An Introduction To Fair Use and Copyright Management of Universities in India

Contents: Foreword. Preface. 1. Introduction to copyright and fair use. 2. Concept of fair use. 3. Copyright and Universities. 4. (Un) Fair use in the Universities in India. 5. Designing a copyright management policy for universities. 6.Fair use in SAARC countries. 7. Fair use guidelines. Annexures. References. Index. 

Creativity and creative works are inseparable. Copyright is both a positive as well as a negative right. It facilitates further creations by the society on one hand and prevents others to use of creative works beyond a certain level on the other. World social Science Report 2016 published by the United Nations clearly emphasises on the prevalence of knowledge inequality in our society. This inequality is inevitable if we do not practise fair use of our knowledge. It not only hinders us to become a knowledge society at large but also seriously interferes with our basic mission of higher education, particularly in our universities. Advancement of learning and promotion of scholarship in higher education in developing countries like India clearly depends on effective use of the pre-existing copyrighted works. Even in the recent landmark judgement in September 2016, Delhi High Court also attested and upheld that view.

This book identified the genesis and provisions of fair use in the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 with an international flavor. Fair use has always been considered as a grey area by legal experts but this title has demonstrated that it can also act as an opportunity administering a safety valve to bring balance in the quest of interpretive certainty needed for the society for further advancement to knowledge over the existing ones. It goes on to deeper understanding of fair use with a how to determine format to keep one on the right side of the law and analyse plethora of national and international case studies. Academic community in a number of universities has been studied investigating their awareness regarding fair use of copyrighted resources which depicted a disturbing trend. This study calls for a balanced and well-knot copyright management policy.