Great news and write up as well, subhas, On 13 Mar 2017 10:56, "Subhash Gatade" <[email protected]> wrote:
> New Socialist Initiative (NSI) congratulates the students' struggle in > winning the battle against corporate publishers > On 9 March 2017 three well-established academic corporate publishing > houses, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and Taylor and > Francis withdrew their copyright suit filed in the High Court against Delhi > University and Rameshwari Photocopy Shop, a shop stationed at the Delhi > School of Economics campus in Delhi University licensed by the University > to carry out photocopying work. The suit that was filed in August 2012 on > the grounds that photocopying material from books published by the above > three publishers by university students, particularly in the compilation of > coursepacks, constituted copyright infringement and revenue loss to the > publishers. Right from the beginning it was clear this case was treated as > a test case to instate a licensing regime, much like one that exists in the > US and other First World countries. > > Being the absolute primary constituency to be impacted by such a case and > its possible outcomes, students of Delhi University were amongst the first > to take up the battle against some of the most powerful publishing houses > in academia. The 'Campaign to Save D.School Photocopy Shop' soon became the > 'Association of Students for Equitable Access to Knowledge' (ASEAK), > reflecting the growing politicisation of the student community on the issue > of the knowledge commons in order to resist an increasing attempt across > the world to create a market out of it where it didn't as yet exist. This > can be seen in the case of Costa Rica as well where there was an attempt to > make photocopying illegal, a move that was successfully opposed on a > massive scale by students. > > The students of Delhi University, organised as ASEAK, opposed the move > through a range of mechanisms, mobilising students from class to class, > organising public meetings, taking out protest rallies, campaigning against > these publishers at the annual World Book Fair held in New Delhi, > influencing public opinion through writing in newspapers, and last but not > the least, taking up the legal battle in the courts. NSI hails the struggle > of the students that brought to the centre of the debate questions of > equity and justice within the arena of production and distribution of > knowledge resources, challenging the private property regime sought to be > implemented in the sphere of knowledge production by these big academic > corporate publishing houses. > > For the last few years the primary site of the battle has been in the High > Court at New Delhi. The publishers have received repeated blow after blow > in this process as well, leading to their final withdrawal of the suit > altogether. The win is a big victory and testament to the struggle of the > students, backed by a legal team that has been seminal to the victory, > along with support from the academic community. The case, that attempted to > strike a 'balance' between private profits of the publishers and the rights > of students to access materials in the pursuit of their education, has > dealt a blow to precisely such a misconception that the two 'interests' are > in fact of equal concern. > > Along with students, who assert their right over the materials they access > as part of their fundamental right to education, scholars, often the > authors of these materials, have equally come out to state that there is no > better reward for their work as intellectuals, as to be read by as many > students as can get hold of their work, photocopied or otherwise. The > emphasis of the corporate publishers in asserting absolute ownership over > the works they publish, in a rare instance where the labour of writing a > book is provided at no cost to the publishers, borne by universities, > students' fees and taxpayers' money instead, is shameful and needs to be > rejected at all cost. > > NSI congratulates the students, lawyers, academics and concerned citizens > who persisted in their resistance against the bullying tactics of big > academic corporate publishing houses and calls on the academic community to > engage with new ways of producing and sharing knowledge so as to create > equitable, just and democratic structures of knowledge production. > > *EDUCATION OVER COPYRIGHT! KNOWLEDGE OVER PROFIT!* > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "humanrights movement" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > . > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
