What The DU Photocopy Row Really Makes Apparent

Rameshwari Photocopies is one of the many shops in Delhi University’s North Campus where a crowd of students and faculty members alike can be found with stacks of papers. In 2012, several publishing houses including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and Taylor & Francis International filed a copyright suit against Rameshwari Photocopies saying that the material photocopied as a part of the course packs for university syllabus is an infringement of copyrights and that they were suffering huge financial losses as students had stopped buying their text books. Dharampal Singh, the owner of the shop beside Delhi School of Economics Canteen, says it was a test Case. If the publishing houses had won here, it would have been applied to numerous other photocopy hubs too. Academicians and students saw this as a move as restricting free dissemination of knowledge, while the publishers contested that academic writing is also for profit-motive. In December 2016, the Delhi High Court ruled against the publishing houses and said that photocopying of the academic material is allowed if the end of it is teaching or learning, and not commercial. Recently, all the publishing houses decided to withdraw the case.

This has been seen as a huge victory for the student and the academic community. Shubham Pandey, a student of Delhi School of Economics said “there aren’t enough libraries in the campus. Usually, only extracts are recommended to us by the teachers. One copy in the college library doesn’t suffice, so photocopying is a great help that way.” On this case and what impact it would have had on the student community if publishing houses have had their way, he said “I know students who can’t afford even the photocopies, let alone the original expensive books.”

Singh, who owns and runs the shop with his staff of four-to-six members, said that he heaved a sigh of relief after years of legal battle. The shop suffered huge financial losses, but he grew more and more optimistic when student and teacher’s organizations like ASEAK (Association of Students for Equitable Access to Knowledge) and SPEAK came out actively in their support. He says that the photocopy culture is crucial to the survival of many rare books: “Students and Faculty members come to us with their needs of some chapters or even whole books that are 50-60 years old. Many of them are either out of print or the publication houses have been closed down. But research scholars have their requirements.” On the question of losses suffered by publishers, he argued that they don’t take interests of students into account. When researchers ask for rare books that are often out of print from the top publishing houses, it costs them huge sum of money. Dharampal Singh said that this was exploitation.

University produces the research scholars who then supply the resources to be published by the publication houses. While the publisher had said that photocopying deprives the academic community including researchers who contribute their works of the share of the profit, the academicians have different ideas about it. Many of the authors such as Nivedita Menon spoke in favor of the students. They say that knowledge resources like public or even University Libraries in India are not capable of meeting the demands of the need of the students who come from various backgrounds, photocopying of the material is essential. Another student from Delhi School of Economics said that it would have been regressive if the publishers had restricted dissemination of research to the only readership who could have contributed to their profit. Some academics also suggested a close collaboration between the students and publishers that looks beyond huge profits. For example, the course books of English Literature at undergraduate levels are produced at fairly affordable prices by various publishers against the expensive titles from international publication houses.

Academicians and publishing Houses need to find out arrangements that cater to such population by bringing out student editions that can profit both sides. International publishers do contribute in production of quality research material, and with the re-thinking of copyright laws as well as the attention given to availability of such resources is developing countries like India. Students have pointed out a huge gap in the demand and the stock in the Libraries, and therefore, this collaboration is much needed.