Foreign publishers move HC to withdraw suit against xerox shop

Foreign publishers today moved the Delhi High Court seeking withdrawal of their lawsuit against a Delhi University-based photocopy shop.
The counsel for publishers -- Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press (UK), Taylor and Francis Group (UK) and Taylor and Francis Books India Pvt Ltd's -- said that they have filed the application.
The application has not yet been listed, they said.
The publishers said taht they have decided to withdraw the case against Rameshwari Photocopy for selling photocopies of the parts of their books to students as they believe that it is not correct to engage in a legal battle with their stakeholders, that is educational institutions.

The publishers, in a joint statement, said, "We have taken a considered decision not to pursue the Delhi University Photocopy shop case further in the courts and will today be filing an application...To withdraw as plaintiffs.
"In addition, we will not be submitting an appeal to the Supreme Court of India, following the Delhi High Court's division bench December 9, 2016 judgement."

The division bench in its verdict had not stopped the shop from selling photocopies of textbooks published by leading foreign publishers but gave them partial relief by restoring their lawsuit which was dismissed by a single judge.
It had said that there are triable issues involved in the lawsuit seeking to restrain the shop in the varsity campus from selling photocopies of textbooks.

The bench had disposed of the appeal filed by publishers while "setting aside the impugned judgment and decree holding that no triable issue on fact arises".
The publishers had approached the division bench against the single judge order which had allowed the shop to sell photocopies of their textbooks saying copyright in literary works does not confer "absolute ownership" to the authors.
Rameshwari photocopy service runs a shop in the precincts of Delhi School of Economics in the university campus.