Case Comment: The Chancellor, Masters & Scholars Of The University Of Oxford & Ors. V. Rameshwari Photocopy Services & ANR. 2016
- IJLLR Journal
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Rishabh Lalwani, BBA LLB, UPES
CITATION: 2016 SCC OnLine Del 5128
BENCH: Pradeep Nandrajog, Yogesh Khanna
DATE OF JUDGEMENT: 9 December, 2016
Introduction
The decision in The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford v Rameshwari Photocopy Services is one of the most significant pronouncements in modern Indian copyright jurisprudence. Commonly known as the Delhi University Photocopy Case, the dispute addressed whether the reproduction of copyrighted academic materials through photocopied course packs constitutes copyright infringement under Indian law. The controversy generated intense legal, academic, and public debate because it raised profound questions about the relationship between intellectual property rights and the accessibility of education in a developing society.
Copyright law operates on the premise that authors and publishers require economic incentives to produce creative and scholarly works. Academic publishers argue that without robust protection, the financial model sustaining scholarly research would collapse. According to data published by the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers, the global academic publishing market was valued at approximately USD 25.7 billion in 2017, reflecting the enormous commercial interests at stake in any dilution of copyright protection2.At the same time, copyright systems recognize that certain socially beneficial uses of protected material must remain permissible. A 2012 study by the World Intellectual Property Organization found that over 149 countries had enacted some form of educational exception to copyright, reflecting an international consensus that unconstrained protection would impede access to knowledge.
