TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2007 (12) TMI 466
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....pellant publishes all reportable judgments along with non-reportable judgments of the Supreme Court of India. Yet another category included in SCC is short judgments, orders, practice directions and record of proceedings. The law report SCC was commenced in the year 1969 and has been in continuous publication ever since. The name Supreme Court Cases has been coined by the appellants and they have been using the same continuously, exclusively and extensively in relation to the law reports published by them. For the purpose of publishing the judgments, orders and proceedings of the Supreme Court, the copies of judgments, orders and proceedings are procured from the office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of India. After the initial procurement of the judgments, orders and proceedings for publication, the appellants make copy- editing wherein the judgments, orders and record of proceedings procured, which is the raw source, are copy- edited by a team of assistant staff and various inputs are put in the judgments and orders to make them user friendly by making an addition of cross-references, standardization or formatting of the text, paragraph numbering, verification and by putti....
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....ong with and including the style and formatting, the copy-editing paragraph numbers, footnote numbers, cross- references, etc.; and such acts of the defendant- respondents constitute infringement of the plaintiff- appellants exclusive right to the same. 4. The plaintiff-appellants herein moved the Court for temporary injunction by filing applications in Suit No.758/2000 against Spectrum Business Support Ltd. and in Suit No. 624/2000 against Regent Data Tech Pvt. Ltd. before a learned Single Judge of the High Court of Delhi. The interim orders of injunction were passed in the suits from time to time. However, the defendant-respondents filed application for vacation of the stay order. By a common judgment dated 17.1.2001, the Single Judge of the High Court dismissed the appellants applications for interim injunction and allowed the respondents application for vacation of stay. However, before the Single Judge, the respondents conceded that the appellants have copyright in the headnotes and as such they undertook not to copy these headnotes in their CD-ROMs. 5. Aggrieved by the said order dated 17.1.2001 refusing to grant interim injunction, the appellants preferred appeals befo....
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....he considered opinion of the Division Bench that no person can claim copyright in the text of the judgment by merely putting certain inputs to make it user friendly. The appellants cannot claim copyright in the judgment of the Court. But it has been held by the Court that reading the judgment and searching the important portions thereof and collecting sentences from various places for the purposes of making headnotes would involve labour and skill; and that there is originality and creativity in preparation of the headnotes, but not when they are verbatim extracts from the judgment and, therefore, there would be copyright in the headnotes to the judgments prepared by the appellants. So far as footnotes and editorial notes are concerned, it cannot be denied that these are the publisher s own creations and based on publisher s own research and thus will have a copyright of the appellants. The Division Bench modified the judgment of the Single Judge by directing the respondents that they shall be entitled to sell their CD-ROMs with the text of the judgments of the Supreme Court along with there own headnotes, editorial notes, if any, which should not in any way be copy of the headnote....
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....tion given in the text and cross- citations separated by : Raw text obtained from Registry: SCC Page: Corresponding citations from SCC Page: R. Chitralakha and Anr. v. State of Mysore & Ors. 1964 (6) SCR 368 at 388 and Triloki Nath v. J.& K State 1969 (1) SCR 103 at 105 and K.C. Vasanth Kumar v. Karnataka 1985 Supp. (1) SCR 352 R. Chitralakha v. State of Mysore and Triloki Nath v. State of J & K (II) and K. C. Vasanth Kumar v. State of Karnataka. (1964) 6 SCR 368, 388: AIR 1964 SC 1823 (1969) 1 SCR 103, 105: AIR 1969 SC 1: (1970) 1 LLJ 1985 Supp SCC 714: 1985 Supp 1 SCR b. FCR, IA, Bom LR citations added in addition to the AIR citation given in raw text and cross- citations separated by : Raw text obtained from Registry: SCC Page: Corresponding citations from SCC Page: Dr Hori Ram Singh vs. Emperor (AIR 1938 FC 43), Gokulchand Dwarkadas Morarka vs. The King (AIR 1948 PC 82), Shreekantiah Ramayya Munipalli vs. State of Bombay (AIR 1955 SC 287) Hori Ram Singh (Dr) v. Emperor, Gokulchand Dwarkadas Morarka v. R.,Shreekantiah Ramayya Munipalli v. State of Bombay. AIR 1939 FC 43: 1939 FCR 159 AIR 1948 PC 82: 75 IA 30 AIR 1955 SC 287: 57 Bom LR 632 2. (a) Names ....
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....ndent was confiscated. 140. In Ratan Singh case the High Court of Madhya Pradesh finding certain illegalities in the prosecution relating to setting aside 141. In Mohammed case, the observations of the Kerela High Court that if a clear illegality or injustice comes to the notice of the High Court 142. In the third case relied on by Justice M.K. Chawla, namely, Range Forest Officer case a vehicle belonging to the respondent was confiscated. * The changes have been underlined. 4. Precise references to quoted matter are provided For example, a. The exact page and paragraph number as in the original case source is inserted. Raw text obtained from Registry: SCC Page: In Balaji it is stated: It seems fairly clear that the backward classes of citizens for whom special provision After referring to the provisions of Articles 338(3), 340 (1), 341 and 342, the Court proceeded to hold as follows: It would thus be seen that this provision contemplates that some Backward Classes may by the Presidential order be included In Balaji it is stated: (SCR p. 458) It seems fairly clear that the backward classes of citizens for whom special provision After ref....
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....ts of, territorial waters and says: 3. Sovereignty over, and limits of, territorial waters.-(1) The sovereignty of India extends and has always extended to the territorial waters of India (hereinafter referred to as the territorial waters) and to the seabed and subsoil underlying, and the air space over such waters. It says: (1) All lands, minerals and other things of value underlying the ocean within the territorial waters, or the continental shelf, or the exclusive economic zone, of India shall vest in the Union and be held for the purpose of the Union. It says: 297. Things of value within territorial waters or continental shelf and resources of the exclusive economic zone to vest in the Union.- (1) All lands, minerals and other things of value underlying the ocean within the territorial waters, or the continental shelf, or the exclusive economic zone, of India shall vest in the Union and be held for the purpose of the Union. That article reads as under: 19(1) All citizens shall have the right That Article reads as under: 19. Protection of certain rights regarding freedom of speech, etc.- (1) All citizens shall have the right ....
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..... (1) (i) words and expressions used but not defined in this Act and defined in the Code shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Code Indian Penal Code by the following words in clause y of Section 2 of the Code: 2. (y) words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the Indian Penal Code 7. Phrases like concurring , partly concurring , partly dissenting , dissenting , supplementing , majority expressing no opinion etc. are added to the original text. For example, Words like partly dissenting and partly concurring have been added as per the application of Editor s judgement regarding the opinions expressed by the Judges. Raw text obtained from Registry: SCC Page: D.P. Wadhwa J I agree that the appeal be dismissed. However, I D. P. WADHWA, J.- (partly concurring) I agree that the appeal be dismissed. However, I S.C. AGRAWAL J. Special leave granted. AGRAWAL, J. (partly dissenting) Special leave granted. KOSHAL, J. On a perusal of the judgment prepared by my learned brother, Krishna Iyer, J., I agree respectfully with findings (2) to (11), (13) and (14) enumerated by him Koshal, J. (partly dissenting) On a p....
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....nt and hangover of the unjust past. 833. A similar view was expressed in Vasanth Kumar by Chinnappa Reddy, J. The learned Judge said (SCC p. 739, para 36) [T]he mere securing of high marks at an examination may not necessarily mark out a good administrator. MATTER ADDED UPON VERIFICATION 10. Internal referenceing: Use of paragaraph numbering for internal referencing within a judgment. For example, Internal paragraph numbering has been added after uniform paragraph numbering have been provided to the multiple judgments. Para 86, 85, 89, 90, 91 and 92 have been changed respectively to Paras 790-793, 794 and 797, 798, 799, 800 and 801 to 803. Raw text obtained from Registry: SCC Page: (d) Creamy layer can be, and must be excluded. (Para 86) (e) It is not correct to say that the backward class, social, educational and economic backwardness are closely inter-twined in the Indian context. (Para 85) (f) The adequacy of representation of a particular class in the services under the State is a matter within the subjective satisfaction of the appropriate Government. The judicial scrutiny in that behalf is the same as in other matters within the subjective ....
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....and completely substitute the initial order of assessment. It is, therefore, clear that when and said: reassessment proceedings cannot be contained only to such income which has escaped assessment, but the entire assessment and said: (p. 503) [R]eassessment proceedings cannot be confined only to such income which has escaped assessment, but the entire assessment Five Judges: the Constitution is the fundamental law of the land and it is wholly unnecessary to provide in any law made by the legislature that anything done in disregard of the Constitution is prohibited. Such a prohibition is to be read in every enactment. [T]he Constitution is the fundamental law of the land and it is wholly unnecessary to provide in any law made by the legislature that anything done in disregard of the Constitution is prohibited. Such a prohibition is to be read in every enactment. (emphasis supplied) 12. Ellipsis is added to indicate breaks in quoted extract. For example, Raw text obtained from Registry: SCC Page: , he has said that the word caste appearing after scheduled is really a misnomer and has been used only for the purpose of identifying this 165), he....
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....which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life. The inputs of efficiency include a sense of belonging and of accountability (not pejoratively used) if its composition takes in also the weaker segments of we, the people of India. The inputs of efficiency include a sense of belonging and of accountability which springs in the bosom of the bureaucracy (not pejoratively used) if its composition takes in also the weaker segments of We, the people of India . It is no doubt true that the Act was amended by U.P. Act 26 of 1975 which came into force on August 18, 1975 taking away the power of the Director to make an appointment under Section 16 F (4) of the Act in the case of minority institutions. The amending Act did not, however, provide proceedings under Section 16 F of the Act. It is no doubt true that the Act was amended by U.P. Act 26 of 1975 which came into force on August 18, 1975 taking away the power of the Director to make an appointment under Section 16-F(4) of the Act in the case of minority institutions. The amending Act did not, however, provide expressly that the amendment in question would ap....
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....e-versa. a1. Similarly, clause has been changed to sub- clause. Raw text obtained from Registry: SCC Page: (c) It is not necessary for a class to be designated as a backward class that it is situated similarly to the Schedule Castes/Tribes. (Paras 87 and 88) (d) Creamy layer can be, and must be excluded. (Para. 86) (e) It is not correct to say that the backward class of citizen contemplated in Article 16 (4) is the same as the socially and educationally backward classes referred to in Article 15(4). It is much wider. The accent in Article 16(4) is on social backwardness. Of course, social, educational and economic backwardness are closely inter-twined in the Indian context. (c) It is not correct to say that the backward class of citizen contemplated in Article 16 (4) is the same as the socially and educationally backward classes referred to in Article 15(4). It is much wider. The accent in Article 16(4) is on social backwardness. Of course, social, educational and economic backwardness are closely inter-twined in the Indian context. (Paras 786- 789) (d) Creamy Layer can be, and must be excluded. (790- 793) (e) It is not necessary for a class to be desi....
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....adesh High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution. passed by Madhya Pradesh High Court respectively in Miscellaneous Petitions Nos. 1371, 1980 and 2315 of 1992. All the said miscellaneous petitions were filed before the Madhya Pradesh High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution * The changes have been underlined. (SCC HAS UNIQUE STYLE) 18. There are certain norms followed at SCC for giving case names. For example, Raw text obtained from Registry: SCC Page: Budh Prakash Jai Prakash v. Sales Tax Officer, Kanpur [1952 A.L.J. 332] Budh Prakash Jai Prakash v. STO Indian Aluminium Cables Limited vs. State of Haryana Indian Aluminium Cables Ltd. v. State of Haryana Trilok Nath Tiku & Another v. State of Jammu & Kashmir and Others Triloki Nath Tiku v. State of J & K (I) R. Chitralekha and Anr. v. State of Mysore & Ors. 1964 (6) SCR 368 at 388 and Triloki Nath v. J & K State 1969 (1) SCR 103 at 105 and K.C. Vasanth Kumar v. Karnataka 1985 Supp. (1) SCR R. Chitralekha v. State of Mysore and Triloki Nath v. State of J & K (II) and K.C. Vasanth Kumar v. State of Karnataka Minor P. Rajendran V. State of Madras & Ors. 1968 (2) SCR 786 at 790 P.....
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....tomobile accessories tax. (a) No refund shall be made of any amount paid by or collected from any manufacturer, producer, or importer in respect Section 3, which is the charging Section, reads:- 3. Duties specified in the Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 to be levied. (1) There shall be levied and collected in such manner as may be prescribed duties 175. Section 3, which is the charging section, reads: 3. Duties specified in the Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 to be levied. - (1) There shall be levied and collected in such manner as may be prescribed duties 21. Compressing of unquoted referends and use of *** for such parts. Raw text obtained from Registry: SCC Page: six months , the words five years were substituted. Explanation (ii) relevant date- means, (a) in the case of excisable goods on which duty of excise has not been levied or paid or has been short- levied or short-paid (c) in any other case, the date on which the duty is to be paid under this Act or the rules made thereunder; six months , the words five years were substituted. Explanation.-- (1)-(2) * * * (3) (i) * * *....
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....ullest extent, what would really happen is, we shall be completely destroying the first proposition upon which we are all agreed, namely, that there shall be in an equality of opportunity . I am sure they will agree that unless you use some such qualifying 23. Removal of abbreviations: sec., R. and cl. are substituted respectively with Section , Rule or clause . Raw text obtained from Registry: SCC Page: Having regard to the object and language of s. 34 of the I.T. Act, 1922, s. 147 of the I.T. Act, 1961, and s. 8 of the Surtax Act, 1964, the reopening of an assessment can only be for the benefit of the Revenue subject to one exception, Having regard to the object and language of Section 34 of the I.T. Act, 1922, Section 147 of the I.T. Act, 1961, and Section 8 of the Surtax Act, 1964, the reopening of an assessment can only be for the benefit of the Revenue subject to one exception, it would not be in accordance either with cl. (1) of Art. 15 or cl. (2) of Art. 29 to require the consideration of the castes of persons to be borne in mind for determining what are socially and educationally backward classes. It is true that cl. (4) of Art. 15 contains a non-obstante cl....
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....ers. The appellant says that almost seventy percent of its sales are to parties other than State Transport Undertakings S.T.Us. The sales to S.T.Us., are in the region of thirty percent of its production. The R.S.Os., the appellant says, contact the local purchasers and the S.T.Us., book the order and also deliver the vehicles to them pursuant to sales effected by them. The appellant always keeps the R.S.Os. well stocked having regard to their requirements. By way of illustration, it is stated, the R.S.O. at Hyderabad The appellant says that each of these RSOs maintains an office, a stock yard and other necessary paraphernalia for receiving, stocking, repairing and delivering motor vehicles to their customers. The appellant says almost seventy per cent of its sales are parties other than State Transport Undertakings (STUs). The sales to STUs are in the region of thirty per cent of its production. The RSOs, the appellant says, contact the local purchasers and the STUs book the orders and also deliver the vehicles to them pursuant to sales effected by them. The appellant always keeps the RSOs well stocked having regard to their requirements. By way of illustration, it is stated, t....
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....f commercial viability, and commercial consequences and implications. 9. The development of copyright law in India is closely associated with the British copyright law. Statute of Anne, the first Copyright Act in England, was passed in 17th century which provided that the author of any book already printed will have the sole right of printing such book for a term mentioned therein. Thereafter, came the Act of 1814, and then the Act of 1842 which repealed the two earlier Acts of 1709 and 1814. The Copyright Act of 1911 in England had codified and consolidated the various earlier Copyright Acts on different works. Then came the Copyright Act of 1956. In India, the first Copyright Act was passed in 1914. This was nothing but a copy of the Copyright Act of 1911 of United Kingdom with suitable modifications to make it applicable to the then British India. The Copyright Act of 1957, which is the current statute, has followed and adopted the principles and provisions contained in the U.K. Act of 1956 along with introduction of many new provisions. Then came the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1983 which made a number of amendments to the Act of 1957 and the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1984 w....
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....omputer databases; xxx xxx xxx (y) "work" means any of the following works, namely:- (i) a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work; (ii) a cinematograph film; (iii) a sound recording; 13. Works in which copyright subsists. - (1) Subject to the provisions of this section and the other provisions of this Act, copyright shall subsist throughout India in the following classes of works, that is to say, - (a) original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works; (b) cinematograph films; and (c) sound recording, (2) Copyright shall not subsist in any work specified in sub-section (1), other than a work to which the provisions of section 40 or section 41, apply, unless - (i) in the case of a published work, the work is first published in India, or where the work is first published outside India, the author is at the date of such publication, or in a case where the author was dead at that date, was at the time of his death, a citizen of India; (ii) in the case of an unpublished work other than a work of architecture, the author is at the date of the making of the work a citizen of India or domiciled in India; and (iii) in the case of a work of architecture....
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....bsp; xxx (iv) any judgment or order of a Court, Tribunal or other judicial authority, unless the reproduction or publication of such judgment or order is prohibited by the Court, the Tribunal or other judicial authority, as the case may be; xxx xxx xxx 13. Subject to the provisions of Section 13 and the other provisions of the Act, there shall be a copyright throughout India in original literary work, dramatic, musical and artistic works, cinematograph films and sound recording, subject to the exceptions provided in sub- sections (2) and (3) of Section 13. For copyright protection, all literary works have to be original as per Section 13 of the Act. Broadly speaking, there would be two classes of literary works : (a) primary or prior works: These are the literary works not based on existing subject- matter and, therefore, would be called primary or prior works; and (b) secondary or derivative works: These are literary works based on existing subject-matter. Since such works are based on existing subject-....
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....udgment takes the colour of original judgment having a copyright therein of its publisher. 14. In many cases, a work is derived from an existing work. Whether in such a derivative work, a new copyright work is created, will depend on various factors, and would one of them be only skill, capital and labour expended upon it to qualify for copyright protection in a derivative literary work created from the pre-existing material in the public domain, and the required exercise of independent skill, labour and capital in its creation by the author would qualify him for the copyright protection in the derivative work. Or would it be the creativity in a derivative work in which the final position will depend upon the amount and value of the corrections and improvements, the independent skill & labour, and the creativity in the end-product is such as to create a new copyright work to make the creator of the derivative work the author of it; and if not, there will be no new copyright work and then the original author will remain the author of the original work and the creator of the derivative work will have been the author of the alterations or the inputs put therein, for their nature wi....
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....s created by them by independent expenditure of skill, labour and capital. To buttress his submissions, the learned senior counsel placed reliance on various foreign judgments and judgments of the Indian High Courts which are considered hereinafter. 16. Ladbroke (Football) Ltd. v. Willim Hill (Football) Ltd., [1964] 1 WLR 273 (HL), is a case where the concept of originality was considered on the basis of skill, judgment and/or labour in the context of compilation. Since 1951 the respondents, who were well- known bookmakers, had sent their customers each week fixed odds football betting coupons arranged in a certain general form. In 1959 the appellants, who were also bookmakers, started sending out coupons closely resembling the respondents coupons. A coupon was a sheet of paper on which were printed several lists of forthcoming matches. Beside each list were columns of squares on which the punter could indicate his forecast of the result of each match. Some of the lists included all the matches to be played; others included only a selection of them. The bets varied in character. A great variety of bets was offered and the odds offered differed widely from 5-2 to 20,000-1. The re....
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....ght, but only that the work should not be copied but should originate from the author. In deciding, therefore, whether a work in the nature of a compilation is original, it is wrong to consider individual parts of it apart from the whole. For many compilations have nothing original in their parts, yet the sum total of the compilation may be original. In such cases the courts have looked to see whether the compilation of the unoriginal material called for work or skill or expense. If it did, it is entitled to be considered original and to be protected against those who wish to steal the fruits of the work or skill or expense by copying it without taking the trouble to compile it themselves. In each case, it is a question of degree whether the labour or skill or ingenuity or expense involved in the compilation is sufficient to warrant a claim to originality in a compilation. 17. While considering the question whether the copyright protection is available to the work created as a whole or the fragment of the work would be considered piecemeal and individually apart from the whole, the House of Lords said as under: . One test may be whether the part which he has taken is no....
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....y s speech, and to any other newspaper and book to publish that report; but it is a sound principle that a man shall not avail himself of another s skill, labour and expense by copying the written product thereof; and copyright has nothing to do with the originality or the literary merits of the author or composer. It may exist in the information given by a street dictionary. If a person chooses to compose and write a volume devoid of the faintest spark of literary or any other merit, there is no legal reason why he should not, if he desires, become the first publisher of it and register his copyright, worthless and insignificant as it would be. 19. In the case of Designers Guild Ltd. v. Russell Williams (Textiles) Ltd., [2000] 1 WLR 2416 (HL), the plaintiff brought proceedings claiming that the defendant had infringed the plaintiff s copyright by copying one of its fabric designs, i.e. for the fabric design Ixia. The infringement of which the plaintiff complained was that for the purpose of creating its own design Marguerite by the defendant. The defendant had copied a substantial part of Ixia. There were mainly two main issues at the trial. First, what, if anything had the des....
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....hor. 21. In Kelly v. Morris, (1866) LR 1 Eq. 697, School of thought propounded is that, at least in respect of compilations, only time and expenses are necessary which is industrious collection . The plaintiff was the owner and publisher of the first directory. The defendant came out with another directory. The plaintiff sought an injunction against the defendant to restrain the publication of the defendant s directory on the allegations that the defendant was guilty of appropriating the information contained in the plaintiff s directory and obtained the benefit of many years of incessant labour and expense. The defendant, on the other hand, contended that there had been no unfair or improper use of the plaintiff s work. Information which was given in the plaintiff s directory was entitled to be used and adopted as long as he did not servilely copy it. The defendant had bestowed his independent time, labour and expense on the matter and thus had in no way infringed the copyright of the plaintiff. Granting injunction, the Court held that in the case of a directory when there are certain common objects of information which must, if described correctly, be described in the same ....
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.... that the plaintiffs compiled their book with considerable labour from various sources and digested and arranged the matter taken by them from other authors. The defendant instead of taking the pains of searching into all the common sources and obtaining his subject matter from them, obtained the subject matter from the plaintiffs book and availed himself of the labour of the plaintiffs and adopted their arrangement and subject matter and, thus, such a use of plaintiffs book could not be regarded as legitimate. It was held that a person whose work is protected by copyright, if he has collected the material with considerable labour, compiled from various sources of work in itself not original, but which he has digested and arranged, the defendant could not be permitted to compile his work of like description, instead of taking the pains of searching into all the common sources and obtaining the subject-matter from them and to adopt his arrangement with a slight degree of colourable variation thereby saving pains and labour which the plaintiff has employed. The act of the defendant would be illegitimate use. The Court held that no one is entitled to avail himself of the previous labo....
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....hat their picture was an independent production and that the appellant had not acquired copyright in the picture and the subject dealt with in that picture was a common subject, in which no copyright could be acquired by anyone. The Court held that in order to obtain copyright production for literary, domestic, musical and artistic works, the subject dealt with need not to be original, nor the ideas expressed be something novel. What is required is the expenditure of original skill or labour in execution and not originality of thought. 26. In Agarwala Publishing House v. Board of High School and Intermediate Education and Another, AIR 1967 All. 91, a writ petition was filed by a publisher firm challenging an amendment of the Regulations of the Board declaring that copyright of the question papers set at all examinations conducted by the Board shall vest in the Board and forbidding the publication of such question papers without the Board s permission. The question involved in the case was whether the question papers are `original literary work and come within the purview of Section 13 of the Copyright Act, 1957. It was urged that no copyright can exist in examination papers beca....
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....efendants had not gone to independent sources of the material but had pirated the plaintiff s work, they were restrained by injunction. 28. In Rai Toys Industries and Others v. Munir Printing Press, 1982 PTC 85, the plaintiff had published a Tambola ticket book containing 1500 different tickets in 1929. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants had brought out another ticket book which the plaintiffs claimed to have written in 1929 and registered as copyright. The ticket book brought out by the defendants was alleged to contain 600 different tickets and the same had been copied identically from the books of the plaintiff. On this basis, a suit for injunction and rendition of account was filed by the plaintiff. The question before the court was whether the ticket-books in the form of tables constitute literary work; and whether copyright has been violated or not? It was held by the High Court that preparation of tickets and placing them in tables required a good deal of skill and labour and would thus satisfy the test of being original literary work. It was recognized that the arrangement of numbers is individual work of a person who prepares it; it bears his individuality and l....
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.... book had infringed that right. 30. These decisions are the authority on the proposition that the work that has been originated from an author and is more than a mere copy of the original work, would be sufficient to generate copyright. This approach is consistent with the sweat of the brow standards of originality. The creation of the work which has resulted from little bit of skill, labour and capital are sufficient for a copyright in derivative work of an author. Decisions propounded a theory that an author deserves to have his or her efforts in producing a work, rewarded. The work of an author need not be in an original form or novel form, but it should not be copied from another s work, that is, it should originate from the author. The originality requirement in derivative work is that it should originate from the author by application of substantial degree of skill, industry or experience. Precondition to copyright is that work must be produced independently and not copied from another person. Where a compilation is produced from the original work, the compilation is more than simply a re-arranged copyright of original, which is often referred to as skill, judgment and or ....
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....04, that in the present case, the journals of the appellants, including SCC, are printed and published on the basis of pre- existing judgments. Journals are, therefore, a derivative work. There is a distinction between a `law report as understood in England and a `law journal as printed in India. The appellants journal `SCC is not a law report in the strict sense, inasmuch as the appellants journal reproduces the judgments of the court verbatim along with inputs. However, a law report known in the traditional English sense is when a law reporter present in the court would record in his own words and language the arguments of the counsel on both sides, give a summary of the facts and incorporate into the said report his transcript of the speech of the Judge. Thus, the appellants work could only be a law journal and not a law report. The judgments were specifically made a part of the exception to copyright infringement and thus find place in Section 52(1)(q) of the Act. The underlying purpose is that it is in public interest to place judgments in public domain. The work for which the copyright protection is claimed is a derivative work. For claiming protection of copyright in a deriv....
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....law relied upon by the learned counsel for the respondents is considered hereinafter. 33. In Feist Publications Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. Inc., 18 USPQ 2d. 1275, Rural Telephone Service Co. publishes a typical telephone directory consisting of white pages and yellow pages. The white pages list in alphabetical order the names of rural subscribers together with their towns and telephone numbers. The yellow pages list Rural s business subscribers alphabetically by category and feature classified advertisements of various sizes. To obtain white pages listings for its area-wide directory, Feist Publications Inc. approached different telephone companies operating in North West Kansas and offered to pay for the right to use their white pages listings. Of them, only Rural refused. Unable to license Rural s white pages listings, Feist used them without Rural s consent. Rural sued for copyright infringement in the District Court taking the position that Feist, in compiling its own directory, could not use the information contained in Rural s white pages. Rural asserted that Feist s employees were obliged to travel door to door or conduct a telephone survey to discover the same i....
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.... doctrine had numerous flaws, the most glaring being that it extended copyright protection in a compilation beyond selection and arrangement the compiler s original contributions to the facts themselves. A subsequent compiler was not entitled to take one word of information previously published, but rather had to independently work out the matter for himself, so as to arrive at the same result from the same common sources of information. Sweat of the brow courts thereby eschewed the most fundamental axiom of copyright law that no one may copyright facts or ideas. The sweat of the brow doctrine flouted basic copyright principles and it creates a monopoly in public domain materials without the necessary justification of protecting and encouraging the creation of writings by authors. 34. The judgment in Matthew Bender & Co., Inc. v. West Publishing Co., 158 F.3d 674 (2nd Cir. 1998), is of United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, which directly covers the reports of the judgments of the courts. The facts involved in the case are that the West Publishing Co. and West Publishing Corp. ( West ) obtain the text of judicial opinions directly from courts. It alters these texts into....
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....f (i) the total number of options available, (ii) external factors that limit the viability of certain options and render others non-creative, and (iii) prior uses that render certain selections `garden variety . 35. In the case of Key Publications, Inc. v. Chinatown Today Publishing Enterprises, Inc., 945 F.2d.509, Key Publication published an Annual Classified Business Directory for New York City s Chinese-American community. In 1990, Galore Publication published the Galore Directory, a classified directory for the New York Chinese American community. Key brought a suit against Galore Directory charging that Galore Directory infringed Key s copyright in the 1989-90 Key Directory. The United States Court of Appeal held that individual components of compilation are generally within the public domain and thus available for public. There are three requirements for a compilation to qualify for copyright protection : (1) the collection and assembly of pre-existing data; (2) selection, co- ordination or arrangement of the data; and (3) the resulting work that comes into being is original, by virtue of the selection, coordination or arrangement of the data contained in the work. Fo....
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....the law stands, never can enjoy the protection of copyright; and the questions which arise for decision must be dealt with upon that assumption. The Court said that in all cases where the reprint with the text of it consisted merely of a reprint of passages selected from the work of any author, would never have a copyright. There may be cases where selecting and reprinting the passages would require the appreciation upon what has been laid down or established in the book and labour, accurate scientific knowledge, sound judgment, touching the purpose for which the selection is made, and literary skill would all be needed to effect the object in view. In such a case, the copyright might well be acquired for the print of the selected passages. The Court said that it is the product of the labour, skill and capital of one man which must not be appropriated by another, not the elements, the raw material, upon which the labour and skill and capital of the first have been expended. To secure copyright for this product, it is necessary that the labour, skill and capital expended should be sufficient to impart to the product some quality or character which the raw material did not possess an....
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....otocopy service, legal materials are reproduced and delivered to the requesters. The Law Society also maintains self-service photocopiers in the Great Library for use by its patrons. The respondents, CCH Canadian Ltd., Thomson Canada Ltd. and Canada Law Book Inc. publish law reports and other legal materials. The law book publishers commenced copyright infringement action against the Law Society claiming ownership of copyright in 11 specific works on the ground that the Law Society had infringed copyright when the Great Library reproduced a copy of each of the works. The publishers further sought permanent injunction prohibiting the Law Society from reproducing these 11 works as well as any other works that they published. The Law Society denied liability and submitted that the copyright is not infringed when a single copy of a reported decision, case summary, statute, regulation or a limited selection of text from a treatise is made by the Great Library staff or one of its patrons on a self-service photocopier for the purpose of research. The Court was called upon to decide the question as to what shall be the originality in the work of compilation. On consideration of various cas....
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....e public domain and its reproduction or publication would not infringe the copyright. That being the position, the copy-edited judgments would not satisfy the copyright merely by establishing amount of skill, labour and capital put in the inputs of the copy-edited judgments and the original or innovative thoughts for the creativity are completely excluded. Accordingly, original or innovative thoughts are necessary to establish copyright in the author s work. The principle where there is common source the person relying on it must prove that he actually went to the common source from where he borrowed the material, employing his own skill, labour and brain and he did not copy, would not apply to the judgments of the courts because there is no copyright in the judgments of the court, unless so made by the court itself. To secure a copyright for the judgments delivered by the court, it is necessary that the labour, skill and capital invested should be sufficient to communicate or impart to the judgment printed in SCC some quality or character which the original judgment does not possess and which differentiates the original judgment from the printed one. The Copyright Act is not conce....
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....n/Rule/Article/paragraph to the extract quoted in the original text; added the names of Judges on whose behalf opinion given by giving expressions such as for himself and Pathak, C.J. etc.; done verification of first word of the quoted extract and supplied emphasis on such verification; added ellipsis to indicate breaks in quoted extract; provided and supplied the matter inadvertently missed in quoted extracts in the original text of the judgment; completed/corrected the incomplete/incorrect case names or citations; renumbered correctly the clauses/sub-clauses in terms of the questions framed which were numbered in terms of answers to questions framed by learned Judge; changed the text as per corrigenda issued, which has been issued upon SCC Editor s request and suggestions; done compressing/simplification of information relating to the case history; followed certain norms at SCC for giving case names; omitted the words like Section , Sec. , Rule , etc. and given only the number of the Section/rule at the beginning of the quoted extract; made margin heading and the first clause/sub-section or initial matter of section/rule etc. to run-on instead of being let to start from a fresh l....
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....sufficient originality so as to amount to an original work of the author. To support copyright, there must be some substantive variation and not merely a trivial variation, not the variation of the type where limited ways/unique of expression available and an author selects one of them which can be said to be a garden variety. Novelty or invention or innovative idea is not the requirement for protection of copyright but it does require minimal degree of creativity. In our view, the aforesaid inputs put by the appellants in the copy-edited judgments do not touch the standard of creativity required for the copyright. 41. However, the inputs put in the original text by the appellants in (i) segregating the existing paragraphs in the original text by breaking them into separate paragraphs; (ii) adding internal paragraph numbering within a judgment after providing uniform paragraph numbering to the multiple judgments; and (iii) indicating in the judgment the Judges who have dissented or concurred by introducing the phrases like concurring , `partly concurring , `partly dissenting , `dissenting , `supplementing , `majority expressing no opinion , etc., have to be viewed in a different....