Fair Dealing in India: An Analysis vis-à-vis Fair Use in the United States

One form of intellectual property that has seen tremendous growth in recent times is copyright. The main objective of copyright protection is to encourage authors to create and give them the opportunity to profit from their hard work. However, since the ultimate aim of the copyright law is to promote, advance and disseminate knowledge in the public interest, copyright exceptions and limitations are the main mechanisms for ensuring a fair balance between the competing interests of copyright owners on one side and the public on the other. The most important and significant restriction on the exclusive rights of holder of a copyright is the exception of ‘fair dealing’. Section 52 of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 contains the provisions relating to ‘fair dealing’. It is a list of potential defences against a claim that an exclusive copyright has been violated. As opposed to the equivalent American concept of ‘fair use’, any act that does not fit into one of the specified categories is not subject to ‘fair dealing’. This paper aims to draw points of differences between ‘Fair Dealing’ in India and ‘Fair Use’ in the USA. The objective of the paper is to analyse both doctrines and their scope and lacunae if any, in respective countries.