Exploring Sovereign Immunity in Copyright Infringement: How India can Learn from the Global Experience

Abstract

Governmental use of copyrighted works although a very important area has received little attention comapred to similar use of patented inventions. But such uses by the government/sovereign was reported in various jurisdictions including USA where the power of eminent domain was invoked to give some kind of justification. This write up makes an enquiry about this unexplored but important area of intellectual property law by adopting a comparative study of important jurisdictions. This is becoming significant for India as the country has just made the right to education a fundamental right and the governmental use of copyrighted works could be used as a tool to promote the larger interests of public education and access