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No relief to foreign publishers in verdict allowing photocopy

Last Updated 06 October 2016, 19:21 IST

Leading foreign publishers, who challenged a verdict allowing photocopying of textbooks published by them, on Thursday failed to get any immediate relief from the Delhi High Court which said the matter would be heard on priority basis.

“We have kept the matter for final disposal on November 29. We kept it on a very short date. We shall hear you and pass the order. So, as of now, no interim order,” a bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Pratibha Rani said.

Acknowledging that it was considering the seriousness of the issue, the bench noted that it was a crucial matter as the verdict had led not just one photocopy shop, but hundreds of them, to sell photocopies.

The bench, meanwhile, asked the respondent to keep record of the papers purchased and utilised in the photocopying of the textbooks.

The publishers — Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press (UK), Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd, Taylor and Francis Group (UK) and Taylor and Francis Books India Pvt Ltd, which sought a stay on the September 16 order — alleged that Rameshwari Photocopy Service in Delhi University was infringing upon their copyright over the textbooks.

Absolute ownership
The single judge order had brought cheers to a large number of students, as it had rejected the publishers’ plea against the sale of photocopies of their textbooks, saying copyright in literary works does not confer “absolute ownership” to the authors.

It had also lifted a ban on Rameshwari Photocopy Service on Delhi University campus from selling photocopies of chapters from textbooks of international publishers to students.

The publishers contended that “through this appeal, we seek assurance that the copyright law in India will balance the interests of those creating learning materials here in India as well as globally, with those requiring access to them in a fair and sustainable manner”.
PTI

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(Published 06 October 2016, 19:21 IST)

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