World Intellectual Property Rights Day, a day that not only acknowledges the immense value of human creativity and innovation but also reminds us of the crucial role of law in protecting and promoting those ideas.
This year’s 2025 theme, “IP and Music: Feel the Beat of IP,” celebrates music, that powerful, universal language that creates a sense of belongingness, transcends cultures, and inspires generations. But more importantly, it reminds us of the creative minds and technologies behind the melodies we love — the composers, producers, performers, and even the digital tools that now help create, distribute, and monetize music.
In India, legends like Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, and A.R. Rahman have shaped the soundscape of generations, while contemporary artists like Arijit Singh, Kailash Kher, and Divine are redefining modern Indian music across platforms. Their work is not only a testament to talent but also to the importance of protecting musical creativity through robust intellectual property rights in the digital era.
In today’s world, the way we create is undergoing a rapid transformation. Artificial Intelligence is no longer just a tool — it is becoming a creator in its own right. It can write lyrics, compose symphonies, and even mimic human voices with astonishing accuracy. One viral example we’ve all seen recently was the AI-generated track that replicated famous artists' voices, “Heart on My Sleeve” by the anonymous creator known as Ghostwriter977. It drew millions of listeners — and just as many legal questions. Who owns the rights to such a song? The coder who built the algorithm? The user who gave it a prompt? Or is it a gray zone where our current IP laws fall silent?
At the same time, we have the Metaverse — a virtual world where music isn’t just played, but lived. People attend concerts in VR, buy digital music NFTs, and create avatars that perform in virtual clubs. These immersive platforms are revolutionizing how we experience music, but they also raise new challenges. In a space with no physical borders, how do we enforce copyright? How do we protect a musician’s brand, identity, and sound when they can be copied and traded across decentralized platforms?
The answer is not to resist these technologies, but to reform the law to work alongside them. Our intellectual property laws were designed in a different era — one with physical boundaries, human creators, and tangible assets. But today’s world is digital, fluid, and evolving faster than legislation can keep up.
So, the objective now is clear: we need a modern, forward-thinking IP regime that recognizes the unique contributions of AI and protects digital creations in the Metaverse. A legal framework that defines authorship in the age of algorithms, ensures cross-border enforcement, and protects the creative economy in all its forms — from a street performer with a guitar to a music producer in the Metaverse.
And to achieve this, we need collaboration between lawmakers, legal scholars, technologists, artists, and innovators. We need a system that doesn’t just protect what we have, but also supports what we are yet to imagine.
On this World IP Day, as we feel the beat of IP, let’s remember this: creativity deserves protection, in every form it takes. Whether it flows from a human hand or a machine’s code, whether it lives in our world or a virtual one, it must be acknowledged, respected, and preserved.
Time proceeds, and laws must amend accordingly!!
Let’s innovate the law as boldly as we innovate our art!!