hi everyone, As someone with more than a passing interest in Wikipedia, I need some clarifications on some copyright issues we are facing, with respect to using content from Indian government sites.
A few months back, one of our users created this copyright tag : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:PD-IndiaGov It basically states: "This image is in the public domain as it comes from an Indian Government site. Information published by Indian government websites are in Public Domain under the Right to Information Act." (For non-wikipedians, a copyright tag is a summary, in plain English, of the license under which an image is uploaded. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:ICT for more examples) The wording of the tag was based on our understanding and assumptions stated below: * Chapter II of the RTI act (http://www.persmin.nic.in/RTI/WebActRTI.htm) states: "Without prejudice to the provisions of section 8, a Central Public Information Officer or a State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, may reject a request for information where such a request for providing access would involve an infringement of copyright subsisting in a person <emphasis>other than the State</emphasis>." * The UP governments' website states (http://www.upgov.nic.in/upinfo/upitpolicy2004.htm): "All public domain information like official gazette notifications, acts, rules regulations, circulars, policies and programme documents would be digitised and made available for electronic access on Web." * The Haryana governments' website states (http://haryanait.nic.in/html/it_itand_publicdomain.htm) : "The State Government Departments shall establish departmental intranets and local area networks which will lay the foundation of Centralised Data Repository of public domain information for "Anytime-Anywhere" usage." * Delhi Govt.'s IT policy states(http://delhigovt.nic.in/icetpolicy.pdf) : "Simultaneously, the government will also put on the internet information that ought to be in public domain. This will enable the citizens to play the role of a watchdog and to ensure transparency" * Sebi's website states (http://www.sebi.gov.in/acts/RTIAct2005.html) (1) Acts, Rules, Regulations, Guidelines, Circulars, etc. (2) Orders passed by SEBI (3) Reports of Committees (4) Press Releases (5) Annual Report (6) SEBI Bulletin are in the public domain. We have a few doubts/queries besides: The first one being, whether the wording of the tag is correct. Second, Even if the images are copyrighted, can we use it under a) the RTI act or b) fair use or c) public domain (with attribution) Thirdly, does the use of public domain in the policies stated above mean: "Works without any copyright restrictions" or "copyrighted but available for public use (??)" Fourthly, If we can use the content under the RTI act/somehow, do Indian government sites allow commercial use + derivative use of their content (text/images). Now, here is some food for thought. X files an application under RTI Act. The govt asks him to pay Rs. 50/- (the amount fixed by the Govt. of Kerala, afaik) for the information, provided to him on a floppy. The information is in a format covered by a patent, and the software which can open the file provided by the government is available only for an exorbitant price. *Right* to Information? -- Anivar Aravind GAIA
