We have previously covered the recent copyright dispute between Oxford University Press and other publishers against Delhi University in great detail. In this post, I explained why Delhi University must defend in court, its practice of photocopying course packs (consisting of only essential reading material required for a particular course) for the benefit of students who cannot afford to purchase a personal copy of the entire book.
It appears that Delhi University is now slowly distancing itself from the photocopier and is not resisting the suit with all its might. It is time for students and academics to come together and take a stand.
There is now a petition available on Change.org that urges the publishers to drop the suit so that this specific practice (and not any other potentially unlawful activities relating to photocopying) can continue unrestricted.
As the petition rightly states: "The reason we make course packs is to ensure that students have access to the most relevant portions of the book without which we would be seriously compromising their education"
Over 250 people have already signed the petition in a mere 24 hours. Please do sign the petition by clicking here and pass it along to your friends and colleagues as well - it only takes a few seconds, costs nothing and is sure to have an impact on the future of education and access to learning material in India. After all, a child without an education is like a bird without wings.
UPDATE: A complete list of signatories, including some very big names in the academic world, is available here (this will be continually updated). The petition has already amassed more than 600 signatories in just over 2 days. You can sign the petition by clicking here.
UPDATE: A complete list of signatories, including some very big names in the academic world, is available here (this will be continually updated). The petition has already amassed more than 600 signatories in just over 2 days. You can sign the petition by clicking here.
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