The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford v. Rameshwari Photocopy Services

Facts

• Rameshwari Photocopy Services operated a licensed photocopy shop within the premises of the Delhi School of Economics (part of Delhi University)
• The shop prepared "course packs" for students: compilations of photocopied excerpts from prescribed textbooks, based on reading lists provided by professors
• Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Taylor & Francis sued for copyright infringement
• The course packs contained substantial portions (individual chapters) from copyrighted academic texts
• The publishers argued that systematic commercial photocopying for profit cannot constitute fair dealing
• Delhi University intervened arguing that the photocopying was for educational instruction

Issues

1. Whether preparation of course packs by a commercial photocopy shop for university students constitutes infringement under S.51 of the Copyright Act, 1957
2. Whether S.52(1)(i) ("reproduction by a teacher or pupil in the course of instruction") covers photocopying done through a commercial agent on behalf of teachers/students

Held

• S.52(1)(i) is a broad educational exception not limited by the identity of the person operating the photocopier
• The purpose of the copying (instruction) determines the exception, not the commercial nature of the intermediary
• Copyright must yield to the right to education; India's copyright law deliberately provides wider educational exceptions than many Western jurisdictions
• The course pack is an instrumentality of instruction prescribed by the teacher; its preparation is "in the course of instruction"

Ratio Decidendi

Section 52(1)(i) of the Copyright Act provides a broad educational exception. The reproduction of copyrighted works for the purpose of instructional use by teachers and students is not infringement, even when the physical act of reproduction is performed by a commercial photocopy service acting as an agent of the educational institution. The test is the purpose of reproduction (educational instruction), not the identity or commercial nature of the reproducer.