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Database access: the subscription fee is not taxable
by Piyush Gupta 08 Nov '12

08 Nov '12

Dear All Please see the link below: http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/cjs0pKtmTJZGGy4hAiyN9J/Database-access-the-… A number of international companies are engaged in the business of data collation/organization and creation of databases and software. With the growth in the Indian financial services and software sector, Indian companies in these sectors often subscribe to such databases to know the international best practices, research reports, etc. Typically, the business arrangement is such that the customer would be given a non-exclusive licence for access to the vendor’s database on payment of an annual subscription fee. The issue that arises from a direct tax perspective is whether the payment of subscription charges to access such databases would be characterized as royalty income and would consequently trigger a withholding tax. *Also Read *Ketan Dalal and Manish Desai’s earlier columns<http://www.livemint.com/Articles/Authors.aspx?author=Ketan%20Dalal%20and%20…> The Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR), in a case of FactSet Research Systems Inc., US (FactSet), said in a 30 June ruling that such subscription charges received by FactSet should not be subject to tax in India. In this context, it would be relevant to mention that the Madhya Pradesh high court, in the case of *CIT v. HEG Ltd, *dealing with the issue of payments made for the purchase of confidential data, has held that every information would not have the status of royalty. Although this decision deals with the purchase of data, its observation that every information should not have the status of royalty merely because of its commercial nature provides guidance on the taxability of transactions to access information/data even under the licensing arrangement. AAR, in the case of Dun and Bradstreet Espana S.A., has also held that payments for providing access to business information reports were not royalties or fee for technical services. The Bangalore tribunal in the case of *Wipro Ltd v. Income-tax officer* has held that payments made by Wipro Ltd towards annual subscription charges to Web-based foreign publishing houses for access to their databases would not be taxable as royalty under the Act or treaty. *FactSet case* FactSet is a company incorporated in the US. It maintains a database which is located outside India. This database contains financial information and other data on a large number of companies worldwide that is available in the public domain. FactSet enters into a master client licence agreement with customers under which it grants limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable rights to use its database, software tools, etc., and charges a subscription fee for this. FactSet does not carry out any business operations in India. FactSet sought a ruling from AAR on the following: • Whether the subscription fee received by it would be taxable in India under the provisions of the Act or the India-US Tax Treaty? • If the income is not taxable in India, whether its customers in India would have to withhold taxes under section 195 of the Act? • If FactSet has no other taxable income in India, whether it would be required to file its return of income in India? FactSet collates information/data available by applying its own methodology. This methodology is outside the public domain and the copyright in them is not transferred or licensed to the subscribers, who are only granted the right to view the information or access the database while online. Thus, subscribers are granted a right to use the copyrighted database and not the copyright in the database. After placing reliance on certain judicial precedents, FactSet contended that subscription fee received is not taxable as “royalty” under the Act/treaty. It was also contended that subscription fee is in the nature of “business income” and hence, in the absence of private equity in India, it is not taxable in India. Consequently, subscribers are not required to withhold taxes before making payments to the applicant. *Contention of revenue* The subscription fee paid to FactSet is for rights specified under the Copyright Act, 1957 [CP Act]. As per section 14(a)(i) of the CP Act (relating to reproducing and storing data) and section 14(a)(vi) (relating to right to adaptation of data), FactSet has granted rights in respect of “literary works” (including computer databases) to customers. Therefore, the applicant transfers the rights in the copyright of the database and hence, the subscription fees are “royalty” in nature. The subscription fee is for imparting any information on technical, industrial, commercial or scientific knowledge, experience or skill as per Article 12 of the tax treaty and hence, “royalty” in nature. Subscription fee could also be for the use of, or right to use, any industrial, commercial or scientific equipment as the server containing the database is used by customers as a point of interface. *Ruling of AAR* Subscription fee is not royalty. AAR relied on OECD commentaries and held that the payment to access databases is in the nature of business income, not royalty. The commentaries state that when the provider makes a repository of information available for customers to search and retrieve, or where special industry or investment reports are either sent or made available for purchase and download from an online catalogue or index, the payments made will be considered business income (falling within Article 7 of the tax treaty). Thus, AAR held that subscription fee received by FactSet is not royalty income on the following premise: • FactSet enters into a “non-exclusive” licence agreement with the customer whereby the customer is not granted the exclusive right to reproduce or adapt the work or distribute the contents of the database to others. • No proprietary rights or exclusive rights (that FactSet has in the database) are transferred to the subscriber. • FactSet doesn’t share its experience, techniques or the methodology employed in evolving the database with its subscribers and does not impart any information relating to this. • Subscription fee cannot be considered to be towards the use of “scientific equipment” as it is paid to make use of the facility to access the data/information collected and collated by the applicant in the database. • In the absence of PE, the subscription fee received by FactSet is not liable to be taxed in India as “business income”. FactSet does not have any obligation to file returns of income in India as the income is not liable to be taxed in India either as royalty or as business income. *Summary* This welcome ruling has upheld the view that subscription charges for accessing a database under a non-exclusive licence should not be characterized as royalty again. A string of judicial decisions has now established that such payment is not royalty. Given that Indian companies are also developing databases and are increasingly becoming recipients of such subscription fees from abroad, this will also enable such amounts not to be subjected to withholding tax in the overseas payer countries. *Ketan Dalal is executive director and Manish Desai is associate director, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Your comments and feedback are welcome at groundrules(a)livemint.com* *regards* * * *Piyush Kumar Gupta* *Emerald Group Publishing (India) Pvt Ltd* -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Fwd: Questionnaire on Open Access publishing
by Dimple Patel 08 Nov '12

08 Nov '12

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Prof. Thomas Eger <thomas.Eger(a)uni-hamburg.de> Date: 7 November 2012 18:38 Subject: Questionnaire on Open Access publishing To: tvk2k4(a)gmail.com Dear colleague, Together with my doctoral student, Marc Scheufen, I have created a questionnaire on the experience of academic scholars with and their perception of open access publishing. One of our objectives is to examine the commonalities and differences between the academic disciplines. For this purpose, we have conducted a pretest in all faculties of the University of Hamburg, which has been already completed and statistically evaluated. The interesting results encouraged us to extend the survey to all German universities and research institutions. Further surveys are planned for other European countries, the US and Australia. Since India is worldwide the number four in publishing academic open access journals we decided, in co-operation with Prof. Babu from the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, to extend the survey to Indian universities and research institutions. We would kindly ask you to complete the questionnaire which you will find under the following link: http://www.equestionnaire.de/?q=10262 The completion of the questionnaire will take you around 10 minutes. Your participation will help to provide valuable information regarding the recent discussion on how to organize the dissemination of academic publications in a globalized and digital knowledge society. Thank you for your support! With kind regards, Thomas Eger -- Prof. Dr. Thomas Eger Vice-Dean for Research and International Affairs Director, Institute of Law & Economics University of Hamburg Rothenbaumchaussee 36, D-20148 Hamburg Tel +49- (0)40-42838-6777 Fax +49- (0)40-42838-6794 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Fw: [GOAL] {Disarmed} Major upgrade for the Open Access Tracking Project (OATP)
by Subbiah Arunachalam 08 Nov '12

08 Nov '12

----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Peter Suber <peter.suber(a)gmail.com> To: SOAF post <sparc-oaforum(a)arl.org>; BOAI Forum post <boai-forum(a)ecs.soton.ac.uk>; GOAL post <goal(a)eprints.org> Sent: Saturday, 8 September 2012, 11:52 Subject: [GOAL] {Disarmed} Major upgrade for the Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) * Announcement (cross-posted) * The Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) is starting a transition to TagTeam, a new and more versatile tagging platform. This is a significant improvement to the project, and may also count as long-awaited. At least I've been looking forward to this day for more than two years. OATP is a social-tagging project I launched in April 2009 with the twofold purpose of alerting readers to new OA developments and organizing knowledge about OA. For more about OATP, see the project home page <bit.ly/oatrackingproject> or my article about the project in SOAN for May 2009 <MailScanner has detected definite fraud in the website at "goo.gl". Do not trust this website: http://goo.gl/f6cVe>. TagTeam is a new open-source tagging service I developed with Dan Collis-Puro at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. For more about TagTeam, see the TagTeam site <tagteam.harvard.edu/> or my short introduction <bit.ly/tagteam-about>, "What is TagTeam?" OATP readers follow new OA developments by reading one or more project feeds, and OATP taggers tag new OA developments for themselves and for readers. Until now, both kinds of OATP participant had to use Connotea, the tagging platform from the Nature Publishing Group. The transition means that readers should switch from Connotea feeds to TagTeam feeds, and that taggers are now free to use other tagging platforms, such as Delicious, CiteULike, Connotea, or TagTeam itself. If you've previously participated in OATP as a reader or tagger, it's easy to continue to participate. If you haven't previously participated, it's easy to get started. For the details, see our handout on the transition. http://oad.simmons.edu/oadwiki/Transition_to_TagTeam Here's a quick summary of the transition handout: (1) To participate as a reader If you subscribe to any OATP feeds from Connotea, it's time to switch to the counterpart feeds from TagTeam. If you've never subscribed to the OATP feed, this is a good time to start. The feed is available in RSS or Atom, and will soon be available by email, Twitter, and other formats. Here are the RSS and Atom versions of the primary project feed: http://tagteam.harvard.edu/remix/oatp/items.rss http://tagteam.harvard.edu/remix/oatp/items.atom If you want to read the feed without subscribing, just visit the HTML version whenever you'd like to catch up on what the project taggers have discovered. http://tagteam.harvard.edu/remix/oatp Starting September 17, my assistants and I will stop tagging for OATP through Connotea. Starting then, the Connotea project feeds will become less and less comprehensive. The only way to get comprehensive OATP feeds will be through TagTeam. Please use the next ten days to subscribe to the new TagTeam feeds of your choice. For the next ten days, my assistants and I will tag new developments in both Connotea and TagTeam. Hence, neither early-switchers nor late-switchers should miss anything. Also on September 17, the OATP Twitter feed <twitter.com/oatp> will switch from the Connotea source to the TagTeam source. (2) To participate as a tagger If you previously used Connotea to tag new items for OATP, you may continue to tag from Connotea if you like. Or you may switch to a different tagging platform, such as Delicious or CiteULike. You may switch to any tagging platform that generates RSS or Atom feeds for each tag. Or you may tag directly from TagTeam. It's your choice, and you may use more than one platform if you like. All you have to do is notify us so that OATP can subscribe to the feed of items you tag for the project. OATP will then braid those items together with items tagged by others, remove duplicates, merge the tags, and make the resulting feeds available to project readers. For details on how to tag for OATP from the tagging platform of your choice, see the transition handout. http://oad.simmons.edu/oadwiki/Transition_to_TagTeam The development of TagTeam 1.0 focused on architecture, basic functions, and efficiency, not the elegance of the look and feel. Version 2.0 will add a slew of new features and include an aesthetic makeover. We're still near the start of this exciting project. Review of the basic links: * Transition to TagTeam, <MailScanner has detected definite fraud in the website at "goo.gl". Do not trust this website: http://goo.gl/rqz0i> * What is TagTeam? <bit.ly/tagteam-about> * TagTeam itself, <tagteam.harvard.edu/> * OATP itself, <bit.ly/oatrackingproject> Also see the version of this announcement on my blog at G+. https://plus.google.com/109377556796183035206/posts/2NdDHncTLvN Thanks, Peter Peter Suber Director, Harvard Open Access Project Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society Senior Researcher, SPARC bit.ly/suber-gplus _Open Access_, MIT Press, 2012 <bit.ly/oa-book> _______________________________________________ GOAL mailing list GOAL(a)eprints.org http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Retro-Conversion of Bangla/Assamese/Sindhi/Malayalam Language Books.
by Sufian Ahmad 08 Nov '12

08 Nov '12

Dear Professionals! Sahitya Akademi Library is in the process of Retro-Conversion of language books (Bangla/Assamese/Sindhi/Malayalam). Professionals having knowledge of MARC 21 and basic typing knowledge of the concerned language may contact the urgently. Payment will be made on entry basis. The Librarian, Sahitya Akademi, Rabindra Bhawan, 35, Ferozshah Road, Mandi House, New Delhi-110001 Contact No. 011-23387386 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Workshop on Use of Open Source Platforms and Systems in Library at New Mumbai on 9th and 16th December, 2012
by Dattatray Phadke 08 Nov '12

08 Nov '12

Dear Sir, Kindly arrange to post the following message to all LIS Forum members . Thanks Phadke Dear Librarians and LIS Professionals, Pillai Centre for Advances in Library Information Technology and Research ,New Panvel,New Mumbai is set to organise above workshop as apart of their PGDILIT course 2012-13.The workshop would be* on 9th and 16 the December,2012 at New Mumbai*.With a view to give opportunity to others we invite participation to this workshop by interested librarians and LIS professionals against registration fee.One can see the details of workshop contents etc by visiting following link: http://www.piit.ac.in/departments/pgdilit/pgdilitworkshops.asp We expect that interested librarians and library professionals would avail this opportunity and librarians would motivate their colleagues and staff to attend the workshop -- Thanking you, D.N.Phadke,Ph.D. Coordinator,PGDILIT Consultant Librarian,PIIT Dr.K.M. Vasudevan Pillai Campus Sector 16,New Panvel,New Mumbai,Mumbai 410206 Contact Phone No.022-27451700/6100, 022-27463739( Extn.151) Mob.+919869786186 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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KLA Talks in connection with National Library Week 2012
by faisal sl 07 Nov '12

07 Nov '12

Dear All, Kerala Library Association (KLA <http://www.keralalibraryassociation.org>) cordially invite you to the Talks to be organized by its State and Regional Committees in connection with the National Library Week 2012. 1. Invited Talk on *“Is library & Information Profession at the cross road?” *by *Dr. Kaiser M. Khan*, *Associate Professor, Dept of Library and Information Science, Mangalore University* on 16 Nov. 2012 at 3 pm at the DLIS Lecture Hall, Kerala University Library, Palayam, Thiruvananthapuram, to be organized by KLA State Committee. 2. Invited Talk on “*Re-engineering Library Services*” by *Dr. M.D. Baby*, *Professor and Head, DLIS, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences* on 16 Nov. 2012 at 10.30 am at MG University Library Hall, to be organized by KLA Kottayam Region (For details contact Mr Vimal Kumar V., Secretary, KLA Kottayam Region, Mob: 9846496323) 3. Invited Talk on “*Impact of Mass media on Reading*” by *Mrs Priya A.S., **famous Malayalam novelist and short story writer *on 21 Nov. 2012 at 3 pm at Library Hall, Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), Cochin, to be organized by KLA Ernakulam Region (For details contact Mr P.J. Manuel, Secretary, KLA Ernakulam Region, Mob: 9496276307 *) * With regards S.L.Faisal General Secretary Kerala Library Association <http://www.keralalibraryassociation.org%20>(KLA) Thiruvananthapuram-695 004 Kerala, India Ph.09447699724 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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IASLIC XXV National Seminar- Dec. 10-13, 2012-reminder
by Shibu.K.M 07 Nov '12

07 Nov '12

Dear Professional Colleagues, Ananda Rangapillai Library, Pondicherry University, Puducherry in association with Indian Association of Special Libraries and Information Centres (IASLIC) is organizing *IASLIC XXV National Seminar* on the theme *“Intellectual Property Rights: **Problems and Prospects with Special Reference to Library and Information Services”* during December 10-13, 2012. The venue of the Seminar will be Pondicherry University, Puducherry. We request you to kindly participate in the seminar and make it a grand success. For registration and accommodation please log on to http://lib.pondiuni.edu.in/iaslic2012 Thanks and regards K.M. Shibu Assistant Librarian University Library Pondicherry University Puducherry-605 014 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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openings for the position of library trainees
by RAJENDRA SINGH 07 Nov '12

07 Nov '12

Dear Professional Colleagues, Kindly bring the following announcement to the notice of interested candidates. Thanks & regards, Rajendra Singh Assistant Manager (Lib.& Info.Service) IIIT-Delhi, Okhla Phase III New Delhi-110020, India -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Openings for the position of Library Trainees in IIITD Library & Information Centre The Institute invites applications for the position of Library Trainee (s) on purely contract basis. Required Qualification: Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline with Certificate/Diploma/ Degree in Library and Information Science. Maximum Age Limit: 25 Years (As on 31.10.2012) Stipend: Between Rs.8,000/- and Rs.10,000/- p.m. depending upon qualification, experience etc. Selected trainees will be trained in various aspects of Library such as Acquisition, Cataloguing, Classification, Serial Control, New subscription/Renewal of Print and Electronic Journals, Circulation, Reference Service, Working on Institute Archive/Institutional Repository, RFID etc. The Library and Information Center may remain open till late hours on holidays and weekends. The Institute shall, however, try to accommodate schedule constraints. Interested candidates may send their resume along with a recent color passport size photograph via e-mail at library[at]iiitd.ac.in latest by 22.11.2012 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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A special article tracing HBR Magazine's 90-Year History
by Venkata Kesavan 07 Nov '12

07 Nov '12

Dear Friend, You may like to read the special article, entitled, 'Inventing HBR' by Julia Kirby, published in the Harvard Business Review South Asia, November 2012, pp. 74 - 78. This special article traces the 90-year history of the world-renowned Harvard Business Review magazine, since its genesis in 1922. This is worth reading for fellow LIS professionals. One can currently access this article online from the HBR - Global website at: <http://hbr.org/2012/11/inventing-hbr/ar/1> http://hbr.org/2012/11/inventing-hbr/ar/1 Regards, R. VENKATA KESAVAN DGM & HEAD TIMES ARCHIVES & KNOWLEDGE CENTRE (TAKC) THE TIMES GROUP THE TIMES OF INDIA BUILDING, 2ND FLOOR DR. D. N. ROAD MUMBAI 400 001 PH: (B): +91-22-66353535 (EXT.: 4470) CELL: 09323812172 TAKC - Knowledge is Our Heritage EoM -- Make Smarter Career Decisions. Find out which company, role and industry is right for you. Visit jobbuzz.timesjobs.com to find out. Get company reviews and ratings, salary details, interview information, interview questions and more Disclaimer :----- The information in this e-mail and any attachments is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee or addressees. If you are not an intended recipient, please delete the message and any attachments and notify the sender of misdelivery. Any use or disclosure of the contents of either is unauthorised and may be unlawful. All liability for viruses is excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender states them, with requisite authority, to be those of the specific TIMES GROUP company. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Vacancy for the post of Assistant Librarian at TISB
by Benny M D 07 Nov '12

07 Nov '12

Dear Moderator, Kindly post the below job opening (Assistant Librarian )information to the LIS-Forum . Thank you Benny M.D. HoD, Department of Library TISB -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Professionals, I am writing to you from The International School Bangalore (TISB). We are a reputed and expanding coeducational, secular, Pre Kg-Grade XII international residential school in Bangalore, certified by The International Baccalaureate Organization, Geneva and University of Cambridge, UK. TISB is a part of a chain of institutions of the NPS group of schools which are located in Bangalore, Chennai and Singapore. Our schools are as follows: 1. NPS Rajajinagar - www.npsrnr.com 2. NPS Indiranagar - www.npsinr.com 3. NPS Chennai - www.npschennai.com 4. NAFL - www.npsinr.com/index.php?file=other_branches_nps_nafl 5. TISB- www.tisb.org 6. NPS Koromangala - www.npskrm.com 7. NPS International School Singapore - www.npsinternational.com.sg 8. NPS HSR- www.npshsr.com To propel its academic, co-curricular and pastoral support programmes and to manage its campus, TISB is looking for an Assistant Librarian to join its team of faculty. An Applicant must: • Complete a minimum one year full time Apprentice Training after the completion of MLISc in leading educational institutions • Work experience in any of the major Library Management Software like SLIM, LIBSYS, Koha, Greenstone etc. • Practical knowledge in Library Classification Systems like DDC/ UDC / Library of Congress • Have excellent written and oral communication abilities in English. • Enjoy working in a multi-cultural environment. • Have great openness to learn and innovate constantly. • Be computer savvy and comfortable with the use of technology. • Contribute to the richness of life in the boarding houses. • Enjoy the synergy of teamwork. • Delight in spontaneity and share the interests of youngsters. Applicants confident of making a substantial contribution to this remarkable international school of proven quality and looking to make long term careers should send detailed Curriculum Vitae with two references, a recent passport size photograph, copies of relevant certificates and a one page essay on ‘How you will contribute to TISB” If applying by email, please indicate the position applied for in the subject line and address to: hr(a)tisb.ac.in Best wishes, --------------------------------------------------- Lenora Fernandes HR & PR Executive The International School Bangalore [TISB] INDIA www.tisb.org Phone: +91-80-22634900 Fax: +91-80-27822553 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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