Very contentious issue Pranesh. The issue is not only this - but also to insure that any Indian government works be in public domain as well as that of a Public Servant when on duty (like in the US - after all it is OUR govenment and OUR money spent hiring that Public Servant!).
Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2011 18:04:07 +0200 From: pranesh@cis-india.org To: wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org CC: aprabhala@gmail.com; sunil@cis-india.org Subject: [Wikimediaindia-l] Massive increase in copyright term for photographs
Dear all, It seems clear that through a new amendment to the Copyright Act, the term of copyright of photographs is going to be increased from 25 years (which is the minimum required by international copyright law) to 60 years *after the death of the photographer* (i.e., copyright term = life of the photographer + 60 years).
So say a photographer aged 25 clicks a photograph and dies at the age of 75 (in 2061): Under current law the copyright on that photo expires on January 1, 2037. Under proposed law, copyright on that photo expires on January 1, 2122.
The difference: 85 years!
(I hope I've done the math correctly.)
So only your great-grandchildren will be able to upload that photograph to Wikipedia.
As far as I can understand, there has been no positive lobbying on this front by any photographers. No one has really asked for it.
We, from the Centre for Internet and Society submitted a 'civil society submission' (with the backing of 22 organizations) which criticised this to the Standing Committee that was examining the amendment. But the chairman of that committee did not take notice. In effect, the Standing Committee heard only rightsholders (and groups, including ours, working on the exception for persons with disabilities).
Are people on this list concerned about this? If yes, then we all need to try to get this particular amendment targetted and struck off when the amendment gets presented before Parliament in the Monsoon session.
Regards, Pranesh