LANDMARK CASE

Eastern Book Company v. D.B. Modak

(2008) 1 SCC 1 · Supreme Court of India · Intellectual property

At a glance

Citation: (2008) 1 SCC 1
Court: Supreme Court of India
Area of law: Intellectual property
In one line: Raw judgments have no copyright, but the publisher's original additions like headnotes and paragraph numbers with skill and judgment are protected.

1 Facts

A publisher claimed copyright in judgments as edited in its law reports.

2 Issue

Is there copyright in edited judgments?

3 What the court decided

Raw judgments have no copyright, but the publisher's original additions like headnotes and paragraph numbers with skill and judgment are protected.

4 Why it matters

Adopted the 'modicum of creativity' standard.

5 Think about it

What counts as enough creativity for copyright?

6 Analyse it yourself

Read the full judgment from an official source or a law database, then brief it in seven steps: facts, issues, arguments, decision, ratio, obiter and significance. Always check the citation before you rely on it.

7 More cases on Intellectual property

Amar Nath Sehgal v. Union of India (2005) 30 PTC 253 (Del)
Cadila Health Care v. Cadila Pharmaceuticals (2001) 5 SCC 73
Indian Performing Right Society v. Eastern Indian Motion Pictures Association (1977) 2 SCC 820
Novartis AG v. Union of India (2013) 6 SCC 1
R.G. Anand v. Delux Films (1978) 4 SCC 118
Satyam Infoway v. Sifynet Solutions (2004) 6 SCC 145

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