Review of the Proposed Amendment to the Copyright Act

Please click here for the full document

For additional resources including the Draft of the Proposed Amendment, the text of the Copyright Act and Rules please click here

Summary of the Review

Access to knowledge and cultural goods is critical to ensure full participation of the public in political and cultural life and to ensure benefit to them from any scientific and technological advancement. The copyright system seeks to promote the efficient dissemination of knowledge in the public domain by maintaining a balance between enabling rewards to producers of knowledge on the one hand, and access to these copyright goods for the public, on the other. It is therefore critical that laws pertaining to copyright in any country be drafted in a manner that best ensures an ideal balance between public and private interest.
 
This review seeks to examine the implications of the proposed amendments, as well as to re-examine some of the existing provisions from a public interest perspective.
 
The copyright law of a sovereign nation is influenced by the status of that nation’s accession to the major international conventions, treaties and trade rules, which in the case of India, are:
 
(i)  The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (“Berne Convention”)
(ii) The agreement on trade related aspects of intellectual property rights (“TRIPs”) which also incorporates the Berne Convention
 
Additionally, there are a number of other copyright-related treaties like the WIPO Copyright Treaty (“WCT”) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (“WPPT”) which bind signatory nations to additional changes to their copyright law. It is to be noted that India is only bound to the terms of the Berne Convention and the TRIPs agreement, and not to either the WCT or
the WPPT. We are therefore not legally obliged to any commitments beyond those obligated under TRIPs and Berne.

We note that some of the proposed amendments to the Act seek to introduce provisions related to the WCT and WPPT, and we need to be extremely cautious before introducing any amendments that may be detrimental to public interest. For instance the current proposals seek to introduce Digital Rights Management (“DRM”) into the Act, and we review why this is not in the best interests of a developing country.

We also note that it is important for government to recognize and rely on flexibilities of the Berne Convention and the TRIPs agreement which enable access to knowledge and information, by ensuring easy access to copyrighted materials in respect of educational, private or general use, and via any media or form. For instance, we note that the present amendment seeks to promote greater access to knowledge and information for persons with any sensory disabilities. This is a welcome move, especially if enacted with a thorough review of the details of the need, and the enabling provision thereof.
 
Lastly, a short note on who we are. This review was drafted at the Alternative Law Forum (“ALF”) by Lawrence Liang, Achal Prabhala and Nirmita Narasimhan, and is supported by important  consumer-rights organisations, disabled-rights groups, film producers’ associations, NGOs and universities from across India, namely:

Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (“CAG”)
Independent Documentary Producers Association (“IDPA”)
National Association for the Blind (“NAB”)
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (“CSDS”)
Voice (Voluntary Organization In Interest of Consumer Education)
Consumer Online Foundation
Drishtiviklang Sangh (Association of the Visually Handicapped)
M S Swaminathan Research Foundation
Mahiti (International Open Source Network - India)
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (“TISS”)

It is also supported by the renowned legal scholar and former Vice Chancellor of Delhi University, Professor Upendra Baxi. More details on the organisations, and the designated contact with respects to this review, follow on the next page. We trust that you will find our suggestions useful, and we look forward to clarifying any part of this document, as necessary.