---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Pranesh Prakash Date: Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 1:52 PM Subject: Urgent: Librarians' help needed to legalize parallel imports To: Subbiah Arunachalam Subject: [oadl] Fwd: Urgent: Librarians' help needed to legalize parallel imports Dear Prof. Arunachalam, Krithika, and Gopa, Could you please circulate this amongst all the librarians and library associations that you know, and if possible follow up with them? I was told that we can also circulate this among the Koha, the LIS India and the LibTech mailing lists. Thanks. Regards, Pranesh ===== Dear all, Among the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act is a proposal to legalize parallel importation of books into India. This provision is now under threat because a publishers association convinced the HRD Minister (Kapil Sibal, who is in charge of copyright law) that no one is calling for parallel importation. The Copyright Office told me that we need to get in touch with the Minister by today if parallel importation is to be considered. Could you ask whichever libraries and library organizations you know to send in letters to the Minister today itself? I have attached a letter that could serve as a template. # What is Parallel Importation? Parallel importation allows books that are (legally) bought overseas to be imported into India without asking the copyright owners permission. Without parallel importation being allowed, purchases made by libraries from foreign sellers (for instance on the Internet) are rendered illegal. International organizations like the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL), and Consumers International all support parallel importation, especially in developing countries. # What can be done to safeguard parallel importation? E-mail: Mr. Kapil Sibal: hrm@nic.in BCC: pranesh@cis-india.org (so that he can quote them when he speaks to journalists). You can fax the letter to: +91 11 23382365 To call him at his office numbers: +91 11 23782698 +91 11 23782387 And to follow it up with a letter sent by registered post to: Kapil Sibal Minister for Human Resource Development Room No 301 Shastri Bhawan Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road New Delhi - 110 001 If they need help, I have written more extensively about why we need parallel importation here: http://goo.gl/7MiMf Pranesh can be contacted at: +91 9916158217. -- Pranesh Prakash Programme Manager Centre for Internet and Society W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.