Global publishers decide to end tussle with DU on photocopied course packs

OUP, Cambridge University Press, Taylor & Francis withdrew from an ongoing lawsuit against DU

In an interesting turnaround of events, international publishers Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and Taylor & Francis issued a joint press statement on Thursday, stating their decision to withdraw from an ongoing lawsuit against the Delhi University and the Rameshwari Photocopy Shop for endorsing and selling photocopied course packs of their textbooks.

The case, which has gained national attention as a test case for copyright violations in the education sector made several rounds of the Delhi High Court, first before a single judge, who ruled in favour of the university and its students and held that the photocopying of textbooks did not amount to infringement under the Copyright Act 1957. The matter then came before a division bench, with eventually returned the over four-and-a-half year old suit back to the single bench for reconsideration.

In doing so, the division bench shifted the focus of the case to include critical considerations on issues of content and of their relevance to the university's curriculum, before an eventual decision could be made. However, it had allowed the photocopy shop to continue selling the course packs till the time a final decision on these could be made.

During the course of arguments before the various judges, the publishers had implored the benches to protect their copyrights, which they claimed were critical to their business and the violations of which were causing huge financial losses through reduced sales. The university has taken the stand that the Copyright Act permitted students and educational institutions to copy portions from any academic work for the purposes of research and the promotion of education.

"We have taken a considered decision not to pursue the Delhi University Photocopy shop case further in the courts and will today (Thursday) be filing an application with the Delhi High Court to withdraw as plaintiffs. In addition, we will not be submitting an appeal to the Supreme Court of India, following the Delhi High Court Division Bench appeal decision of December 9, 2016" said the three publishers in their joint statement.

The publishers' statement continues to acknowledge the important role that course packs play in the education of students and pledged support to enable equitable access to knowledge. "We look forward to working even more closely with academic institutions, teachers and students to understand and address their needs, while also ensuring that all those who contribute to and improve India's education system- including authors and publishers- continue to do so for the long term," the press statement added.