Impact Of Digitisation On Reproduction Right: How Fair Are Access Control Measures?

Right of reproduction is one of the most important rights of the copyright holder. However the exact notion or interpretation of what would constitute reproduction within the copyright regime is not provided in any major international copyright instrument. Even the Berne convention which was the first major convention to formally recognise the right of reproduction only talks about the exclusive nature of the right rather than defining it.¹ Under the 1976 USA Copyright Act, copies and phone records can be considered to form the equivalent of reproduction. Its Indian counterpart Indian copyright Act, 1957 provides reproduction right to almost all categories of copyrightable work, but nowhere defines reproduction and merely stipulates that the work should be conveyed in a form suitable for reproduction.²