Merry Copyright to you ? A jingle for the Oxford v. Rameshwari Case ...

A group of publishers (Oxford and Cambridge University Press and Francis & Taylor) have sued Delhi University & its agent, Rameshwari Photocopy Service for compiling short extracts from different textbooks into a digest for students to use as part of their study (commonly referred to as ?course packs?).

Naturally, students, teachers and even authors of these text books have protested this aggressive law suit, particularly since this is perfectly acceptable under the Indian Copyright Act, which allows for ?fair use? and permits any reproduction of copyrighted works, so long as it is done in the course of educational instruction.

This is not mala fide use, nor is anyone selling these ?course packs? for profit. Publishers going after students, many of them from economically disadvantaged communities, despite the high cost of textbooks, really begs the question ? whither our constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right to education?

In this festive Christmas season of giving and sharing, one really wonders what is the point of all this copyright aggression. Do we want these poor students to buy entire textbooks for the sake of a few pages? Or perhaps access to knowledge is not a concern at all, when there is money to be made in the name of copyright.

The publishers have, using their legal might, secured a temporary victory with a recent Delhi High Court order restraining Delhi University and the photocopier from making and distributing ANY course-packs! Meanwhile, students have nowhere to go and are struggling to access very basic material required for exam preparations that are just round the corner.

?Pay up, pay up, pay up? seems to be the publishers? mantra. But let?s sing along and battle this to the finish in true Christmas spirit. And lets hope that the new year brings in good cheer, as the Delhi High Court reverses the restraining order and rules in favour of students.

Share this with your friends, teachers, colleagues and others so everyone is made aware of this heinous injustice and we can all fight together to right this copy-wrong. For more information on this unfortunate law suit, see the well known Indian IP blog, SpicyIP (http://spicyipindia.blogspot.in/search/label/D.U.%20Photocopy%20Case) which has been tracking these legal proceedings.

CREDITS:

Video by Sudarshan Suresh

Music and Sound Effects by John Daniel

Lyrics: A friendly Santa, well versed in law!

Final Mastering done in Reub-Arc Studio, Bangalore.

LYRICS:

Dashing to the court
In a mighty fancy sleigh
O?er the case we gloat
Laughing all the way

A bunch of copyright crooks
Been rippin? off our books
What fun it is to sue this chain
In a copyright case again

Copyright? copyright?.. copyright all the way..
Oh what fun it is to make these needy students pay..
Copyright? copyright? copyright all the way..
Oh what fun it is to make these needy students pay..

Books are not so cheap
And course packs are for keeps
Why then do we sue?
When our authors don?t want to..

Why must we be right?
It?s all about the fright
These students should just pay?
And throw their case away..

Copyright? copyright?.. copyright all the way..
Oh what fun it is to make these needy students pay..
Copyright?. copyright?. copyright all the way..
Oh what fun it is to make these needy students pay..

Source: http://kafila.org/2012/12/27/merry-copyright-to-you-a-jingle-for-the-oxford-v-rameshwari-case/

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