India Takes A Stand On Academic Photocopying - Forbes

"The Indian government may be planning to ask for changes to international copyright regulations to allow students to photocopy coursebooks. Three major academic publishers are currently pursuing a small photocopy shop approved by Delhi University through the courts. Rameshwari Photocopy Shop has been producing study packs consisting of photocopied sections of textbooks; and Oxford University Press (OUP), Cambridge University Press (CUP) and Taylor & Francis argue that, because this isn’t being done by the students themselves, it falls outside permitted copying. OUP points out that there’s already a mechanism by which such course packs can be obtained legally – though at a cost. 'The Indian Reprographic Rights Organization (IRRO) offers a legitimate and accessible method for securing permissions, and offers copyright tariffs which are among the lowest in the world — as little as 50 paise per page,' it says in documents filed with the court. But the university is fighting back, with the next hearing in the case due on Monday. Now, according to Telegraph India, the government is set to weigh in on the university’s side. A senior source has told the paper that it plans to ask the World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo) to exempt academic and research institutions from standard copyright rules, excusing them from paying royalties. The university has huge popular support in a country with a strong academic ethos – but where most students would struggle to buy a fraction of the books relevant to their course. Indeed, many university libraries can’t. Even authors are on the shop’s side: last year, Nobel Prize-winning author Amyarta Sen wrote to OUP urging it to reconsider. 'The use of sections of books for teaching purposes through ‘course packs’ has enormous educational value, particularly because of problems of affordability on the part of students,' she wrote ..."