Indian publishers associations intervene in Oxbridge copyright appeal

Three publishers associations have intervened in an appeal against a September judgment which held that “copyright is not a divine right”.

In September, the Delhi High Court dismissed a copyright infringement suit filed in August 2012 by three publishers, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and Taylor & Francis.

The publishers had sought a permanent injunction against Rameshwari Photocopy Service and the University of Delhi, aiming to restrain the defendants from photocopying the publishers’ books for academic purposes.

Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw held that books photocopied from the university’s library or its authorised photocopy shop fall under section 52 of the Copyright Act, which exempts education from copyright infringement.

Then, in October, the publishers filed an appeal against the decision before the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court, according to IP blog Spicy IP.

The court admitted the appeal. It also directed the defendants to maintain a record of photocopied course packs sold.

In the latest development, the Association of Publishers in India (API), the Federation of Indian Publishers and Indian Reprographic Rights Organisation filed intervention applications, according to  SpicyIP.

In the filing from the API, the association said that the judgment adversely impacted its members’ rights to prevent unauthorised reproduction and commercial exploitation of their literary works.

The applications were allowed by Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Yogesh Khanna on November 8.

The appeal is now scheduled for hearing on November 29, 2016.