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Indian Copyright Bill Declares Private, Personal Copying "Fair Dealing"

Posted by timothy on from the much-less-drama-that-way dept.

asp7yxia writes "India's new copyright bill sounds like a pretty good piece of work: it declares private, personal copying to be 'fair dealing' (like US fair use) and limits the prohibition on breaking DRM so that it's only illegal to do so if you're also violating copyright."

11 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. Indian Copyright Bill by koona · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Am I the only one out here that has noticed that where people really have to work hard, they don't put up with much bullshit? Any indian will tell you that america is a fools paradise, and we put up with so much malarky it's sickening.

    1. Re:Indian Copyright Bill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It's also worth noting that we've had, what, 3 successive minority governments in Canada over the last several years -- i.e. where the party in power does not have majority control over parliament. We're always told by the main parties (especially the governing ones) that minority governments are bad, but, honestly, it has meant that all the parties have to get along reasonably well because of an interesting balance. On one hand they have to make deals with the parties in opposition to them (bad), and on the other hand if the governing party falls because of a non-confidence vote (basically they can't get along anymore), they would have to face a new election which the Canadian people emphatically DO NOT WANT (worse). It's the one thing that Canadians agree on -- we do not want another election simply because our politicians fail to get along. The politicians are trapped up there in Ottawa, forced to get along, because they know that any party that precipitated an election without really good reasons would take a substantial beating at the polls. If the governing party tries to push something through that is unpopular -- bad idea. If the opposition parties try to oppose something for petty reasons -- also a bad idea. The government business is still happening, but the government in power has to be more responsive to public opinion and opposition views than normal. I love it.

      The relevance to the issue here is instructive: there have been 2 tries to revised copyright law to make it compatible with the WIPO treaty. Both tries have included awful or botched versions of DMCA-like legislation (e.g., granting rights on one hand but making them impossible to legally exercise because of anti-circumvention rules). One was with a Liberal minority government, the other with a Conservative minority government. The public outrage has grown stronger each time, and both bills died on the order table (essentially: presented to parliament but not passed). If we had had a majority government either of those times I'm sure the bills would have been rammed through and we would have had DMCA-style copyright law in Canada. Minority government is the main reason we still don't have DMCA-style anti-circumvention laws in Canada.

      So, don't dread >2-party systems, just make sure the politicians understand that they have to get along or you'll take it out of them at the polls. These systems work fine when the usual requirement is there: a public that holds them accountable. When all you do is flip between one or the other of 2 options, that's harder, but having a third party that is NOT the governing party still means they can have a major amount of influence. They don't have to "win" to matter a great deal.

    2. Re:Indian Copyright Bill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "Having seen what the Mumbai slums look like" -- where? In a movie?

      The poor in Mumbai aren't all beggars waiting for a handout. Dharavi in Mumbai is the largest slum in Asia, but it is also one of the most productive places in the city, generating a revenue of a billion dollars a year.

      Also 85% of its households have a television.

  2. A surprisingly well thought out law by Fallen+Kell · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Seriously, if the description given here is what it truly does, then this seems like a good law. Now if only the USA government would pass something like this which would put some balance back into copyright. The breaking of DRM only being illegal when you break copyright, and with it legal to make personal copies, it means people are free to break the DRM of things they bought, like making a backup copy of a movie, or ripping a movie for use on a HTPC without the need of the DVD in the HTPC (or blu-ray, or itunes songs, etc., etc.). Because all you are doing is using the item that you purchased for yourself, and you are free to use it in any way that you want, not simply the way that the copyright owner thinks you should be able to use it.

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  3. SuddenOutbreakOf... by heretic108 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hmm, lemme see... wise and profound old culture, who invented our modern numbering system over 2000 years ago, writes a copyright law in the 21st century addressing contemporary technology issues, and gets it substantially right.

    Why am I not surprised?

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    1. Re:SuddenOutbreakOf... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I am really tried of hearing this repeated on Slashdot. Let me make this clear... the caste system was made illegal more than 50 years ago, and it has literally became non-existent about 20-30 years. I myself was born in what would have been considered lower caste a few decades ago. I have never felt any of the oppression or any dam thing you could come up with (though some of the relatives have enjoyed the special reservations available in top schools, claiming to be from backward castes)

      The caste system originally denoted the field of work you were in. Which is broadly Kings/Warriors, Priests, Traders/Agriculturalist, Artists/Service_Providers. If you are born to a potter, you will learn the art of pottery right from your childhood from your father. This was all the system was all about.

      This was very recently twisted to classify low wage earning people into untouchables. This was nothing more than abuse of power by certain sects of the society, which mostly has returned to normal.

  4. Wonder why ... by CalcuttaWala · · Score: 4, Interesting

    this is not such a big deal here in India ! strange that i had to hear it in ./ and not in the national press

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  5. Re:What about ACTA ? by Luckyo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Also, India isn't even involved in WIPO, ACTA's predecessor. This hasn't stopped RIAA and co from claiming that it infringes WIPO and shoving it on all kinds of black lists for that reason.
    ACTA is mostly about western countries. Most of the developing countries are still coming to terms with WIPO, if they signed it.

  6. But... by laughingcoyote · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There's always something, and this bill's got quite a "something" in it. This is India's very own version of our Mickey Mouse Copyright Perpetuation Act (ostensibly having something to do with Sonny Bono, but we all know who it really was for...), and extends a fixed 60-year term to life plus 60 (see sidebar here.

    Why in the world would we want to see copyrights get longer, anywhere? They obviously already provide an incentive at current levels. Even ten years should be an adequate incentive for 99.9% of cases, and you never want to write law based on the edge cases. With digital distribution speeding up how quickly a work can have its initial distribution, copyright terms should be shrinking, not growing.

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  7. Re:+1 post of referral mastery by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Or, in short: If nobody reads TFA, does it truly link to a blog with no information content?

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  8. Offtopic by mcgrew · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Is anyone actually going to discuss the subject at hand -- copyright? Regardless of the cultural differences, ALL countries should follow India's lead. Why should noncommercial copying be illegal? If I'm not going to buy it, you won't lose money. People will buy it if it's worth buying. Read Doctorow's site, please (Little Brother is a good start).

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