Textbook alert after court blow - HC rejects publishers' pleato stop photocopy sales

Special Correspondent TT and PTI, New Delhi, Sept. 16: Delhi High Court today rejected a plea by foreign publishing houses to stop the sale of photocopies of their textbooks, prompting the publishers to say the decision "could undermine the availability of original content". The court said that a copyright over a literary work does not confer "absolute ownership" on the author.

At the centre of the dispute is a photocopy shop on the Delhi University campus that had been selling photocopies of entire chapters of textbooks to students. Multiple chapters are selected from different textbooks, copied and sold to students as "study packs".

The publishers complained that the practice amounted to stealing the content for sale, which is a copyright infringement.

However, lifting an interim ban on the shop, Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said: "Copyright, specially in literary works, is thus not an inevitable, divine, or natural right that confers on authors the absolute ownership of their creations. It is designed rather to stimulate activity and progress in the arts for the intellectual enrichment of the public."

The court cited a reason that appeared to question the need for library reference.

"If the facility of photocopying were not to be available, they would, instead of sitting in the comforts of their respective homes and reading from the photocopies, would be spending long hours in the library and making notes thereof," the court said.

"When modern technology is available for comfort, it would be unfair to say the students should not avail thereof and continue to study as in ancient era. No law can be interpreted so as to result in any regression of evolvement of the human being for the better."

The court said that nearly all the students of the university carry cellphones and most of them have in-built cameras that enable them to click photographs of each page of a book and take printouts after connecting the phone to a printer. "The same would again qualify as fair use and which cannot be stopped," it said.

In 2012, publishers such as Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press (UK), Cambridge University Press India, Taylor and Francis Group (UK) and Taylor and Francis Books India had moved the court, alleging that Rameshwari Photocopy Service on the campus was infringing their copyright. The publishers had demanded Rs 60 lakh as compensation.

Reacting to the judgment, the publishers said in a joint statement: "It is unfortunate that the court's decision today could undermine the availability of original content for the benefit of students and teachers.

"We brought this case to protect authors, publishers and students from the potential effects on the Indian academic and educational book market caused by the widespread creation and distribution of unlicensed course packs by a copy shop operating from within the premises of the university, where a legitimate and affordable licensing scheme is already in place."

Delhi University and its libraries had entered into a licence arrangement with the Indian Reprographic Rights Organisation to make photocopies of materials by paying a fee.

According to the copyright law, users can make photocopies after taking a licence by paying a fee that has to be shared with the publishers and the authors.

The copyright act has a provision for fair dealing under which photocopying for personal use is allowed. However, the provision cannot be used to reproduce the entire book, according to several copyright experts.

The Association of Students for Equitable Access to Knowledge, which was a pleader in the case, welcome the judgment, saying: "Academics books are highly expensive and university libraries keep only a few copies."