DU Photocopiers: “Enjoy your vacation”, Supreme Court dismisses appeal by IRRO

The Supreme Court today dismissed the appeal filed by Indian Reprographic Rights Organisation (IRRO) challenging the judgment of a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court which had refused interim relief in the DU Photocopiers case..A Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha remarked that the petitioners could not challenge the said order since the main suit itself has been withdrawn..The publishers had filed a case against the photocopy shop in Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University, for allegedly infringing their copyright by selling their “course packs” to DU students. These course packs included study material from several books, compiled together according to the students’ syllabus..Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw of the Delhi High Court had dismissed the suit in September last year, holding that copyright was “not a divine right”. Subsequently, in appeal before Division Bench, Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Yogesh Khanna had, on December 9, refused interim relief and had remanded the matter back to the Single Judge for a fact specific determination..The IRRO’s attempt to intervene before the Single Judge was turned down, and the publishers had then chosen to withdraw the suit on March 9. IRRO then challenged the December 9 order before Supreme Court..When the matter was taken up today as item 22 in court 4, Justice Gogoi quizzed the petitioners on how it could challenge the order of Division Bench when the suit itself was withdrawn..“The suit has been withdrawn. Your remedy is to challenge the order allowing the petitioners to withdraw the suit. You cannot challenge the decree of December 9. If the suit does not survive, does the decree survive?”.The petitioner’s counsel tried to persuade the Bench, which remained unmoved by the submissions. It remarked,.“Do you think we sit here to grant any decree which the petitioners wants?Enjoy your vacation, dismissed”..This order by the Supreme Court could very well mark the end of the litigation, which has lasted nearly five years..Image taken from here.