Dear Avichal, It is not necessary for the private publisher to provide an accessible copy as of now. The law permits you or any other institution to convert it to an accessible format without taking permission of the publisher/copy right holder.
However, if that book is being provided by any educational institution to you, you can put the onus on the institution to convert it for you. Publishers don’t want to share soft copy fearing piracy although there are other ways to pirate the book if anyone really wants to do so. This is how the copyright law has worked so far. I wonder if the recent changes to the RPD Act rules can be made applicable on this particularly when only print book has been released. Thanks, Prashant -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Avichal Bhatnagar Sent: Monday, August 14, 2023 3:10 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [AI] Are publishers in India obligated to provide soft copies to the blind on request? Hello list members, As the subject line indicates, I want to know that if a visually impaired person requests a publisher for the soft copy of a book, is the publisher obligated by law to provide the same? If so, then can he be penalised for not fulfilling the request? Today, I called a publisher in Mumbai and requested for the soft copy of a book which is quite essential for my doctoral research; I was willing to pay the price of the hard copy for the soft copy, but the publisher's response was very callous and insensitive. The book is not available as an ebook in any other format as well, such as kindle. He simply said that he would not provide the soft copy, and when I told him that the book was not available in ebook anywhere, so he said that I should read it when it becomes available. I also told him that the book is a big one, so it'll take a lot of time in getting it scanned and proofread, but he did not budge. So, I request the legal experts on the list to please advise me as to what will be the best course of action in this regard? I am planning to sue the publisher in the court of the Chief commissioner for persons with disability, please let me know if it is a good step? Please also explain about any other laws in this regard. Thanks, Avichal -- Avichal Bhatnagar Assistant professor at Department of English, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College University of Delhi Doctoral research scholar at Department of humanities Delhi Technological University (formerly Delhi college of engineering) -- Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list.. Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AccessIndia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/accessindia.org.in/d/msgid/accessindia/CADsKw8oAbo4-w%2BsT_NitY0uY53cQ2ziskP1H2fSLop4mRj6VnA%40mail.gmail.com. -- Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list.. Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AccessIndia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/accessindia.org.in/d/msgid/accessindia/148a01d9ce9f%245328b940%24f97a2bc0%24%40gmail.com.
