A court case against a small photocopy shop in Delhi University's North Campus has triggered protests and a debate on rights of students to access study material. The shop, Rameshwari Photocopy Service, was a lifeline for students surviving on shoestring budgets. They could buy photocopies of books and compilation of extracts from books, which they otherwise could ill afford, from this shop located in the Delhi School of Economics precincts. Last month, three prominent publishers of academic material—Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Taylor and Francis—moved court, accusing the shop of copyright infringement. Services have been suspended at Rameshwari Photocopy Service following notice from the Delhi High Court and pressure from the university.
The petition filed by the publishers accuses Rameshwari Photocopy Service of being “engaged in cover-to-cover reproduction of the Plaintiffs’ publications...and selling unauthorized compilations of substantial extracts from the Plaintiffs’ publications by compiling them into course packs/anthologies for sale.”
Most students of Delhi University will testify to the importance of these course packs. The cost of most Indian publications start at Rs 300; foreign publications cost up to US $100. This makes it nearly impossible for most students to buy all the textbooks required for their study course. Many a time, the required portion, as dictated by the Delhi University syllabus, may consist of only a few chapters or an extract from a book; at other times, these books may not be easily available. In view of these problems faced by students, reading material required for each course is collected from different sources, like books, journals and e-books, and compiled into a course pack.
Professor S C Panda, director of Delhi School of Economics, is baffled as to why this particular shop was targeted. “This happens all over the university. Material for the course pack is collected from various sources. I am not sure if that constitutes a violation of copyright laws.” Rameshwari Photocopy Service was started within the college premises in the early 1990s on the orders of the then director. It operates on a licence which is renewed every year.
Ripple effect
The crackdown on the photocopy shop has had a ripple effect on photocopy shops across North Campus. Photocopy shops lined up near Patel Chest Institute deny having any knowledge of these course packs and have stopped photocopying textbooks and other study material, insisting they only photocopy documents and written notes, and print out material as required by their customers. Photocopy shops elsewhere in the campus have also ceased selling such material.
This is a big blow for students. There is a consensus among students that there is a need for such facilities because libraries are not well stocked. Libraries in Delhi University receive their funds from the University Grants Commission (UGC). These funds are not enough to provide multiple copies of books to students, across disciplines, across the University. The Ratan Tata Library in Delhi School Of Economics is one of the better stocked libraries in Delhi University. It received a substantial amount of money from the Central government in the last Union budget in addition to UGC grant. But even here, several textbooks are photocopies of original books. “The library is planning to throw these photocopies out. When we asked them to give it to us instead, they refused,” says Rhea John, who is pursuing a master's degree in sociology at the college.
| 'Targeting one shop is not the way to end piracy' | |
| -Supurna Dasgupta, student, Delhi University |
Copyright Laws in the United States and the United Kingdom place severe restrictions on the amount of matter that can be photocopied from books without permission from the publishers. The fair use exception or fair dealings exception (in the UK) legalises certain acts, while placing quantitative restrictions. This is what enables course packs to be compiled in universities abroad. The Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK provides strict guidelines for the compilation of such course packs so that they do not replace textbooks altogether. The Indian Copyright Act allows for fair dealing of any work (with the exception of computer programmes) for academic and research purposes and places no quantitative restrictions. This is indicative of the government’s aim to make educational material accessible to a large section of the population.
Rajshree Chandra Ahuja, a political scientist who has worked on copyright laws, argues that this issue is not merely “a matter of access; access should be a matter of right for students, overriding economic entitlements of the publishers. Education and its dissemination cannot be a preserve of people who can afford it.” In India, Section 52 (1) (i) allows for “the reproduction of any work by a teacher or a pupil in the course of instruction”, while 52 (1) (a) allows for fair dealing with any work (with the exception of computer programmes) for the purpose of private or personal use, including research work. Ahuja says that “under current circumstances, Section 52 seems broad enough o facilitate the present system of course pack dissemination. It does not impose quantifiable restrictions. But this ambiguity ought to be retained rather than fixed, where fair use is not defined by the copyright law, but social welfare considerations.
| 'Publishers should rethink processes to suit average Indian students' | |
| --Ashley N P, Faculty member, St Stephen's College |