Legal principle

'Import' means 'bringing into India from outside India' and is not limited to importation for commerce only, but includes importation for transit across the country.

Court decision

Allowing the appeal, the Supreme Court set aside the Division Bench's judgment and restored that of the learned single Judge, in favour of Gramophone Company of India Ltd. It held that 'import' in ss.51 and 53 of the Copyright Act means 'bringing into India from outside India', that it is not limited to importation for commerce only, but includes importation for transit across the country. On the international law questions it held that rules of international law are incorporated into national law unless in conflict with an Act of Parliament, that municipal law must prevail in case of conflict, and that land-locked transit rights rest essentially on agreement, the 1965 Convention and the Indo-Nepal treaties leaving the transit state free to impose restrictions to protect industrial, literary or artistic property.

Facts

A company based in Kathmandu, Nepal imported a consignment of pre-recorded cassettes from Singapore which was lying at Calcutta Port awaiting despatch to Nepal. The appellant, Gramophone Company of India Ltd., suspected the cassettes to be unauthorised reproductions of its records and cassettes, the import of which into India was prohibited, and moved the Registrar of Copyrights for action under s.53 of the Copyright Act, 1957. As the Registrar did not act expeditiously, the appellant moved the High Court, where a single Judge made interim orders permitting inspection of the consignment, directing that infringing cassettes be kept apart, and requiring the Registrar to deal with the application in accordance with law. The consignee appealed, and a Division Bench allowed the appeal and dismissed the writ petition, holding there was no importation when goods entered India en route to Nepal. The company obtained special leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Key provisions

• Section 53, The Copyright Act, 1957 — Importation of infringing copies.
• Section 11, Customs Act, 1962 — Power to prohibit importation or exportation of goods
• Section 51, The Copyright Act, 1957 — When copyright infringed.
• Section 2(w), The Copyright Act, 1957 — Interpretation.
• Section 72, The Copyright Act, 1957 — Appeals against orders of Registrar of Copyrights.
• Section 2(23), Customs Act, 1962 — Definitions