Photocopying books made legal…

The verdict for the Delhi University photocopying case (The Chancellor Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford v. Rameshwari Photocopy Services) is out. The Delhi High Court has dismissed the copyright infringement petition initiated in August 2012 by three publishers – Oxford, Cambridge and Taylor & Francis – against a photocopy shop located in the premises of Delhi University. The publishers had filed case against creation of course packs and the photocopying of academic material as it meant infringement of the copyright of the authors and publishers. \

In this context, Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw gave the judgement that copyright is a statutory right and not a natural right, and hence any right that is granted to owners is also limited by exceptions carved out by law.