Software and Copyright

Indian Liberalism and the Copying Culture

Patent protection was considered a necessary encouragement because they allow companies to recover the cost of research and development. Without protection in a copying culture, companies were reluctant to invest in India, where their products could be easily imitated and sold by a local producer. The copying culture has been the biggest obstacle to India’s adoption of international intellectual property rights since doing so would mean going back on the policy that has created so many of its domestic companies.

Under international pressure and pressure from inside the country for more foreign investments, India strengthened its copyright law in 1994 following the Uruguay Round trade negotiations. Being a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) also required that India adopt WTO-standard intellectual property rights. India argued that it would cause social unrest to adopt these rights overnight because its copying culture has created so many companies and WTO-standard intellectual property rights would destroy many of those copies. As a reprieve, India was given 10 years to adopt those rights. India had to comply by 2005.

Under its amendment to the copyright law in 1994 and adopted on May 10, 1995, it is illegal to distribute copies of copyrighted software without proper authorization and violators can be tried under civil and criminal court with up to 3 years of jail time and heavy fines for infringements. Increasingly, Indian courts have ruled in favor of Indian rights holders to address their concerns over piracy.

What is TRIPS?

Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is the trade-related agreement in the WTO charter that deals with trade in intangible property. Under TRIPS, member countries must grant patents in all fields of technologies, regardless of whether they are products or processes. Also, anything novel, inventive, and useful can be patented. The actual meaning of these words is open to interpretation by the patent-holders. Finally, member countries cannot exclude certain invention just because their local laws prohibit it.

India and TRIPS

The obstacle India now faces is implementing all the rights embodied within the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) by 2005. While software intellectual property is strict by world standards, intellectual property rights in other areas are still lax. These have been the result of India trying to stimulate domestic industries to produce cheaper alternatives of foreign products in areas such as pharmaceuticals; however, since foreign trade is needed by India to sustain its economy, it is likely that TRIPS will be adopted in time.