Software Patents, Copyright, and Piracy Issues in India

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Software Patents, Copyright, and Piracy Issues in India

Introduction

India has developed enormously in the field of science and technology. Information Technology has been one of the fastest growing sectors in the country and a major contributor to the economy. India's economy has boomed over the past decade due to Government's initiates. With it vast pool of educated population and its leading presence in the Software arena India is fast becoming a knowledge hub.

This paper gives an overview of Patent, copyright and Cyber laws, software piracy issues, and analyses the economic benefits of reducing piracy and the ethical issues of piracy.

Overview of Patent, Copyright and Cyber Laws

The protection regarding Intellectual Property Rights differs from country to country. Beginning with GATT, WTO and TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) the economic focus of International trade and global policy has progressively moved from the tariff protection of goods to "Protection of Intellectual Property".

The Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in India is a movement that is continuing to gain strength. There is a well established Statutory, administrative and Judicial Framework to safeguard Intellectual Property rights in India. India has enacted several legislation's and drafted amendments to several existing legislation's in order to fulfill the obligations imposed on it by TRIPS.

Patent Laws:

Patent rights give the owner the exclusive right to make the invention, use the invention, sell the invention and distribute the invention. These exclusive rights are obtained after the grant of the Patent by Registrar of Patents.

In India the law governing Patents is the Patent Act, 1970("the Patents Act"). Th...

... middle of paper ...

...ate people to buy legitimate software.

Conclusion

India has strict Intellectual property laws and Information Technology sector is one of the major contributors to the country's economic development. Therefore reducing software piracy will have a significant impact on the economic growth. Piracy can be curbed by a combination of raids, litigation, and educating users about the advantages of using legal software, the problems associated with copied software and legal penalties etc.,

Also global piracy cannot be won without addressing the draconian pricing policies of software proportionate to per capita by the software publishers.

References

[1] www.nasscom.org

[2] Pavan Duggal, http://cyberlaws.net/cyberindia

[3] Software Piracy: Understanding the larger picture - Express Computer ,

http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20030721/indtrend1.shtml

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