BOOK PROMOTION AND COPYRIGHT
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were allowed to apply for import licences upto a value of Rs. 25,000/- per ins-
titution for the import of licenceable items.
The concession for the release of post parcels containing books, maga-
zines and periodicals without the importers having to produce the import
licences continued to be available during 1984-85.
Book Export Promotional India is one of the ten major book producing countries of the world and
Activities ranks third in production of English titles. To promote sale of Indian books
and translation/reprint rights abroad and for securing printing jobs from
abroad, steps are being taken to publicise our books through participation in
International Book Fairs and organising special exhibitions of Indian books,
by conducting market studies and commercial publicity through circulation
of annotated catalogues, brochures etc.
In 1984-85, India participated in the International Book Fairs/Exhibitions
held in London, Turkey, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Singapore, Malaysia, Frankfurt,
Belgrade, Bahrain and Cairo. Special exhibitions of Indian books were orga-
nised in Indonesia, Mauritius, and Zambia. Book exhibitions are also pro-
posed to be organised in Iran, Ethiopia, Kenya, Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria,
Sudan and Bangladesh.
As a result of participation in the International Book Fairs/Exhibitions
abroad, our export of books including the journals and periodicals for the
year 1984-85 is estimated to be about 22 crores of rupees.
Raja Rammohun Roy National The Raja Rammohun Roy National Educational Resources Centre was
Educational Resources Centre established in July, 1972. The Centre functions as an information-cum-
research centre and provides documentation and statistical analysis facilities
in regard to details of import of books. The Centre has under one roof, a large
collection of University level books produced since 1965 in all Indian lan-
guages in various disciplines. The Centre conducts on-the-spot evaluation of
indigenous books to assess their usefulness for University level students and
organises exhibitions of these books in various Indian Universities. During
1984-85, the Centre organised five such exhibitions at Surat, Waltair, Shil-
long, Gulbarga and Jodhpur. The Centre has been designated as a national
agency for operating the International Standard Book Numbering System in
India. In this connection, India participated in the Annual Meeting of Interna-
tional Standard Book Numbering Agency held in Berlin on October 9-10,
1984.
COPYRIGHT
The Copyright Office was established in January, 1958, in pursuance of Section 9 of the Copyright Act, 1957 (14 of 1957). The Copyright Office dur- ing 1984 has registered 3317 works, the break-up of which is 3023 artistic works, 277 literary works and 17 cinematographic works. In addition to this, the Copyright Office has registered changes in the particulars of copyrights entered in the Register of Copyrights in 6 cases, all of which were artistic works.
India is a member of two international Conventions on Copyright,
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namely, the Berne Convention (1948) and the Universal Copyright Conven- tion (1952). Both these Conventions were revised at Paris in 1971, where by special concessions were given to the developing countries to enable them to issue compulsory licences for reproduction/translation of books of foreign origin for educational purposes. The Indian Copyright Act, 1957 was amend- ed in 1983 with the specific purposes of (a) incorporating the provisions of the Paris Text of 1971 of the Berne Convention and Universal Copyright convention concerning the 'grant of compulsory licences for translation and reproduction of foreign works required for educational purposes, (b) provid- ing adequate protection to authors' rights; and (c) removing administrative drawbacks and other lacunae experienced in the administration of the Copy- right Act, 1957. The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1983 came into force w.e.f August 9, 1984.
The Copyright Act was further amended in 1984, in order to check the problem of widespread piracy in the country. The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1984 has been enacted and necessary provisions have been made to combat piracy by making punishment for various offences more stringent. Infringement of copyright has been made a cognizable offence. The Act pro- vides for enhanced punishment for the infringement of copyright, namely, imprisonment upto three years, with a minimum punishment of imprison- ment of six months, and a fine upto Rs. 2 lakhs, with the minimum of Rs. 50,000/-. The Act came into force w.e.f. October 8, 1984.
During 1984, India participated in the following meetings/seminars etc:-
WIPO-UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Question of Copyright Ownership and its Consequences for the Relations between Employers and Employed or Salaried Authors - from April 2 to 6, 1984, Paris.
WIPO-UNESCO Committee of Experts on Private Copyright of Works Protected by Copyright, - from June 4 to 8, 1984, Geneva.
Ordinary Sessions of the Coordination Committee of WIPO and the Exe- cutive Committees of the Paris and Berne Unions from September 24 to 27, 1984, Geneva.
WIPO-UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Intellectual Property Aspects of the Protection of Folklore at the International Level at Paris from December 10 to 14, 1984.
Training Facilities Under the Annual Copyright Training Programme 1984 of WIPO, India
in Copyright received one trainee from Thailand for receiving training in copyright from
October 23 to November 1, 1984.
Under the WIPO Trainee-ship Programme, one officer participated in a
General Introductory training course on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights
in U.K. and Switzerland during the months of October-November, 1984.
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