INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POLICY
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POLICY
Effective Date: 16/05/2026
Last Updated: 16/05/2016
The Company ARCHA MEDIA PRIVATE LIMITED is incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013 and operates a digital news media platform through its website and mobile application. The Platform is operated under the trademark “NEWS NEXT”, which is legally owned by the Company through a valid Assignment Deed transferring full rights, title, and interest.
This Intellectual Property Policy (“Policy”) is adopted, implemented, maintained, and enforced by ARCHA MEDIA PRIVATE LIMITED , the Platform is operated under the trademark “NEWS NEXT”, which is legally owned by the Company through a valid Assignment Deed transferring full rights, title, and interest (hereinafter referred to as the “Company”, “Platform”, “Website”, “We”, “Us”, or “Our”) for the purpose of protecting, regulating, enforcing, managing, licensing, preserving, and administering intellectual property rights associated with the Company’s news media operations, digital publications, websites, mobile applications, social media channels, software systems, databases, branding materials, journalistic works, multimedia content, advertisements, archives, technological infrastructure, and associated services (collectively referred to as the “Platform”).
This Policy establishes the legal framework governing ownership, licensing, permitted usage, restrictions, infringement reporting, enforcement mechanisms, user obligations, contributor rights, advertiser obligations, third-party intellectual property compliance, and dispute resolution procedures relating to intellectual property assets used, published, displayed, transmitted, distributed, stored, licensed, or made accessible through the Platform.
This Policy shall be read together with the Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, Community Guidelines, Advertisement and Sponsored Content Policy, Data Retention Policy, Copyright Policy, User Content Policy, Contributor Agreements, and all other policies published by the Company.
This Policy is intended to comply with applicable laws including but not limited to the Copyright Act, 1957, the Trade Marks Act, 1999, the Patents Act, 1970, the Designs Act, 2000, the Information Technology Act, 2000, intermediary regulations, consumer protection laws, contractual laws, international intellectual property treaties, and all applicable global intellectual property frameworks wherever applicable.
- PURPOSE OF THIS POLICY
The purpose of this Policy is to establish lawful, transparent, enforceable, and operationally clear rules governing intellectual property rights connected with the Platform.
The Company recognizes that intellectual property constitutes a valuable commercial, journalistic, technological, and reputational asset requiring legal protection against unauthorized copying, misuse, infringement, counterfeiting, piracy, misappropriation, unauthorized distribution, unauthorized commercialization, cyber theft, and reputational misuse.
The Company further recognizes the importance of respecting third-party intellectual property rights and maintaining lawful usage practices within digital publishing operations.
Accordingly, this Policy seeks to balance intellectual property protection, journalistic freedom, lawful public interest usage, user participation, technological innovation, and regulatory compliance.
- APPLICABILITY
This Policy shall apply to all users, visitors, subscribers, advertisers, contributors, journalists, editors, photographers, videographers, contractors, employees, licensors, licensees, affiliates, technology providers, content partners, vendors, guest authors, agencies, and all other individuals or entities accessing, contributing to, publishing on, distributing through, or interacting with the Platform.
This Policy shall apply to all forms of intellectual property including but not limited to:
Copyrights;
Trademarks;
Service marks;
Trade dress;
Patents;
Industrial designs;
Databases;
Software and source code;
Articles and editorials;
Investigative reports;
Audio-visual works;
Videos and podcasts;
Images and graphics;
Logos and brand assets;
User-generated content;
Typography and layouts;
Metadata and compilations;
Artificial intelligence generated assets;
Domain names;
Mobile application interfaces;
Proprietary systems and algorithms.
- DEFINITIONS
For the purposes of this Policy, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions shall have the meanings assigned below.
The term “Intellectual Property” or “IP” shall mean all legally recognized proprietary rights relating to creative works, inventions, trademarks, trade secrets, confidential information, software, databases, branding materials, industrial designs, artistic works, literary works, journalistic content, and related intangible assets.
The term “Content” shall mean any article, text, photograph, illustration, infographic, audio recording, video recording, podcast, graphic, code, database entry, advertisement, metadata, or digital material published, uploaded, transmitted, displayed, or stored on the Platform.
The term “User-Generated Content” shall mean any content uploaded, posted, submitted, transmitted, shared, published, or otherwise made available by users or third parties.
The term “Trademark” shall mean any word, phrase, logo, slogan, symbol, trade dress, brand identifier, domain name, visual indicator, or source identifier capable of distinguishing goods or services.
The term “Copyright” shall mean exclusive rights relating to original literary, artistic, dramatic, musical, cinematographic, journalistic, software, photographic, or sound recording works.
The term “License” shall mean a limited legal authorization permitting specified use of intellectual property subject to defined conditions.
The term “Infringement” shall mean unauthorized use, reproduction, distribution, publication, adaptation, modification, display, storage, communication, imitation, commercialization, or exploitation of intellectual property in violation of applicable law or contractual rights.
- OWNERSHIP OF PLATFORM INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Unless otherwise expressly stated in writing, all intellectual property rights associated with the Platform shall be exclusively owned, controlled, licensed, or lawfully possessed by the Company and/or its licensors.
Such ownership shall include all present and future rights relating to:
Website content;
News reports;
Editorial publications;
Journalistic investigations;
Audio-visual works;
Videos and podcasts;
Photographs and graphics;
Software systems;
Databases;
Platform architecture;
Mobile applications;
User interface designs;
Branding elements;
Logos and trademarks;
Trade dress and layouts;
Metadata compilations;
Artificial intelligence tools and outputs;
Research compilations and archives.
Nothing contained in this Policy shall transfer ownership rights to users merely by virtue of access or use of the Platform.
- COPYRIGHT PROTECTION
All original content published on the Platform including articles, investigative reports, editorials, opinion pieces, interviews, images, graphics, audio recordings, videos, podcasts, databases, layouts, compilations, and software shall be protected under applicable copyright laws.
Unauthorized reproduction, copying, scraping, downloading, distribution, republication, broadcasting, adaptation, translation, modification, storage, commercialization, resale, or public communication of copyrighted material without lawful authorization is strictly prohibited.
The Company reserves all rights not expressly granted under applicable law or written agreements.
- TRADEMARK RIGHTS
All trademarks, logos, trade names, slogans, service marks, visual identifiers, brand names, icons, and commercial identifiers appearing on the Platform shall remain the exclusive property of the Company or their respective lawful owners.
No person shall use, register, imitate, reproduce, modify, dilute, misappropriate, exploit, or commercially utilize any trademark associated with the Platform without prior written authorization.
Unauthorized usage of trademarks may result in legal proceedings, injunctive relief, damages claims, account suspension, domain disputes, or regulatory complaints.
- USER-GENERATED CONTENT
Users submitting content to the Platform represent and warrant that they possess all necessary intellectual property rights, licenses, permissions, consents, and authorizations required for such submission.
By submitting user-generated content to the Platform, users grant the Company a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable, perpetual, irrevocable license to host, store, reproduce, publish, display, distribute, adapt, archive, promote, analyze, and otherwise use such content for operational, journalistic, promotional, archival, analytical, legal, or commercial purposes subject to applicable law.
Users shall remain responsible for ensuring that their submissions do not infringe third-party intellectual property rights.
- LICENSED CONTENT AND THIRD-PARTY MATERIALS
The Platform may use third-party content, syndicated materials, licensed databases, stock photographs, embedded media, social media integrations, open-source software, public domain content, and externally sourced materials.
Such content shall remain subject to the rights, restrictions, licenses, and ownership interests of their respective owners.
Users shall not assume that third-party content appearing on the Platform is freely reusable unless expressly stated otherwise.
The Company shall endeavor to respect lawful licensing obligations and attribution requirements applicable to third-party materials.
- FAIR USE AND PERMITTED USAGE
Nothing contained in this Policy shall restrict lawful fair dealing, fair use, reporting exemptions, criticism, commentary, review, research, education, parody, satire, judicial usage, governmental usage, or other legally protected exceptions recognized under applicable law.
Permissible usage of limited excerpts may be allowed for non-commercial purposes subject to proper attribution, lawful justification, and compliance with applicable laws.
The determination of fair usage shall remain subject to applicable judicial interpretation and statutory provisions.
- PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES
Users shall not:
Copy or scrape Platform content without authorization;
Use automated bots for unauthorized extraction of data;
Reproduce articles for commercial purposes;
Modify or remove copyright notices;
Use Platform trademarks deceptively;
Mirror or clone the Platform;
Reverse engineer proprietary systems;
Sell or redistribute protected materials;
Use content for unlawful artificial intelligence training without authorization;
Circumvent technological protection measures;
Upload infringing materials;
Impersonate Company branding;
Create misleading derivative works;
Misappropriate journalistic investigations;
Use content for disinformation campaigns.
Any unauthorized activity may result in civil liability, criminal prosecution, account suspension, injunctive relief, recovery proceedings, or regulatory complaints.
- COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT COMPLAINTS
The Company respects intellectual property rights and may respond to valid infringement complaints in accordance with applicable laws.
Any person believing that content available on the Platform infringes intellectual property rights may submit a written complaint containing:
Identification of the copyrighted or protected work;
Identification of the allegedly infringing material;
Contact details of the complainant;
Proof of ownership or authorization;
Good faith statement regarding alleged infringement;
Declaration regarding accuracy of the complaint.
The Company reserves the right to request additional documentation before taking action.
False, malicious, fraudulent, or misleading infringement complaints may attract legal liability.
- TAKEDOWN PROCEDURES
Upon receipt of lawful complaints, court orders, governmental notices, or regulatory directions, the Company may investigate, restrict access to, suspend, disable, remove, or preserve allegedly infringing content.
The Company may notify affected users or contributors regarding complaints wherever legally appropriate.
The Company reserves discretion regarding the interpretation, investigation, and resolution of intellectual property disputes.
- CONTRIBUTOR AND EMPLOYEE WORKS
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, intellectual property created by employees, journalists, contractors, consultants, or contributors within the scope of engagement with the Company may constitute work made for hire, commissioned work, assigned work, or Company-owned intellectual property subject to applicable laws and contractual arrangements.
Contributors may be required to execute assignment deeds, confidentiality agreements, licensing agreements, or intellectual property transfer documents.
- SOFTWARE, DATABASES, AND TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
The Platform’s software systems, source code, databases, APIs, algorithms, infrastructure, artificial intelligence tools, machine learning systems, layouts, user interfaces, backend systems, and technological architecture may constitute proprietary intellectual property and confidential information.
Unauthorized access, copying, extraction, reverse engineering, decompilation, modification, exploitation, or redistribution of technological assets is strictly prohibited.
- CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION AND TRADE SECRETS
Certain information associated with the Platform may constitute confidential information, proprietary methodologies, unpublished investigations, source materials, editorial strategies, cybersecurity systems, trade secrets, analytics models, or commercially sensitive data.
Unauthorized disclosure, leakage, publication, sale, transmission, or misuse of confidential information is prohibited and may attract civil and criminal liability.
- ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND AUTOMATED SYSTEMS
The Company reserves rights relating to artificial intelligence systems, machine learning models, automated publishing systems, recommendation algorithms, metadata systems, and AI-generated outputs used within the Platform.
Users shall not use Platform content for unauthorized artificial intelligence training, automated dataset compilation, algorithmic replication, or machine learning exploitation without prior written permission.
- ENFORCEMENT RIGHTS
The Company reserves the right to investigate suspected intellectual property violations and may take enforcement actions including:
Content removal;
Account suspension;
Cease and desist notices;
Civil litigation;
Criminal complaints;
Injunction proceedings;
Domain dispute proceedings;
Recovery claims;
Regulatory complaints;
Cyber security investigations.
The Company may cooperate with law enforcement agencies, regulators, judicial authorities, internet service providers, domain registrars, and cyber security agencies.
- LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
To the fullest extent permissible under applicable law, the Company shall not be liable for unauthorized acts committed by users, third parties, advertisers, contributors, external websites, or independent service providers.
The Company does not guarantee that user-generated content or third-party materials are free from infringement claims.
Users access and use content at their own discretion and risk.
- INDEMNIFICATION
Users, advertisers, contributors, licensors, contractors, and third parties agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Company, its affiliates, directors, employees, editors, journalists, licensors, successors, contractors, and representatives against claims, losses, liabilities, damages, penalties, investigations, costs, and legal expenses arising out of:
Intellectual property infringement;
Unauthorized content usage;
Misrepresentation of ownership;
Breach of licensing obligations;
Unauthorized trademark use;
Copyright violations;
Defamatory or unlawful submissions;
Breach of this Policy.
- GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION
This Policy shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India.
Any disputes arising out of or relating to intellectual property matters, infringement claims, licensing issues, ownership disputes, or content-related conflicts shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent courts located at [Insert Jurisdiction], India.
The Company reserves the right to seek injunctive relief, equitable remedies, interim protection, emergency orders, or preservation directions before any competent court, tribunal, or regulatory authority.
- POLICY MODIFICATIONS
The Company reserves the right to amend, revise, replace, update, suspend, or discontinue this Policy at any time without prior notice unless otherwise required by law.
Updated versions shall become effective immediately upon publication on the Platform.
Continued use of the Platform following modifications shall constitute acknowledgment and acceptance of the revised Policy.
- CONTACT DETAILS
For intellectual property complaints, licensing requests, infringement notices, legal communications, takedown requests, or policy-related concerns, users may contact:
Intellectual Property Officer / Grievance Officer
Arun
Archa Media Private Limited
Door No:2/19(6),Kanchan complex.NH 66,Giliyar Village,Kota Post,Brahmavara -TQ,Udupi-Dist,Karnataka-576221
Email:newsnextdotlive@gmail.com
Contact Number: 7975523349
The Company shall endeavor to review lawful notices and complaints within reasonable timelines prescribed under applicable laws.
- ACKNOWLEDGMENT
By accessing, using, contributing to, publishing on, or interacting with the Platform, users acknowledge that they have read, understood, and agreed to this Intellectual Property Policy and agree to comply with all intellectual property obligations, restrictions, and legal requirements described herein.
