A case of plagiarism related to a doctoral thesis may not sustain legal scrutiny for copyright violation as the researcher could always raise the fair use principle, observed legal experts.
“The case may not stand in a court unless there is a substantial copying from the original material. The researcher concerned could argue that the limited copying was done for personal, private and research purposes,” said Prof. N.S. Gopalakrishnan, an internationally-renowned expert in intellectual property rights and MHRD Chair Professor on IPR at the Cochin University of Science and Technology. But the original author could still invoke Section 57 of the Copyright Act, 1957, citing infringement of his special rights, better known as ‘Moral Rights’ for violation of right of attribution. Prof. Gopalakrishnan said that the author can initiate both civil and criminal remedies under the copyright for violation of his special rights.
The author will have the right to claim authorship of the work and to restrain or claim damages in respect of any distortion, mutilation, modification or other act in relation to the said work which is done before the expiration of the term of copyright if such distortion, mutilation, modification or other act would be prejudicial to his honour or reputation, according to the Act.
