Essential ingredients of patent are Novelty, Inventive step, Lack of obviousness, Sufficiency of description.

The object of design registration is to see that the originator of a profitable design is not deprived of his reward by others applying it to their goods without permission. Copyright in an industrial design or product design is governed by the Designs Act 1911. This right is monopoly right more akin to the right given under the Patent Acts.

A trade mark is a visual symbol in the form of word, a device, or a label applied to articles of commerce with a view to indicate to the purchasing public that they are the goods manufactured or otherwise dealt in by particular person as distinguished from similar goods manufacture or dealt in by other person. Object of trade mark law is to deal with the precise nature of the rights which is a person can acquire in respect of trade marks, the mode of acquisition of such rights, the method of transfer of those rights to others, the precise nature of infringement of such rights and the remedies available in respect thereof. Such protection is given by Trade & Merchandise Marks Act 1958.

Copyright means the exclusive right to do or authorise others to do certain acts in relation to literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, cinematograph film, sound recordings. Copyright is the right to copy or reproduce the work in which copyright subsist. Copyright does not extend to any right beyond the scope of Section 14 of the Copyright Act of 1957. The objective of copy right law is to encourage authors, composers, artists and designer to create original works by rewarding them with the exclusive right for a limited period to exploit the work for monetary gain. The author must have bestowed upon the work sufficient judgment, skill and labour or capital. It is immaterial whether the work is wise or foolish, accurate or inaccurate or whether it has or has not any literary or artistic merit[1]. Recent scientific research on creativity shows that creativity emerges from the interaction of three entities viz. the individual, the domain and the field[2].

MEDIA & ELECTRONIC MEDIA

Visual Art is a visual object or experience consciously created through an expression of skill or imagination. The term art encompasses diverse media such as painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, decorative arts, photography, and installation. The various visual arts exist within a continuum that ranges from purely aesthetic purposes at one end to purely utilitarian purposes at the other. The cinema industry is not based on a single theme hence existence of cinema will be there till man time. Cinema is proved as the best media to reach people at large in fastest way. The actors and the people behind the curtain are getting reorganization world vide and becoming famous in short span of time. The film makers convey some social message or idea through a story in cinema. Pictures created by artist will try to convey some message, but communication will be completed only to the people who can read and imagine the idea or concept. Whereas, motion pictures will take the attention of the viewers in correct direction so that the message is conveyed correctly. Although cinema was increasingly dominated by special-effects films such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Jurassic Park (1993) and Titanic (1997) had significant commercial success both at the cinema and on home video. Here technology development and new idea generation clubbed together and the combination of the same gave and entertainment and excitement for the people.

Animated films regained popularity, with Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994). The first feature length computer-animated feature, Toy Story, was produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Disney in 1995. Digital era started in the late 1990s which replaced the VHS tapes to DVDs. India is the world's largest producer of films and become global enterprises. Cinema in India is produced in 24 different languages and it is made available across the world by cinematographic films or by DVD.

Multimedia is any combination of text, graphic art, sound, animation, and video delivered by computer or other electronic means. It will have interactive environment and low cost in production. It is produced totally by computer animated software and it is customized as per the use and user requirements. As per the specialty of multimedia touch screen, voice command, video capture of the user or live participation can be made possible.

Without having the entire infrastructure of film industry the films can be produced by regular people by DV cameras and multimedia. Animated graphics or video captured by a camera or combination of both can create a film or animated graphics. Such movie can be produced in low cost and distributed through CD-ROMs or through web. It can be reproduced in live theater or in web video players like MPEG, Qicktime or Shock wave. DV cameras are replacing the traditional high resolution movie cameras in the film industry. Advantages of the DV cameras are portability, no wastage of costly film, maintainability, reduction of big cranes and trolley, fewer requirements of manpower to operate, and higher resolution even in the low lights.

3D movies also found their place in Indian cinema when it was introduced in Malayalam Movie “My Dear Kuttichathan” in 1984 and “Bodyguards” in the same year in English. After James Cameron's “Avatar” became the highest-grossing film of all time, many other films have followed the 3D.

Graphic communication is made through visual images and written message which are conveyed through a layout. Images attract the attention of the viewers and text provides the additional information. Visual graphics took the challenges in the competitive environment of advertisement. Within short span of time, information regarding product, company and advantages are placed in the memory of the viewers in advertisement. Advancement of technology and creative minds are clubbed together in such type of creations.

COPYRIGHT - AN EXCLUSIVE RIGHT

The word copyright derives from the expression copy of words. Copyright means the exclusive right to do or authorise others to do certain acts in relation to literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work; cinematograph films and sound recordings. It is an exclusive right to dispose of sell and commercially exploit an intellectual work by means of printing, lithography, graphic production, copying, moulds, casts, photography, cinematograph film, gramophone record, rolls for mechanical instrument, concerts, oral delivery, recitation, theatrical representation, translation, adaptation, performance, broadcast transmission, or any other form of reproduction, multiplication of copies or dissemination[3].

INTERNATIONAL COVENANTS

Berne Convention is considered as the first international convention on copyright. This convention is known as Convention on International Union for the protection of Literary and Artistic works and it was signed on 09^th September 1886. The member states of Berne Union agreed upon to provide standard protection and any work first published in a convention country should enjoy international protection on all member States. The said agreement was modified in Paris convention in the year 1896 further in Berlin convention on 1908 and in Rome convention in the year 1928. A landmark convention held in the year 1948 at Brussels made certain revisions on Rome convention. To provide mutual protection between Berne union and Pan American countries UNESCO conducted a convention in the year 1952 at Geneva commonly known as Universal Copyright Convention. As per the provisos of Brussels Copyright convention a Copyright Act was enacted in the year 1956 in England and after a year later the Act was enacted in India. An Amendment Act was enacted in the year 1983 on Indian Copyright Act of 1957 as per the provisions of revised convention of Geneva Convention held in 1971 at Paris. The revised convention held in Paris provided the additional facilities to developing countries by providing compulsory licenses at a reasonable price for translation and reproduction of works of foreign origin which will be used for Teaching, systematic Instructional purposes or for Research.

A new Copyright Act was passed in 1957, replacing the Copyright Act, 1911, in its application to India and the Indian Copyright Act, 1914. The requirement of this legislation was discussed by Krishna Iyer J as “The creative intelligence of man is displayed in multiform ways of aesthetic expression but it often happens that economic system so operate that the priceless divinity which we call artistic or literary creativity in man is exploited and masters, whose works are invaluable are victims of piffling payments. World opinion in defense of human right to intellectual property calculated to protect works of art. India responded to this universal need by enacting the Copyright Act, 1957[4]”

The basic difference of Patent and Copyright is that the Patent protect the new ideas but copyright deal with the particular expression of the ideas. This was expressed by the apex court as “The laws of copyright do not protect ideas, but they deal with the particular expression of the ideas. The protection of ideas falls not within the laws as to copyright, but within the patent laws. Unlike the owner of a copyright, a patentee has the sole right to use his invention within certain limits, and if anybody uses that patent, although he has made independent investigations, he infringes the patent. But in case of copyright that is not so, it was always possible to arrive at the same result from the independent sources and the fact that the defendant produces something like the plaintiffs earlier work does not necessarily create infringement. It must be shown that the defendant has derived his work from plaintiff[5]”

OBJECT OF COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1957

This Act encourages the creative minds by rewarding an exclusive right to exploit the work for monetary gains for a limited period. It also gives protection to the creator from infringements. The main object of the Copy right Act is to give protection to the owner of the copyright from dishonest manufactures who try to create any impression or confusion in the minds if the purchasing public to believe that infringed products (such as those of the defendants) are actually of the owner of the copyright (in this case of the plaintiff). The statutory provisions are meant to discourage dishonest manufacturers from trading and /or cashing upon the goodwill and protecting the reputation of the owner of the copyrights such as that of the plaintiff company who had earned the same over a period of time, inter alia by incurring huge expenses on advertisement and extensive sales etc. The unjust enrichment or illegal profits by the infringing party (defendants), is a mischief from which the owner of the copyright is to be protected in terms of Section 55 of the Copyright Act[6].

MEDIA IN ACT

Enactment of Copyright Act gave protection to the photographs, cinematograph film from unauthorized reproduction and broadcasting (broadcast means communication to the public by any means of wireless diffusion, whether in any one or more of the forms of signs, sounds or visual images; or by wire, and includes a re-broadcast). As per the Act author means in relation to a photograph, the person taking the photograph and in relation to a cinematograph film or sound recording the producer[7]. Copyright is given to Photographs (which includes photo-lithograph and any work produced by any process analogous to photography but does not include any part of a cinematograph film), Musical work (means any combination of melody and harmony or either of them, printed, reduced to writing or otherwise graphically produced or reproduced)and Cinematograph film (means any work of visual recording on any medium produced through a process from which moving image may be produced by any means and includes a sound recording accompanying such visual recording and cinematograph shall be constructed as including any work produced by any process analogues to cinematography including video films).

Without obtaining an assignment from the owners of a cinematographic film if a copy is made on any medium by any means can be declared as infringing copy. Such a copy of video film is watched by a large section of the public in privacy of its home is a breach of copyright and it comes under the illegal broadcast.

MEANING OF COPYRIGHT IN MEDIA

A producer of a cinematograph film can provide license to any person or a company and such license will be an exclusive right to do or authorise to make a copy of the film, to cause the film, in so far as it consists of visual images, to be seen in public and, in so far as it consists of sounds, to be heard in public, to make any record embodying the recording in any part of the sound track associated with the film by utilising such sound track, to communicate the film by broadcast, in the case of a record, to do or authorise to make any other record embodying the same recording, to cause the recording embodied in the record to be heard in public , to communicate the recording embodied in the record by broadcast. It means right is given to the owner to make a copy of the film including a photograph of any image forming part or to sell or ret any copy of the film or to broadcast to the public. If the owner assigns such right to other person by providing license he will also have the same right what was exercised by the owner. (In the case of cinematographic film owner is the producer).

ELIGIBILITY FOR COPYRIGHT PROTECTION

Normally cinematograph films are based on some short story or novel or poem. To qualify copyright the work should be original and it should be first published in India. Otherwise if it is published in foreign country but the creator or author is a citizen if India either during publication or at the time of his death. But a separate copyright will not affect if the original work on which the film is based is having copyright.

ASSIGNMENT OF COPYRIGHT

The owner of the copyright in an existing work or the prospective owner of the copyright in a future work may assign to any person the copyright either wholly or partially and either generally or subject to limitations and either for the whole term of the copyright or any part thereof. In the case of the assignment of copyright in any future work, the assignment shall take effect only when the work comes into existence.

A complete assignment will be made by assigning for the complete term of copyright (including any future extensions) through out India and abroad the sole and exclusive right wholly and generally without any conditions or limitations for the whole term of the copyright: To reproduce, publish, issue copies and sale of the Work in any form; To communicate to the public, or adapt the Work in any form by themselves or to license it to others; To make cinematograph film or sound record of the Work and use the title for the film, sound records, any interactive media or other dramatic versions by themselves or to license it to others; and To make necessary editorial alterations and additions including removal of any prohibited or objectionable materials to make the Work publishable.

Assignment of copyright has to be made in writing and duly signed by the assignor or his authorized agent it becomes a contract[8]. Compulsory licence will be given by the Copyright board after giving reasonable opportunity, if owner has refused to allow communication to the public by broadcast of such work or in the case of a record the work recorded in such record, on terms which the complainant considers reasonable.

TERM OF COPYRIGHT

In the case of a cinematograph film, copyright shall subsist until SIXTY YEARS from the beginning of the calendar year following the year in which the film is published. Earlier it was 50 years but as per the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1992 the fifty years is replaced by Sixty years. This came into effect from 28^th December 1991.

In case of sound recording copyright shall subsist until SIXTY YEARS from the beginning of the calendar year next following the year in which the sound recoding is published.

INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT

A creative work in media is protected from infringement. Under certain conditions it is deemed to be infringement when any person, without a license granted by the owner of the Copyright or the Registrar of Copyrights does anything, the exclusive right to do which is by this Act conferred upon the owner of the copyright, or permits for profit any place to be used for the Performance of the work in public where such performance constitutes an infringement of the copyright in the work unless he was not aware and had no reasonable ground for believing that such performance would be an infringement of copyright, or when any person- makes for sale or hire, or sells or lets for hire, or by way of trade displays or offers for sale or hire, or distributes either for the purpose of trade or to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright, or by way of trade exhibits in public, or imports into India, any infringing copies of the work.

To show that there is a substantial copying it should be calculated how much of the material is copied and by that how much labour the person saves. While investigating the infringement, the quality to be considered rather than quantity of copying. If a substantial part of the cinematograph film is an infringement of the copyright in nay other work then copyright shall not subsist for the entire film.

REMEDIES AVAILABLE FOR THE OWNER OF THE COPYRIGHT AGAINST INFRINGEMENT

Three types of remedies available for the infringement of copyright.

(a) Civil remedies

(b) Criminal remedies

Civil remedies

(i) Temporary and permanent injunctions

(ii) Permanent and Interlocutory Injunction

(iii) Delivery up of infringing copies

(iv) Damages

(v) Accounts for profit

(vi) Suit for declaration[9]

(vii) Impounding and destruction of all infringing copies, including masters

(viii) Actual monetary damages plus the infringor's profits

Criminal remedies

(i) Imprisonment or fine or both

(ii) Seizure and delivery of infringing copies

Other remedies

(i) To ban import of infringing copies by Registrar of the copyright.

Jurisdiction on civil remedies vested with District Court or High Court within whose jurisdiction of the plaintiff resides or carry on business. The period of limitation is 03 years from the date of infringement. In the criminal proceedings the offence of infringement of copyright is punishable with imprisonment which may extend from six months to the maximum of three years and with a fine of fifty thousand to two lakhs. A police officer of the rank of Sub inspector and above is given poser for investigation and seize with out warrant all infringing copies a Court of Judicial First Class Magistrate is having the power to trial the offence. Where any offence committed by a company, every person who at the time the offence was committed was in charge of, and was responsible to the company for, the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company shall be deemed to be guilty of such offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. If a petition is filed before the Registrar of the Copyright and Copyright board shall have the powers of a Civil Court when trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure.

EPILOGUE

Man is curious to know about what is happening around him. That was the base of the development of a social science – Journalism. Print media had monopoly for decades in information and communication. Many philosophers proved that pen is the powerful than bullet. Technology replaced pen with electronic gadgets. Availability of new devices and facilities made man to think in new directions. This thinking exploited the possibilities of developments. New creative ideas communicated to the public in a greater speed by usage of latest media tools. Media is the area of expression for the new idea. Idea is protected by Patent and the way of expression is protected by the Copyright. The copyright law has been amended periodically to keep pace with changing requirements. The amendment to the copyright law, which came into force in May 1995, brought the changes in order provide certain protection in the areas of satellite broadcasting, computer software and digital technology due to new developments. Law is dynamic in nature and changes are made in law to adopt the advancement of technology and help the mankind.

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[1] Walter v. Lane 1900 AC 539

[2] Researchers of creativity in USA include Professors Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Robert J, Sternberg, Dea Keith, Simonton, Howard Gardner and Keith Sawyer

[3] Art. 1 of the Copyrights Act 1925 of Chile

[4] Indian performing Right Society Ltd. V. Eastern Indian Motion Picture association A.I.R. 1977 S.C. 1443 at p. 1452

[5] Per Ganga Nath J. In Gopal das v. Jagannath Prasad, A.I.R. 1938 All. 266 p. 268

[6] Hawkins cookers Ltd. Magicook Appliances co. A.I.R. 2003 Delhi 91 at p. 195

[7] Subs by the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1994

[8] RR Vishwanathan Iyer v. A Muthukumaraswami Pillai A.I.R. 1948 Mad 139 at pp. 142, 143

[9] Everest Pictures Circuit, Salem v. Karuppannan A.I.R. 1982 Mad. At p. 246, 247

S. Dharmalinga Nayakar v. D Balasubramania Ayer A.I.R. 1937 Mad 94.

10 September 2011

Corporate Social

Responsibilities and

Corporate Brandings

Sreerengan VR

ABSTRACT

Every organisation is considered as an artificial person, interaction of every such person to the society especially where they exist is inevitable. An economic system in which goods and services are exchanged for one another or money, on the basis of their perceived worth is known as Business., it covers employment, trade, profession, or occupation, a task, commercial activity, a industrial concern, etc.[1] Business establishments are established to generate profit and investments are made by calculating the returns on it. Corporate social responsibility is the commitment of organisations to the society. The initial consideration of business establishments on CSR was “financial burden without returns”. Even the companies are into some activities of CSR in India is considers it as philanthropy. Every such activity will have some finical burden to the organisation and this study is made to understand the benefits of such investments and investigating the CSR requirements is a duty or charity.

INTRODUCTION

The meaning of Homo sapiens in Latin is “wise man”, he is having a developed brain for analyzing, reasoning and for making rational justification. As a social animal he has to interact with different institutions of the society for his existence. What is owned by him and mostly used by others is his name and with that name, the society recognizes him when he interacts with the different limbs of the society and such interactions can be called relationship.

RELATIONSHIP

Communication plays vital role for creating links between the people and success such communications depend on the attention of other person. The information can be passed through word of mouth or in writing or by gestures or by any combination of these. If attention of other person is not gathered while interacting then it is equal to speaking to a mobile phone which is not in range. The media of communication should be capable of carrying the information and convince the other person.

If the information is informatory a link is created between the originator and receiver. Further communication through this link will lead to relationship and such relationship can be broadly classified into two, positive and negative. If the information exchange through the link is valid for both the parties then mostly relationship is positive and it is applicable only to one then it will be negative.

For a man it is necessary to have a positive relationship with all the people and institutions in the society because he has to interact continuously in his entire life span. A negative or bad relationship may restrict such interactions which may amount to stopping of personal and social development.

Promotion of relationships is the duty of the individual and the society because it is the essence of life and it is calculated to promote relationship among the men whose interests and roles seem to be conflicting. Better relationship can convert the conflicting ideas to common acceptable ideas which will give real fruit for the generation to come.

“I claim that human mind or human society is not divided into watertight compartments called, social, political and religious. All act and react upon one another” – Mahatma Gandhi

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Business is a course of life, each organisation is independent from their promoters or the entrepreneurs. As an organisation it also interacts with different limbs of the society. Hence organisation is also responsible to have positive or healthy relationship. Organisations are expected to interact with the people around there establishment, government and non-governmental organisations. To have social responsibilities the organisation should be committed to the society outside the four walls of the organisation by providing environmentally responsible products & process, better employee relationship, involving and contributing to the social activities of the society where the industry is located. "Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large[2]"

CSR is a concept whereby companies decide voluntarily to contribute to a better society and a cleaner environment. A concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis[3].

“In a free enterprise, the community is not just another stakeholder in business, but is, in fact, the very purpose of its existence” - Jamsetji Tata

CORPORATE BRANDING

Corporate Branding is the strategy for promoting the new products or new services from the same corporate. Corporate identity is essential to promote the product because the customers are interested to have good products and ensures it is from a better company. By using corporate branding with a successfully marketed product, a company can familiarize consumers with its products and may create brand loyalty. If the public likes one product from this company, then they may seek out the brand name when buying other products. Corporate branding is usually only successful if the company is well known and sells reputable products with a positive image. One of the disadvantages of corporate branding is that the company can become identified with only one type of product. All people in the organization is responsible for corporate branding. It is multi disciplinary strategies and achieved through internal and external networks with collective cooperation. Corporate sectors are involving in the areas of environmental issues, education, culture, hospitality, infrastructure development, traditional and religious festivals etc. to have higher brand loyalty. It is a good sign and shows the organisation is the part of the society. Growing concern about the climate change and waste management has brought environmental issue to the forefront of the policy agenda of every organisation. Going Green in manufacturing, supply chain, marketing sales etc. was the first step and the service sector including banks are thriving towards paperless office. Organisations realized that local support is essential for existence and smooth functioning.

“Measures must always in a progressive society be held superior to men, who are after all imperfect instruments, working for their fulfillment” – Mahatma Gandhi

BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY AND AFTERMATH

Causalities caused by emission of poisonous gas to the atmosphere were in its aggrieved form due to bad selection of plant location. If the plant would have been very far from the populated area the number of casualties caused due to leakage of methyl isocyanate might have been less. By providing the employees residence at city and conveyance to the factory would have been restricted the growth of population near factory. Compensation payable through insurance and interest cannot compensate the loss caused to the people of that area. This incident diminished the brand value of the MNC in the minds of the people who saw the pictures of the accident, who heard the news of the accident, who came to know that the claims are defended by the company to the insurance level.

A FAILURE STORY - PLACHIMADA

Earth is the third planet from sun and formed around 450 crores of years ago. Water covers 70.9% of the earth’s surface and 97% of the same is filled with salt and other minerals, which cannot be consumed by human being. Purification of water by removing the salt is not advisable as it is not cost worthy. Two percent of the water on earth is glacier ice at Arctic and Antarctic regions which is very far from human habitat. Less than 1% of all the water on earth is fresh water available for human consumption. This small percentage is used for drinking, cooling, heating, and all other industrial and domestic purposes.

Plachimada is a small village located in Plaghat District of Kerala around 25Km away from Palghat town. A Coca Cola factory was established in 15-hectare plot of what used to be multi cropped paddy land. It has a working capacity of 1.500.000 litres water-based product; around 85 truckloads of soft drinks and mineral water leave the compound every day carrying approximately 600 cases each containing 24 bottles sized 300 ml. Around 60 bore wells and two ponds are used to extract water for the soft drinks and mineral water production. The factory employs 70 permanent workers and approximately 150-250 casual labourers. The solid waste tank was placed within the premises of the factory.

Groundwater is a precious natural resource for a community. Groundwater level in Plachimada and the surrounding area went down drastically. The acute water shortage and pollution hazard created by the actions of the Coca Cola Company in Perumatty Grama Panchayat has grave implications on domestic consumption of the residents of that area. Palghat is known for paddy fields and agriculturists, the excessive consumption of ground water resulted in dry cultivating lands and poverty. Even drinking water for human beings and animals were under scarcity due to this disproportionate & over extraction of water by the factory. The villagers are struggling for their subsistence and livelihood, the Perumatty panchayat, representing the local community, have chosen the legal battle to protect the people and the environment. The factory’s disposal of sludge which contained metals like cadmium, lead and chromium affected adversely to the environment. The sludge disposal also affected health of local residents especially on respiratory and dermatological problems.

Agitations led by environmentalists suffered different setbacks but they succeeded the litigation. The Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada has remained shut down since March 2004 as a result of the community-led campaign in Plachimada challenging Coca-Cola’s abuse of water resources.

The Plachimada Coca-Cola Victims Relief and Compensation Claims Special Tribunal Bill, 2011, was passed without discussion on February 24, the last day of the last session of the 12^thAssembly. High Power Committee established by the state government of Kerala in India has recommended on 22 March, 2010 that Coca-Cola be held liable for Indian Rupees 216 crore (US$ 48 million) for damages caused as a result of the company’s bottling operations in Plachimada.

The University of Michigan became the tenth university in the US to ban Coca-Cola from campus. The moves come over Coke's failure to address concerns related to deaths of union leaders in Colombia and environmental problems related to its factory in Plachimada. The temporary suspension of Coca-Cola products is being seen as a major victory for student activists. The activists, led by two groups, Corporate Accountability International and the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, have found a sympathetic ear on college campuses. Within the last year, New York University, Rutgers University in New Jersey and Santa Clara University in California, among others, have stopped selling Coke products, which include Sprite, Dasani water, Minute Maid juice and Powerade sports drinks.

Coca-Cola at Plachimada was concentrating on their profit maximization by unbalanced extradition of ground water. The absence of CSR and depriving the natural rights of the residents were evident and the factory was concentrating on financial advantages by ignoring the people and the environment

A big global brand also can sustain injuries by a small community.

“God has given enough to satisfy the need not the greed”

-Mahatama Gandhi

TOYOTA AT BIDADI, BANGALORE

Toyota is having plants for assembling passenger cars, sport utility vehicles and multi utility vehicles at Bidadi, Ramnagara district, near Bangalore, Karnataka. Toyota Motor Corporation established the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee as the body responsible for promoting CSR and the CSR Department as the organization for implementing CSR activities. The collaboration of these two entities provides for long-term, company-wide CSR promotion and activities.

TOYOTA TECHNICAL TRAINING INSTITUTE (TTTI) established by Toyota at Bidadi industrial area near Bangalore Karnataka to provide industrial training and job oriented technical training to the students of the state. The localities can take up any job after the training and interested people will be absorbed by the Toyota Kirloskor Motors. The objectives of TTTI are to support intelligent but financially poor students from rural area & make them employable, Project TKM as Responsible Corporate Citizen, Impart Knowledge & Skill as per industry requirement, Inculcate Toyota Way thinking and develop them as future Leaders[4]. The entire training is done without any tuition fee and providing stipend to the students. The curriculum is prepared in such a way that it covers the general papers and engineering courses.

TATA FOR CANCER PATIENTS

TATA established a 350 cr. Project at Kolkotta for cancer treatment for the people who resides on the eastern side of India with the objective of returning wealth to the society it serves. Tata Medical Center (TMC), Kolkata is a philanthropic initiative from the House of Tata. Its mission is to promote Prevention, Early Diagnosis, Treatment, Rehabilitation and Palliation and Research for cancer patients. TATA already having a TATA memorial hospital at Mumbai, but in that 25-30% of the patients are from North East. TATA initiated this project by realizing the distance between eastern part of India and west and growing number of patients in western region. The hospital provides high quality treatment for the patients and educates them on the dieses. They pride the general awareness on the symptoms, reasons and treatments available for the dieses. TATA is well known for the CSR activities from decades. They are into education, supports for education, sports natural calamities reliefs etc. and contributed to setting up of National Centre for Performing Arts at Mumbai, Tribal Culture Centre set up for preservation and promotion of indigenous art and culture etc. People of the country always give a red carpet welcome to the projects of the TATA because it is always for supporting the common people of the country. The era of Late Sir Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata to Late Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, the Tatas into the business from pin to plane. Presently under the guidance of Shri Ratan D. Tata, it has gone to the different dimensions with the motive of serve the people. Tatas are known for understanding the Indian mind and they set India as home even though they have global business establishment. Tata developed a car for common man with TATA-Nano, not merely for profit maximization, but it was aimed to put cover over head during rain for middle class Indians. The culture and belongingness what Tata created among the employees and people of India are immensely high and it will be there for ever.

CURRENT ISSUE

Endosulfan is colourless solid organochlorine insecticide and acaricide. Due to its acute toxicity it is phased out in US, Brazil and Canada and banned in more than 60 countries, including the European Union, West African countries, Asian Countries, Australia and New Zealand. Unfortunately it is extensively used in India as pesticide in the farms and agricultural areas. The workers of farms and the residents near the farms and agro production area are being victimized by the usage of endosulfan. Poisoning by endosulfan is affected much adversely in the northern districts of Kerala and southern part of Karnataka. A survey done by the Health Department of Kerala has identified nearly 4,000 victims after screening 16,000. The household survey and the screening done in 11 affected panchayats during December and January identified 3,937 victims, besides 336 in nearby panchayats. The numbers are likely to go up at least by 500 as the Health Department continues to receive complaints about non-inclusion on the list. Endosulfan is used as a pesticide for the production of crops like paddy, sugarcane, cotton, mango, cashew etc. Few studies have been conducted in this area and its adverse effects on human health and environment. Different studies reviles that it may amount to Mental Retardation, Parkinson's disease Neuro- behavioral disorders, Hydrocephalus, Cortical blindness, Seizure disorders, etc.

STOCKHOLM CONVENTION on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).

India is the only country opposing the global ban on endosulfan by relying on the report prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of United Nations in 1998 where it said that Endosulfan does not create any health issues. But contrary to the earlier reports, however FAO representatives have informed the Convention that Endosulfan is hazardous. India further raised objections relating to the ‘absence of alternatives’ and the ‘procedural violations’ to the recommendations for a global ban on Endosulfan. A pesticide which kills pets but not human being can be recommended but not vice versa even on the account of no alternative. And-finally the convention banned the endosulfan with certain conditions proposed by India.

Requirement of total ban.

Victims of endosulfan were identified in the northern district of Kerala and southern district of Karnataka. Even though state government of Kerala banned this chemical in the year 2005, the execution of ban was not effective as the pesticides used to be brought from other states. The state wide ban prevented the open sale of the pesticides but it could not make any effect on usage. The Agricultural ministry asked for state views on their experience with endosulfan by a letter on April 27 and announced a meeting by the agricultural commissioner on June 03 with state agriculture department. Even though meeting was chaired by the agriculture commissioner the most of the representatives of the sates were from junior level. It was noticed the presence of stakeholders of the Endosulfan Manufacturers and Formulators Welfare Association and absence of environmental groups, civil society groups and farmer organizations. Out of the 21 states that attended a meeting, except Kerala, 20 opposed the ban on endosulfan and this included Karnataka, that has already banned endosulfan in the state and Madhya Pradesh, whose agriculture minister had sent a letter to the centre supporting Kerala's call for nationwide ban of endosulfan. Kerala agriculture department officials and a scientist from the Kerala Agriculture University suggested alternatives for endosulfan as Carbaryl (carbamate), Quinalphos (organothiophosphate), Malathion (organophosphate) and Dimethoate(organophosphate). Defense of the pestiside manufacturers was all opposition to endosulfan was politically motivated but the silence of other state representative especially Karnataka and Madyapradesh.

The Supreme Court Order

A Writ Petition[5] was filed under section Public Interest Litigation and on 13/05/2011, the petition was called on for hearing in the Coram of Honourable The Chief Justice, Honourable Mr. Justice K.S. Panicker Radhakrishnan and Honourable Mr. Justice Swatanter Kumar. In the petition petitioner submitted that use of endosulfan is a serious health hazard and the Court has got an obligation to protect human life, which is guaranteed under Article 21[6] of the Constitution of India.

Petitioner pointed out the ill effect of endosulfan usage in Kerala and the Honourable Supreme Court perused the report published by the Government of Kerala and the photographs appearing therein and passed an ad-interim order to immediate ban the production, use and sale of Endosulfan all over India and the Honourable Court further direct the statutory authorities to seize the permit given to the manufacturers of Endosulfan till further orders. The Honourable Court appointed a Joint Committee headed by the Director General of ICMR and the Commissioner (Agriculture) to conduct a scientific study on the question whether the use of Endosulfan would cause any serious health hazard to human beings and would cause environmental pollution. Unfortunately Central Government filed an affidavit infavour of the manufactures of endosulfan and congress spokesman appeared for the association of endosulfan manufactures! Before the honourable Supreme Court. The report of ICMR also was supporting the manufactures of endosulfan and not ban. They said it can be banned in the state of Karnataka and Kerala and it should be allowed to use in other states. They answered the question of the Supreme Court and state the casualties happened in Kerala is because of irregular use of endosulfan. It interns an admission that casualties happened because of endosulfan only. Here the Central Government stand is that let the people dies in all the states then only the total ban is possible!!!!.

“Let industry established in the countryside ‘adopt’ the villages in its neighbourhood: … it is also clearly in the interests of industry that surrounding areas should be healthy, prosperous and peaceful.” – J.R.D. Tata

ANALYSIS

Sl No.	Case	Outcome	Reason	Aftermath
1.	Bhopal gas tragedy	Higher death toll	Bad location strategy, lack of attention on safety & security	Victims and their families are still waiting for the final decision.
2.	Coca-Cola at Plachimada	Ground water level went drastically down, land pollution due to solid waste	Business oriented production	Local area starved for water and waiting for the disbursement of the relief.
3.	Endosulfan	Death, permanent and partial disabilities, mental destruction	Pure profit oriented	People in the Kasargode district of Kerala affected dieses which may continue till their last breath.
4.	Toyota	Locally accepted foreign corporate	Commitment towards the society	Job oriented training to the public and prospering young generation for better life.
5.	Tata	Help to cancer patience	Adopting new areas to help the people	Change of people perspective of a manufacturing company to facilitating organization

Table No. 1

INTERPRETATION

From the first three cases it is revealed that even after the accident or incident the affected parties are paying price for many more years. Bhopal gas tragedy was single incident but rest two is hanging chain of incidents. The bottling plants should pay for the water consumption also should procure from the place where it is available. Only to make profit in the transportation of finished products, bottling plants should not be located in a placed where already there is a scarcity of water. Endosulfan case is pending before the Honourable Supreme Court and plea for extension of time for filing the report is rejected by the Court and given time frame to submit the report. Even ICMR reports are in favour of the manufacturers of endosulfan even though indirectly they do admit that the causalities happened because of endosulfan. Asking the Court to ban the endosulfan only for the affected area is ridiculous because the Government wants proof of death from across the country. But still the apex court said during the submission of the advocate of the petitioners that Court is more concern over the farmers of the affected area. Toyota a pure manufacturing company in the automobile industry is into technical education on non-profit base with the aim of education for the local people. Toyota is a MNC gaining affection of the local people for their CSR activities and TATAs are known for it. Each project of TATA is readily accepted by the public at large due to their concern for the people of Indian and better working environment. People in and out of TATA are proud of the company and their activities. The brand image build by the company is not by one or two activities but it is a continuous process from the time of industrialization in India.

CONCLUSION

Every business is expected to make profit which assures the existence of the business. Existence of business is the requirement of state too because it gives social and economical security to the employees and their dependents and provides revenue to the state in the form of taxes. As per the guidelines, companies with net profit of less than US$ 22.5 million will earmark 3-5 per cent of profit for CSR, companies with net profit of between US$ 22.5 million - US$ 112.5 million, will utilise 2-3 per cent for CSR activities and companies with net profit of over US$ 112.5 million will spend 0.5-2 per cent of net profits for CSR. According to a study undertaken by an industry body in June 2009, which studied the CSR activities of 300 corporate houses, corporate India has spread its CSR activities across 20 states and Union territories, with Maharashtra gaining the most from them. About 36 per cent of the CSR activities are concentrated in the state, followed by about 12 per cent in Gujarat, 10 per cent in Delhi and 9 per cent in Tamil Nadu. Profits are made on the process-process converts existing things to new useful thing- it destructs the existing, for the creation of new. The things extracted from the nature for conversion is not replenished or not made good, it is withdrawn forever. Every organisation what is extracted from the local area of its establishment is duty bound to return it, if it is not in the same form at least it can be anything equal to that. Plant locations are selected by availability of different resources and cost involved in that. The extraction of raw materials or environment advantages denies the privileges of the future generation of the local area and that has to be compensated by other means and it is the duty or responsibility or both for the corporate to serve the society and it is not just a charity or a brand promotion.

“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us an opportunity to do so” – Mahatma Gandhi

[1] Chambers Dictionary

[2] The World Business Council for Sustainable Development in its publication "Making Good Business Sense" by Lord Holme and Richard Watts

[3] European Commission

[4] T. Somanath, Principal, TTTI on his article

[5] Writ Petition (CIVIL) No.213 of 2011

[6] Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

Protection of Life and Personal Liberty: - “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law”.