INTRODUCTION

Copyright Protection and Education both are important aspects. These two may sometimes come into conflict for which bringing balance and compatibility is essential. In the present article the compatibility between these two has been analyzed.

Right to Education

Education is regarded as an important source for social and human development. It enables men to gain knowledge and use that knowledge for his development. Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 says that everyone has the right to education. In India, in the year 2002 by the way of amendment in the Constitution Article 21-A was inserted and right to education was conferred with the status of fundamental right.

The text books, other learning materials and e-learning sources are very important sources for education. The authors of such sources wishing for economic return for their efforts become a barrier in the access of education. The costly prices of books and other materials disallows people to get knowledge from such sources.

Copyright Protection in learning materials

An author always expects to have some economical returns for his work. He also wants to protect his work from any unauthorized use through which another person may get benefits. Copyright Laws are laws aiming to protect the original ideas and concept of the author. Article 27 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 says that everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author. Thus protection of copyright can be regarded as a human right. This protection gives the author the right to claim authorship and restrain or claim damages in the case of anything done to his work which will harm the reputations and benefits of the author.[1]

Balance of Interests

The protection of the work of the author may come in conflict with the general public interest because it will mean to control the access of his work. Total prohibition of the use of the new material by the society will adversely affect the intellectual growth of the society, as new creative efforts will be restrained. Therefore, this tension between individual author’s claims (both moral and economic) to control his creative effort and the society’s interest in having access to the fruits of creativity in the larger interest of humanity emerges as the principle of balance of rights in copyright.[2]

Article 27 of this Declaration states:

  • Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
  • Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Thus there is a need to balance the interests of the individual author to protect his work and have economic returns from his work and efforts with the interests of the society to have access to all the educational and scientific materials for educational purposes.

ANALYSIS

Copyright Protection Laws

The Copyright Act, was enacted in the year 1957 which gave the rules for the protection of copyright in India. The Act provided granting of copyright to the creator and also provided for the civil remedies for the infringement of copyright. It also makes the infringement of copyright an offence which is punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to three years and with fine which shall not be less than fifty thousand rupees but which may extend to two lakh rupees.[3]

Limitations and Exceptions under Copyright Law

While the author’s interests are taken care of by the provisions relating to the exclusive rights, both moral and economic, the societal interest is protected in most copyright laws through limitations and exceptions to these rights. These are generally of three categories, viz., limited duration of protection, provision for compulsory licences and allowing certain uses without specific authorization by the owner of copyrights, known as fair use provisions in copyright parlance.[4]

Provisions have been provided in the Act to balance the interests of both. Those provisions are:-

  • In Chapter V – Term of Copyright, Section 22-29 provides for the duration until which these copyrights will be protected by the Act. It provides a period of sixty years[5] after which the copyright will cease to exist and the work will become able to be used by the public.
  • In Chapter VI – Licenses, Section 30-32B deals with licenses which can be granted by the owner on the consideration of some royalty to be paid to the person to whom such license is granted.[6] That period is generally fixed and if not fixed then it is deemed to be five years.[7] Provisions for compulsory license in certain situations have also been provided in which the Appellate Board can order the Registrar of the Copyrights to grant license to a person and for that some compensation must be paid to the owner by the person to whom such license is granted.[8]
  • In Chapter XI - Infringement of Copyright, Section 52 has provided certain acts which will not be deemed to be infringement of copyright.
Fair use

The Act under Section 52 provides some acts which if done will not become infringement of copyright. These acts can generally be said to be acts for fair use or purpose. A list of uses has been provided which if done will not be infringement of copyright but will be the fair use of the work. Some of those acts are[9]:-

  • A fair dealing with any work, not being a computer programme, for the purposes of private or personal use, including research; criticism or review, whether of that work or of any other work; the reporting of current events and current affairs, including the reporting of a          lecture delivered in public.
  • the reading or recitation in public of reasonable extracts from a published literary or dramatic work.
  • the making of not more than three copies of a book (including a pamphlet, sheet of music, map, chart or plan) by or under the direction of the person in charge of a 2 [non-commercial public library] for the use of the library if such book is not available for sale in India.
  • the reproduction, for the purpose of research or private study or with a view to publication, of an unpublished literary, dramatic or musical work kept in a library, museum or other institution to which the public has access.
  • Thus if anyone does such an act which is provided in the Copyright Act not to be infringement of the copyright then such act/use will be termed as fair use which is an exception from the applicability of the laws for infringement of copyright.
Caselaw
The Chancellor, Masters & Scholars of University of Oxford & Ors v. Rameshwari Photocopy Services & Anr.[10]
In this case, the defendant was involved in selling courses packs to the students of Delhi University. These materials were extracted from the textbooks of which the plaintiff was the publisher and had the copyright over it. The teachers of the institutions also prescribed these packs to the students as a study material. The plaintiffs- The Oxford University Press, The Cambridge University Press and the Taylor and Francis Group instituted a suit on the basis of copright infringement by the defendants. They asked for relief in the form of permanent injunction so as to restrain the defendant from copying its publications.
The defendant contended that the textbooks are not affordable by the students for which copying was necessary and it had in no way caused loss in the original price of the book. They also contended that copying of the books comes under the exception as provided in the Section 51 (1) (a) and (h) of the Copyright act 1957.
The interim injunction was granted by the court against the defendant and held that the defendant had no right to copy the book and provide those course packs. The University filed an appeal to the division bench which dismissed the appeal and directed to file application before the single bench.
The Association of Students for Equitable Access to Knowledge (ASEAK) and Society for Promotion of Equitable Access to Knowledge (SPEAK) came forward and approached the High Court as a necessary party to the suit. They contended that the course packs were an effective means to provide the education to all the students on equal basis.
The Single bench held that there was no infringement of copyright by the defendant in the copying of the textbooks as such an act was done on the instruction of the teacher which is an exception as provided under Section 52 (1) (i) of the Act.
Access to education compatible with Copyright Protection
The laws provided for the protection of copyrights in The Copyright Act, 1957 have provided some limitations and exceptions as discussed above. In those conditions the act will not be termed as infringement of copyright. These exceptions have provided opportunity to the people who want to get access to education, get access to the works and publication and also online materials for the fair purpose as discussed above.
Thus the Act tries to bring balance in the interests of the author and of the society. These exceptions as provided in the Act bring a balance in the copyright protection and access to education. 
CONCLUSION
Copyright protection and Access to education both are important aspects in a society. Copyright Protection is for the interest of a particular individual and access to education is in the interest of the society. To create a balance between the two is an important role that is to be played by the laws. The Copyright Act 1947 has very carefully enshrined in it certain exceptions to balance the interests of the individuals with the interests of the society in the intellectual growth of it. In the Delhi Photocopying case[11] the court had widely interpreted the term ‘fair use’ as provided in Section 51 of the Copyright Act to meet the need of the society for intellectual growth. Thus laws and the judiciary play a vital role in bringing the compatibility between copyright protection and access to education.
REFERENCES
  • Usadel P.M., ‘Copyright law and the access to education and knowledge in the digital age’, Maastricht University 35 (2016) : https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl
  • James T.C., ‘Copyright Law of India and the Academic Community’ 9 Journal of Intellectual Property Rights 210 (2004) : docs.manupatra.in
  • The Copyright Act, 1957 (Act 14 of 1957)
  • The Chancellor, Masters & Scholars of University of Oxford & Ors v. Rameshwari Photocopy Services & Anr (2016) 160 DRJ (SN) 678

[1]  Usadel P.M., ‘Copyright law and the access to education and knowledge in the digital age’, Maastricht University 35 (2016)  available at: https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl (last visited on May 26, 2020)

[2] James T.C., ‘Copyright Law of India and the Academic Community’ 9  Journal of Intellectual Property Rights 210 (2004)  available at: docs.manupatra.in/newsline/articles/Upload/9EDCD810-D735-4099-8028-640F82743565.pdf (last visited on, May 26, 2020)

[3] Section 63,  The Copyright Act, 1957 (Act 14 of 1957)

[4] James T.C., ‘Copyright Law of India and the Academic Community’ 9  Journal of Intellectual Property Rights 210 (2004)  available at: docs.manupatra.in (last visited on May 26, 2020)

[5] Section 22, The Copyright Act, 1957 (Act 14 of 1957)

[6] Section 30, The Copyright Act, 1957 (Act 14 of 1957)

[7] Section 30(A) The Copyright Act, 1957 (Act 14 of 1957) ; Section 19, The Copyright Act, 1957 (Act 14 of 1957)

[8] Section 31, The Copyright Act, 1957 (Act 14 of 1957)

[9] Section 52, The Copyright Act, 1957 (Act 14 of 1957)

[10] (2016) 160 DRJ (SN) 678

[11] The Chancellor, Masters & Scholars of University of Oxford & Ors v. Rameshwari Photocopy Services & Anr (2016) 160 DRJ (SN) 678

About the Author: This Legal Article is prepared by Ms. Payal Jain, law student at Prestige Institute of Management & Research, Indore and was an intern at MyLawman. She can be reached at payaljakheria1107@gmail.com. 

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