Bare acts published by private companies do not infringe Government’s copyright

The Legislative Department of the Law Ministry has said that reproduction and publication of a central legislation along with commentaries or original matter would not amount to violation under the Copyright Act. It has also declared that it has been providing updated versions of authentic and accurate copies of all central acts in electronic format and citizens are free to download or print them free of cost.

The contention by the advocate in the PIL was that the Centre was making the public suffer at the hands of private publishers by not publishing on its own and ensuring availability of authentic, accurate and reasonable priced copies of acts, rules, etc. He emphasized that the acts and other enactments are in public domain and cannot be used by a few for commercial gains.

According to the department, the Copyright Act allowed reproduction and publication of an Act of Legislature, if it was printed with commentaries or other original matter.

The Centre has emphasized that the exception was brought into play to enable the reproduction of the work for encouragement of private study, research and promotion of education.

The department has said that it publishes the Central Acts on the basis of demand received and therefore only limited number of copies was being printed. Since only a limited number of copies were being published on the basis of demand, the prices are generally high than that of the private publishers. This is because publication of an Act by the Legislative Department is time-consuming as it goes through several stages of verification.

“Therefore, reproduction or publication of any rules, notifications, regulations, etc. by a private publisher does not violate any of the provisions of the Copyright Act,” the department said.