It is common practice to photocopy pages and excerpts of books or an entire book for educational purposes or purposes of providing instructions (or guidance etc.). Copier service providers run their services by charging a nominal rate for the copies on a per page basis. One of the reasons why using photocopies of books is preferred over purchasing the books, is the high cost involved with such books. The decisive question here is, whether the party (copier and/or the students) involved in making photocopies of someone’s literary work, be it for commercial profit making, or just for reasonable educational purposes infringe copyright.

The Delhi High Court’s judgement in The Chancellor, Masters & Scholars of The University of Oxford & Ors. Vs. Rameshwari Photocopy Services & Anr. dated September 16, 2016 is a benchmark decision that throws light on whether such acts are to be considered infringing.

In 2012, Plaintiffs, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and Taylor & Francis had filed infringement suit against Rameshwari photocopy shop, the first defendant (the second defendant being Delhi University), a licensed vendor located in DU’s. The Plaintiffs alleged that the Defendants have infringed the copyrighted publications owned by the Plaintiffs by photocopying, reproducing and distributing copies of the publications on a large scale and circulating the same and by sale of unauthorised compilations of substantial extracts from the Plaintiffs’ publications and compiling them into course packs. Following this, the court passed an interim order preventing the photocopy shop from selling the compilations of photocopied texts.

Delhi University (second defendant) in their argument, supported the photocopier, stating that the reproduction of copies of books was for “reasonable educational needs” and not for “commercial profit making” thereby denying any act of infringement. The University stated that the syllabi for each academic year along with suggested reading materials are contained in different books of different publishers sold at high price, which may often pose as financial burden on the students. Moreover, owing to limited availability of copies of such books with the library, making copies become necessary.

However, the decision of Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw was not what would have favoured the Plaintiffs. Justice Endlaw has stated in his ruling that the action of each of the students of having the book issued from the library of the University and copying pages thereof, whether by hand or by photocopy, is not an act of infringement under the Copyright Law and dismissed the trial denying any act of infringement by the defendants.

This decision of the Court has upheld the basic rights of public to accessibility of educational materials and that limiting access to such materials is not acceptable as long as such acts are not meant for commercial exploitation of someone’s intellectual property. The decision has also opened eyes of public to look at laws and requirements that would benefit the public interest rather than following norms that would benefit private interest.

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