Sections 160 and 161 of the Finance Act, which have come into force on May 26, 2017, amend the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957 and the Trade Marks Act, 1999 to pave way for the merger of the Copyright Board with the IPAB. As a result, all the functions of the Copyright Board (including adjudicating disputes in relation to assignment of copyright, granting of compulsory licenses and statutory licenses in relation to certain types of works) will now get transferred to the IPAB.

Pursuant to powers granted under the Finance Act, the Central Government has promulgated and brought into force the Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal and other Authorities (Qualifications, Experience and other Conditions of Service of Members) Rules, 2017 (‘Tribunal Rules’) which govern the qualifications, experience and other conditions of service of the members of various tribunals, including the IPAB. According to the Tribunal Rules, a search-cum-selection committee would be responsible for the recruitment of members for the IPAB.

Given the fact that the Copyright Board has not been functional for quite a few years now, the merger of the Copyright Board with the IPAB gives a forum to the concerned stakeholders to seek redressal of their grievances. However, it still remains to be seen how effectively the IPAB will be able to perform the tasks, roles and responsibilities erstwhile carried out by the Copyright Board, given the huge backlog of pending matters at the IPAB.