Copyright Empirical Scholarship Database

It has often been pointed out that there is a deficit of data based advocacy, policy making, and in general positioning, in the popular consciousness of the Indian IP landscape and its stakeholders. Prof Shamnad Basheer has pointed this out right from the early days of the blog. And indeed, pushing for change on this front is very much central to SpicyIP’s commitment to fostering transparency and accountability in the Indian IP landscape. With this context, on Prof Shamnad Basheer’s 47th birth anniversary, we are very happy to announce the launch of the SpicyIP Empirical Scholarship Databases. At present, we have one for Copyright (below) and Patent (here). Over time, we will also add more databases for other areas of Indian IP.

The SpicyIP Empirical Scholarship Database (Copyright) aims to put together studies that have conducted empirical research in the area of Indian copyright law. In order to facilitate usage of these various studies, we have put together short comments on the central proposition and main findings from these studies, so that interested stakeholders have a grasp of what type of data is available, as well as what type of further studies or data could further be required. Currently, we have only focused on the recent past (last 15 years or so), and have 50+ entries, and we will continue to update this over time. General tips: The database’s search feature instantly searches all the entries and can be very useful. Given the size of the database, mobile view is not recommended.

Please note the following two points:
(1) The presence of any studies here do not reflect any type of endorsement of the paper or data or authors. We are simply providing data that we have found and leave it to the discretion of readers to discern how useful the data may be. Further, these comments are only meant to be indicative and it is very possible that errors may have crept in. In case you think any modifications are needed, please let us know.
(2) In case you know of other studies that could be included here, please let us know. It would also be very helpful if you could include your own brief comments on the proposition and findings of the paper.

For both the above points, as well as for anything else related to SpicyIP, you can contact us at contact [at] spicyip [dot] com

Acknowledgements to all the people who have worked on putting this together: Swaraj Barooah, Praharsh Gour, Ishant Jain, Gaurangi Kapoor, Shikhar Chauhan, Yashna Walia, Tanvi Agarwal, and Niyati Prabhu

Year	Title	Author	Comments
2023	IP India Annual Report 2021-22 (The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications India)	The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications India	Proposition: To bring forth the work done by the govt. office with regard to administrating over IP related issues, detail on the progress made with regard to pending applications, oppositions, registrations, done in the financial year. Findings: 1) Filing of copyright applications has increased by 26.74% (applications filed 30988); 2) Registration of copyright has increased by 26.06% compared to last year 3) 29106 applications were examined 4) 20673 registrations were made [5437 registrations were granted for artistic works; 233 registrations were granted for cinematograph films, 974 for Computer Software; 12867 for Literary and Dramatic work; 40 for musical work and 2332 for sound recordings] 5) 20820 applications were disposed off; 6) 94% of copyright registration applications are done online
2023	More Than Seven Billion Visits to Content Piracy Websites, Originated From India in 2022 – Ankura Piracy Statistics Report (Ankura)	Amit Jaju	Proposition: To find about online content piracy and generate a ranking of countries on the basis of its findings. Findings:: It was found that the piracy websites’ traffic for TV shows was the highest followed by the traffic for publishing content (books), films, music and software. The report also finds that India ranks third as a contributor to the content piracy websites.
2023	How Bihar is rapidly losing the libraries that it was once famous for (Frontline)	Syed Faizan Raza,Ali Fraz Rezvi	Proposition: A discussion on the dilapidating state of libraries in Bihar. Findings: The op-ed highlights that out of 540 public libraries that existed in Bihar in 1950s, only 51 are operating presently. The op-ed also highlights that the State Govt. spends 0.01 per cent of its budget on libraries.
2022	An Analytical Overview of Copyright Status in India: Concerning Top Economics of the World (Journal of Library and Information Communication Technology)	Rupak Chakravarty and Subhajit Panda	Proposition: Comprehend the changes in Indian copyright regime with regard to application and registerations. To understand the standing of India, in terms of copyright, with 15 of the world’s top GDPs. Scope: The period of research was limited from August 2017-August 2020. Findings: 1) The average monthly copyright applications received observed an upward trend from 2017 to 2019 and peaked in 2019 (1762.25), but started to decline in 2020. Whereas, the maximum monthly average copyright registrations were in 2017 (1876.00), then gradually declines from 2018 to 2020. 2) While examining the top 15 economies with Global Intellectual Property Center Ranking indicators of Category 2 (i.e., Copyrights, Related Rights, and Limitations), it was found that the US and the UK achieved the overall highest rank pertaining to copyright while Brazil, India and China occupied the bottom three positions in this category.
2022	Awareness, use and attitudes of the Indian higher educational institutions students about scholarly open access: an empirical analysis Library Management, Vol. 43 No. 6/7, pp. 476-491	Ishfaq Ahmad Palla, Arslan Sheikh, Abdul Baquee	Proposition: The paper aims to investigate the level of awareness, use and attitudes of the Indian students in higher educational institutions about scholarly open access. Findings: After conducting a survey of 212 Indian students, it was found that unfamilliarity with the OA journals and high publication fee were primary reasons for not publishing in the OA journals. However, a majority of the students reported their willingness to publish in OA journals in the future if the obstacles are removed. The paper also discusses the motivations which the respondents will consider while publishing in OA journals.
2022	Fair Use Provisions under the Indian Copyright Act: Awareness Among Librarians of Colleges and Universities in Maharashtra (Journal of Intellectual Property Rights)	Jagdish Wamanrao Khobragade and Anson C J	Proposition: To empirically test the awareness and usage of fair use provisions under the Copyright Act. Scope: Limited to the universities and colleges of Maharashtra state. Findings: Questionnaires were sent to 400 libraries of which 133 librarians from colleges and 12 university librarians participated in the study. 1) Majority of the librarians are aware about the provisions of Copyright Act. 2) Majority of the libraries allow photostatting of books but photostat of the entire book is not permitted. 3) Only 19 libraries have faced issues from the publishers with regard to copyright protection. There are other findings on libraries permitting students to take snapshots and participation of librarians in copyright related seminars etc.
2021	Visually Impaired Persons And Access To Copyrighted Works: The Indian Roadmap (Indonesian Journal of International law)	Anaja Girish and Saraswathy Vaidyanathan	Proposition: To analyze, in context of the Copyright law:- 1) Whether these provisions have been effectively used for the benefit of the visually impaired persons in India, 2) Whether there are any pertinent issues in the implementation of the earlier mentioned provisions, 3) Whether these amendments offer any ideal benefit to the disabled community, such as bringing them closer to the copyrighted material. Scope: The study was limited to Kerala, India. Findings: The findings were compiled on the basis of 16 interviews of the selected samples and secondary sources of information for additional perspective. The broad findings of the study are :- 1) Despite incorporation of necessary provisions to aid visually impaired persons, the implementation of these provisions was not done properly and thus these provisions did not aid in accessing copyright works in Kerala. 2) Lack of awareness among government officials, limited number of Braille printing press owing to high costs, other infrastructural challenges and a general lack of availability of copyright works in Malayalam substantially hindered access to copyright works in Kerala.
2021	The copyright trends in India and the level of copyright awareness among academic Librarians (Liberal Philosophy and Practise (e journal) )	Anjaneya Reddy N M	Proposition: To understand the copyright trends in India, and the level of copyright awareness among academic librarians working in Higher Educational Institutions. Scope: Scope of the study was limited to librarians in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Findings: Majority of the librarians were found to be aware about copyright law and their practices. While 63.27% of librarians were found to have basic knowledge about copyright. A marginal number of librarians at medical college libraries, university libraries and engineering college libraries were found to have better knowledge of copyright laws.
2021	Open Access Indian Publications: An Empirical Study of DOAJ (SRELS Journal of Information Management)	Subhajit Panda	Proposition: Assess the contribution of the Indian publications to the Open Access movement. Finding: Analysis was done on the basis of a dataset of 289 research publications of Indian Openly Accessible Journal, imported from the database of the Directory of Open Access Journals. While there are other findings with regard to the medium of publication, field of publication with majority of openly accessible journals and on the permissions for publications, the key findings of the paper are :- 1) Indian Journals accounted for 2% of the total coverage of the Directory of Open Access Journals. 2) In the majority of Indian Open Access journals (89%), the author neither holds the copyright nor any publishing rights without restrictions from the journal publishers and; 3) Only 2 journals satisfied the requirement of the Directory of Open Access Journals seal.
2021	Movie piracy: Displacement and its impact on legitimate sales in India (The Journal of World Intellectual Property Volume 24, Issue3-4)	Amit K. Jha, Priyanka Ranjan	Proposition: The effect of movie piracy on legitimate sales of the movies in the Indian context. Scope: The finding of the research is based on the response received from 500 students of the Delhi University Findings: The number of lost movie sales are 6,3123,667 and approximately Rs 12 billion in Indian rupees as revenue lost due to movie piracy in the year 2019.
2021	Theoretical Underpinnings of Copyright and Design Laws: Decisions of theSupreme Court of India (Journal of Intellectual Property Rights Vol 26, July 2021, pp 220-234)	Aqa Raza	Proposition: An assessment of all the concurring and dissenting opinions of the Supreme Court Judges, concerning the concept of copyright within Copyright Act and Designs Act. Finding: After assessing the 6 judgements from the Supreme Court, the study finds that in none of the cases was the constitutional validity of either of the two copyrights were challenged and the court still engaged in philosophical discourses. The paper then attributes the relevant theoretical framework to every case.
2021	A Novel Dataset Measuring Change in Copyright Exceptions (PJIP/ TLS Research Paper series)	Michael Palmedo	Proposition: The paper aims to introduce a survey based dataset that describes changes to 24 countries’ law on copyright exception, including India. Findings: (India was categorized as a Middle Income Country) The survey finds that sample countries copyright exceptions have increased over time from 1970 and that High Income countries consistently had stronger copyright exceptions than middle income ones and the gap between these subgroups have grown. The paper also finds that copyright exception pertaining to ICT sector are stronger in countries with a large ICT sector and exceptions for educational use is stronger in countries with higher education attainments.
2021	What do Indian Researchers download from Sci-Hub? (arxiv)	Vivek Kumar Singh, Satya Swarup Srichandan, Sujit Bhattacharya	Proposition:: To assess the impact of blocking sci hub, on Indian research community. Scope:: The analytical data for this study is for the year 2017. Findings:: 1) Indian researchers used Sci-Hub to download more than 5 million unique research papers amounting to a total of more than 13 million downloads; 2) 39,952 research papers are downloaded from Sci-Hub each day making India third largest country to access sci hub.
2021	The Sci-Hub Case: Why It is Time to Stop Favouring the Doctrinal Approach to Law over an Empirical One (SpicyIP)	Anshuman Sahoo & Aditi Shirpurkar	Proposition: In light of the Sci-hub litigation, the authors conducts a mini-survey of a few educational institutes to highlight the dependence of the respondents on Sci-Hub. Findings: On the basis of 154 responses, the authors find that 66% of the respondents are highly dependent on Sci-hub, which was increased to 77.3% during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
2020-2021	IP India Annual Report 2020-2021 (The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications India)	The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications India	Proposition: To bring forth the work done by the govt. office with regard to administrating over IP related issues, detail on the progress made with regard to pending applications, oppositions, registrations, done in the financial year. Findings: (1) Filing of copyright applications increased by 11.62% (2) Registration of Copyright increased by 2.3% (3) 24451 applications received (4) 21523 applications examined (5) 16399 registrations were made [Artistic 3655, Cinematograph Film 230, Computer Software 961, Literary/ Dramatic 10514, Music 69, and Sound Recording 970] (6) 19477 applications disposed in total
2020	Awareness of Copyright law among Research scholars of Karnatak University, Dharwad: A Study (The Journal of Indian Library Association)	Savitha K S, Krishnamurthy C	Proposition: The paper aims to assess the awareness of the research scholars towards copyright and determine their perception towards copyright infringement. The paper also investigates the major reasons for copyright infringement. Scope: The scope of the study is limited to research scholars at Karnatak University, Dharwad, Karnataka Findings: Majority of the respondents are aware about the copyright laws and reported that high costs, the general lack of knowledge about copyright laws and the lack of appropriate research material in the library are the reason for copyright infringement.
2020	The Case of Significant Variations in Gold-Green and Black Open Access: Evidence from Indian Research Output (Scientometrics)	Vivek Kumar Singh, Rajesh Piryani, Satya Swarup Srichandan	Proposition: Investigate open access levels in research outputs from India by analyzing data obtained from ‘Web of Science’ and other platforms like Unpaywall and Sci Hub from 2014-2018. Findings: The paper found that 24% of research output from India is available in legal forms of open access as compared to world average of about 30%. More articles are available in gold open access as compared to green and bronze. On the contrary, more than 90% of the research output from India is available for free download in Sci-Hub.
2020	The Bewildering Predicament Of Voice Actors In India: A Performers’ Rights Tragedy (Indian Journal of Intellectual Property Law 11 Indian J. Intell. Prop. L. 127 (2020))	Rohan Cherian Thomas	Proposition: The paper attempts to take forward the discussion on royalty rights to performers, by considering the case of voice over artists. Findings: The author interviewed different voice over artists to reflect on the problems faced by them in getting their royalty rights to be recognized. The paper also highlight how the industry operates and what is the role of a voice artist in it.
2019-2020	IP India Annual Report 2019-2020 (The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications India)	The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications India	Proposition: To bring forth the work done by the govt. office with regard to administrating over IP related issues, detail on the progress made with regard to pending applications, oppositions, registrations, done in the financial year. Findings: (1) Filing of copyright applications increased by 20.02 % (2) Registration of Copyright increased by 9.6% (3) 21905 applications received (4) 29670 applications examined (5) 16029 registrations were made [Artistic 4710, cinematograph 272, computer software 1057, literary and dramatic 9106, music 47, sound recordings 837] (6) 22516 applications disposed in total
2019	IPR Registration in Fashion Industry of India (Journal of Intellectual Property Rights)	Vishaka Agarwal	Proposition: Identify the reasons for low rate of IP registrations in fashion industry. Scope: Limited to Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Finding: On the basis of questionnaire responses received from 50 people, it was found that majority of the participants are aware about IP laws and protections and 53% were ‘partially satisfied’ with the associated costs involved in registration of an IP. With regard to copyright, a majority of them (82%) were in favor of initiating legal actions in case of copyright infringement.
2019	The Impact of Copyright Exceptions for Researchers on Scholarly Output (EFIL Journal of Economic Research)	Michael Palmedo	Proposition: The link between copyright exceptions for health and science researchers and their publishing output at the country-subject level was tested. Scope: The study does not assess the quality of the papers published by the authors of these countries. Findings:: India was included in the list of countries with weak copyright protection. It was found that scientists residing in countries implementing more robust research exceptions publish more papers and books in subsequent years.
2019	Plagiarism and Fair Use of Copyrighted Work: Awareness Survey among Doctoral Students of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India (Library Progress (International), Vol. 39 No. 1)	Bhanu Partap, Rajinder Kumar, Balwan Singh	Proposition: To explore the awareness about plagiarism and fair use among the doctoral students of the university. Scope: Scope of the research was limited to Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCS HAU), Hisar. Findings: While majority of the participants were aware of the concept of plagiarism, only 21.92% of participants knew about fair use. The paper also touches upon the possible reasons for plagiarism.
2018-2019	IP India Annual Report 2018-2019 (The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications India)	The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications India	Proposition: To bring forth the work done by the govt. office with regard to administrating over IP related issues, detail on the progress made with regard to pending applications, oppositions, registrations, done in the financial year. Findings: (1) Filing of copyright applications increased by 2.3 % (2) 18250 applications received (3) 22658 applications were examined. (4) 14625 registrations were made [No granular data available] (5) 7951 discrepant letters issued (6) 25943 applications disposed in total
2018	Teachers’ Awareness and Participation in Institutional Repository Movement at Assam University, Silchar (11th Convention PLANNER-2018 Tripura University, Agartala, Tripura, INFLIBNET Centre)	Susmita Das and Mukut Sarmah	Proposition: The study aims to understand the mindset of teachers towards institutional repositories and their awareness about dual copyright. Scope: The scope of the paper is limited to the teachers of Assam University Findings: After a survey of 31 responses, it was found that 80.65% of the respondents were aware about dual copyright whereas 19.35% of the respondents were hesitant in contributing their research to IR owing to copyright issues. The study also showed that though the university has implemented a functional IR but it is not frequently updated which caused hesitations among the teachers regarding IR participation and use. Openly accessible.
2018	An Empirical Study On Factors Affecting Software Piracy In The Indian Software Industry (Uttaranchal Business Review)	K R Jain, Neha Sharma	Proposition: To assess the key factors that affect the software copyright infringement in the Indian software industry. Findings: On the basis of responses received from 248 participants, it was found that The most important factor driving the IPR infringement in India is ‘Market Dynamics’, which includes the high cost of a genuine software. Other factors that were identified are the sales and distribution of pirated software being risk-free, growing use of internet, moderate technology and investment requirements, and high profitability in software piracy. Openly Accessible.
2018	Knowledge Sharing and the Sharing Economy in India (Chapter in: Innovation, Economic Development, and Intellectual Property in India and China)	Arul Scaria and Shreyashi Ray	Proposition: Assesses attitude towards knowledge sharing in India. Findings: The paper explains that while majority of the respondents are in favor of open access, they are hesitant to share their own work through open access repositories and most of them share their works on request.
2017-2018	IP India Annual Report 2017-2018 (The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications India)	The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications India	Proposition: To bring forth the work done by the govt. office with regard to administrating over IP related issues, detail on the progress made with regard to pending applications, oppositions, registrations, done in the financial year. Findings: (1) Filing of copyright applications has increased by 7.4% (2) Registration of Copyright increased by 456% (3) Final disposal of applications increased by 631% (4) 17841 applications received (5) 34388 applications examined (6) 19997 registrations were made [No granular data available] (7) 29309 discrepant letters issued (8) 39799 applications disposed in total (9) Copyright Office started displaying the applications received during the month, disposal and pendency on the office website
2017	Impact of Intellectual Property Rights on International Trade: Evidence from India (Journal of Intellectual Property Rights, Vol. 22)	Gagandeep Raizada, Sharanjit Singh Dhillon	Proposition: The purpose of the study was to detect the causal linkage between Indian trade and Intellectual Property Rights. Findings: From the period of 1996-1997 to 2013-14, share of export and import of copyright related commodities is very less and has almost remained stagnant. Openly Accessible
2016	Scholarly Use of Social Media (Annals of Library and Information Studies)	Ashraf K and Mohamed Haneefa K	Proposition: To investigate the scholarly use of social media. Social media, for this study, was defined as blogs, microblogs, wikis, SNS, online document management tools, image and video sharing sites, presentation, video conferencing, social bookmarking and bibliographic management. Scope: Scope was limited to the doctoral students of University of Kerala. Findings: Majority of the Students are not aware about the use of microblogging platforms, whereas majority of the students have used social networking sites and wikis. Copyright issues were cited as the second major hindrance in using social media after a lack of privacy and security. The other findings were on the purpose of using any specific social media and how social media are useful for scholarly activities. . Alternate link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305082705_Scholarly_Use_of_Social_Media
2016-2017	IP India Annual Report 2016-2017 (The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications India)	The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications India	Proposition: To bring forth the work done by the govt. office with regard to administrating over IP related issues, detail on the progress made with regard to pending applications, oppositions, registrations, done in the financial year. Findings: (1) 16617 applications received as opposed to 14812 in 2015-2016. (2) 16584 application were examined (3) 3596 registrations were made [No granular data available] (4) 12988 discrepant letters issued (5) 5444 applications disposed in total
2016	Knowledge Structure of IPR as Reflected by the Content Analysis of Papers Published in Journal of Intellectual Property Rights (“Journal of Intellectual Property Rights JIPR Vol.21(3) [May 2016]”)	K. C. Garg, Joohi Srivastava	Proposition: The paper analyse more than 700 papers published in the Journal of Intellectual Property Rights during 1996-2014 to have an understanding of the “knowledge structure” in the field of IPR. Findings: After assessing 710 papers published in the journal, the study found that the majority of the papers published in the journal are on “IP and related aspects (IP and its impact, IP management, IP Protection), followed by papers “Patents and patenting”, and papers on TRIPS. Least number of publications were on trademarks. 54 papers were published on copyright law.
2015	Awareness of Copyright Issues among the Academic Librarians of West Bengal: A Survey (NLU Delhi “Transforming Dimension of IPR: Challenges for New Age Libraries”)	Sutapa Chatterjee	Proposition: 1) To inquire about the difference in understanding of copyright issues among the different categories of library professionals in West Bengal; 2) To ascertain the difference in knowledge of copyright issues depending on years of experience working in libraries. Scope: Scope of the paper is limited to the seven universities located in Kolkata, West Bengal Findings: On the basis of the response from 73 participants, the study finds 1) Awareness of copyright issues varies with higher educational qualifications of the library professional and the young professionals are more aware than the older ones. 2) Academic librarians working in Journal section and Digital sections are much more aware of copyright issues than librarians in other sections.
2015	Awareness regarding plagiarism and fair use of copyrighted work: a survey amongst Doctoral Students of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow (Journal of Information Management)	Ashiya Ahmadi, & Sharad Kumar Sonkar	Proposition:: To explore and examine the level of awareness regarding plagiarism amongst the research scholars of the university. Scope: Survey was limited to the Doctoral Students of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow. Findings:: Majority of the responses received state that the respondent is aware of copyrights (98.4%). 80% of research scholars are aware that both print publication and e-resources are protected under copyright. Other data about plagiarism and open access e-resources also available.
2015	Is Europe Falling Behind in Data Mining? Copyright’s Impact on Data Mining in Academic Research (EFIL Journal of Economic Research)	Christian Handke, Lucie Guibault, Joan-Josep Vallbé	Proposition: This paper discusses the effect of different copyright arrangements on data mining (DM) by academic researchers. Finding: Though the paper is not India specific, it assessed the status of DM articles in India. It found that India’s average DM share was 0.70% in 2003-2014. In 1992-2014, it was 0.46%. Total number of DM Articles in 1992-2014 is 386.
2014	Intellectual Property Rights Awareness by Stakeholders: An Empirical Study (European Academic Research – Vol. II, Issue 8 / November 2014)	D. Gnanasekaran and S. Balamurugan	Proposition: 1) To survey the extent of awareness about various IPRs among LIS professionals working in higher educational institutions; 2.) To identify the sources and channels used for their awareness of various IPRs. Scope: Scope of the study is limited to higher education institutions of Chennai Findings: Respondents were found to be ‘well-aware’ of the Copyrights Act and formal courses were found to be the main source for gathering knowledge about copyrights in other institutions while ‘friends’ was opted as the source in government institutions to gather knowledge about copyright.
2014	Piracy and New Product Creation: A Bollywood Story (SSRN)	Rahul Telang and Joel Waldfogel	Proposition: The paper offers direct evidence of the negative impact of piracy on supply products. Findings: During 1985-2000, Indian movies generated less revenue than they had earlier, by 38 or 50 percent. The production decline provides clear indication that diminished revenue reduced the supply of new movies. The ratings data suggests that not only quantity but also quality fell when revenue was stressed by piracy.
2014	Software Patent and Open Source Software: How Big is the Door and How Wide Open? (National Law University of Delhi) Transforming Dimension of IPR: Challenges for New Age Libraries	Ravindra Chingale	Proposition: To find whether there’s awareness about copyright protection of software. Findings: 78 out of 150 respondents knew about copyright protection granted to softwares. As to whether they perceived open software as a threat, the software engineers gave a mixed reply, however, majority of both engineers and developers agreed that their IP should be protected.
2014	Practical Difficulties in Enforcement of Cyber and IPR Laws with Special reference to Cyber Video Piracy in Kolhapur District (Conference: the UGC Sponsored One Day State Level Seminar on Cyber Forensics: Issues and Challenges in Maharashtra.)	Vivek Dhupdale	Proposition: Paper attempts to critically analyse the extent of online video piracy in Kolhapur District. Scope: The period of study is from 2009-14. Finding: In only 6 police stations, out of 28, cases pertaining to video piracy were filed and have been acted upon the authorities. In only 13 cases cognizance has been taken by the authorities, against 167 cyber cafes.
2014	Chapter 4: Copyright Piracy and Consumers Insights from an Empirical Survey (Cambridge University Press)	Arul Scaria	Proposition: The Book aims to take a bottom up approach, looking at how copyright works at grassroot level, towards the assessment of copyright piracy in film industry. Findings: Upon assessing the samples it was seen that majority of the respondents find piracy to be morally wrong and are aware about its detrimental effect at macro and micro levels. However, majority of them consider the chances of enforcement actions against piracy to be low. It was also observed that respondents are exposed to offline piracy (through VCDs and DVDs) more than online piracy.
2013	Online Piracy of Indian Movies: Is the Film Industry Firing at the Wrong Target (Michigan State International Law Review)	Arul Scaria	Proposition: To assess level of online piracy in India. Findings: On the basis of 491 responses received, the author states that internet piracy may not be at a substantial level right now and the primary consumers might be residents abroad who are deprived of legitimate channels to access these contents.
2013	Copyright Awareness Of Doctoral Students In Calicut University Campus (International Journal of Digital Library Services)	Vasudevan T. M, Suchithra K. M	Proposition: To understand the copyright awareness among the doctoral students of the university. Scope: Scope of the research is limited to the doctoral students of Calicut University. Findings: Out of 120 samples collected, the findings suggest that majority of the students are aware about copyright law and its importance but not a lot of students are familiar with plagiarism.
2012	Exhausting Copyrights and Promoting Access to Education: An Empirical Take (Journal of Intellectual Property Rights)	Shamnad Basheer, Debanshu Khettry, Shambo Nandy and Sree Mitra	Proposition: Steming from the deletion of the clause legalizing parallel import of copyright work, the empirical study was conducted on two National Law Schools and one CSSS Libraries to test the claim of publishers against the parallel import clause. The main claims advanced against this provision, by the publisher lobbies, was that the latest books are available in India at affordable prices (but were acquired at prices corresponding to or higher than those prevailing in the West) and thus there is no need for a separate parallel imports provision. Findings: The two national law school libraries (NLS and NUJS) acquired around 1554 foreign book titles during the period between January 2009 and February 2011 :- 1) Each of these titles available in India were priced either equivalent to or higher than the prevalent rates in the UK and the US. 2) Of these titles, very few low priced Indian editions were available and majority of them were an edition or two behind the latest edition available in the Western counterparts. Comments: No empirical based evidence were advanced by the publishing lobbies to advance their claims.
2012/2015	Social Reception of Attribution Rights and the Effectiveness of Explicit Attribution Rights in a Copyright Statute: A Few Insights from India (SSRN)	Arul Scaria	Proposition: The paper aims to assess the social reception of attribution rights. Findings: The study finds high public support for attribution rights. However, cautions that even explicit attribution rights protection under copyright law and a pro-active judiciary may not be sufficient for adequate protection of attribution rights.
2012	“Less Is More”: New Property Paradigm In The Information Age? (Duke Law & Technology Review, Vol. 11, No. 65, 2012)	Aarthi S. Anand	Proposition: Though the paper is not for a India based proposition, it uses India as a case study to argue that innovation in software is not motivated by IP protection. Findings: In an interview with a top IT professional it was emphasized that revenues from IP does not constitute no more than 1 percent of the total revenues for any of the top Indian software firms
2012	The Background Score to the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 (NUJS LAW REVIEW 5 NUJS L.Rev. 469 (2012))	Prashant Reddy	Proposition: The paper highlights the history of conflict between artists and music labels and the contribution of Mr. Javed Akhtar, in light of the 2012 Copyright Amendment. Finding: The paper relies on information gathered from multiple RTIs and other secondary sources to highlight the manner in which the Copyright Amendment Bill was drafted and the way in which artists and composers lobbied for the amendments.
2012	Analysing the Delhi University v. Publishers Photocopying Case (SpicyIP)	Amlan Mohanty	Proposition: In light of the DU-Photocopy litigation, the author attempts to determine if the photostat copies exceed the fair dealing threshold of 10%. Findings: The author finds that the average percentage of the books copied is 8.81 percent, which is below than the 10% threshold. He further states that out of the 23 books in question, only 5 extracts exceed the 10% threshold.
2011	Why Book Piracy Matters? (Critical Twenties, available on SSRN)	Siddharth Chauhan	Proposition:: A discussion on the business of roadside “used books” retailers. Scope: The finding is limited to the interviews of vendors from Bangalore, Karnataka Finding: On the basis of the interviews, it was found that the vendors are only the front for what can sometimes be elaborate operations. The note then highlights what an elaborate operation may look like and who are the other participants therein,.
2011	Chapter: 8 India (Media Piracy in Emerging Economies by Joe Karaganis)	Lawrence Liang and Ravi Sundaram	Proposition: Explore the interaction between media market, piracy and enforcement of IP in India. Findings: Studying the trends of the media market after a ground level empirical study, the authors find that unlike other middle and low income countries, where the market is bifurcated between high price legal market and low price pirate market, India has a differentiated market place where legal players exist at all the levels, integrating aspects of informal sector.
2011	Public Libraries and Access to Knowledge (A2K): A history of open access (OA) and the Internet in India in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries* (Access to Knowledge in India: New Research on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Development ed. by Ramesh Subramanian and Lea Shaver)	Prashant Iyengar	Proposition: An Investigation on the role of libraries in the A2K movement. Findings: The chapter finds that from 2007-2011, there has been a healthy growth in terms of electronic deposit repositories by Indian universities. The chapter also highlights the progress made by digitization projects undertaken in India with aid from the government.
2011	The ‘Numbers’ continue to talk – PPL’s revenues from mobile ringtones has zoomed up by 1857% in 6 years; from Rs. 7 crores to Rs. 137 crores (SpicyIP)	Prashant Reddy	Proposition: The post highlights the substantial growth in the annual revenue of Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) from mobile ringtones. Findings: Analysing the data in PPL’s Annual Report from 2004-05 to 2009-10, the author highlights that the growth in revenue from ringtones has been from Rs. 7.06 crores to Rs. 137.8 crores (1687%). The total amount collected from mobile ringtones in this period is Rs. 360.62 crores.
2011	Exhaustion: Imports, Exports, and the Doctrine of First Sale in Indian Copyright Law (Manupatra Intellectual Property Reports, Vol.1, pp. 149-160, February 2011)	Pranesh Prakash	Proposition: The note highlights how the courts have misinterpreted the first sale doctrine and consequently have held that parallel importation is not permitted under the Indian Copyright Law. Finding: After an extensive study of decisions wherein the courts have interpreted parallel importation is not permitted under the Indian laws, the author comments on how this interpretation is faulty and suggests a way out in form of a proposed amendment to the law.
2009	Intellectual Property Management in an Ethnomusicology Archive An Empirical View from India (Report prepared for the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO))	Shubha Chaudhuri	Proposition: Survey of challenges faced by archives and museums in India with focus on IP management during “the documentation, digitization and dissemination of elements of the intangible cultural heritage.” Findings: Detailed discussions highlighting the issues of stakeholders with regard to Fieldwork, Documentation and Research, Archiving and IP, and Museums took place and were shared with the WIPO.