{"id":45302,"date":"2019-01-29T16:23:15","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T10:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/one\/?p=45302"},"modified":"2025-06-19T15:50:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T10:20:51","slug":"literary-works-braille-exclusive-right-copyright-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/literary-works-braille-exclusive-right-copyright-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Literary Works to Braille &#8211; Which Exclusive Right?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I write in response to Dr. Sunanda Bharti&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/spicyip.com\/2019\/01\/is-braille-a-language-under-copyright-law-capable-of-translation-reproduction-and-adaptation.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">post<\/a> on Spicy IP, which\u00a0talks about rights granted to copyright owners of literary works, and\u00a0which right is involved in converting a literary work to Braille. In\u00a0 my opinion, the answer is not so complex as it seems. Braille is not a\u00a0 language, it is a form of expression of a language. It has the same\u00a0alphabets as the language and nothing changes except the way in which\u00a0letters are represented. So, converting a work into Braille does not amount to translation or even transliteration.<\/p>\n<p>By writing a literary work in Braille, one is making an exact copy of\u00a0the work in a different form of expression, which can be perceived by\u00a0a different sense. Therefore, by converting a work from one form to\u00a0another, like printed text to Braille, one is not altering the\u00a0contents of the work, but only its format of expression, which makes\u00a0it a reproduction. Unlike issuing copies, reproduction has a much\u00a0broader scope and covers identical content in different formats. For\u00a0example, by converting a printed book into electronic form, I am\u00a0reproducing the work, not translating it.<\/p>\n<p>When one changes the medium of the original expression, certain\u00a0alterations, modifications and re-arrangements are inevitable and\u00a0therefore, the right of adaptation is also involved. By simply<br \/>\nconverting a literary work from print to Braille, I am not only\u00a0reproducing the work, but also adapting it. It may however be argued\u00a0that adaptation does not really come into play when the work is not\u00a0altered or changed, and that argument surely holds water in certain\u00a0formats such as identical electronic copies and even Braile when\u00a0alteration does not have any impact on the perception of the original\u00a0work.<\/p>\n<p>Based on its language, Section 52(1)(zb) has all the rights required\u00a0to make works available in accessible formats. It exempts\u00a0reproduction, adaptation, issuing copies, communicating to public and\u00a0sharing for personal use and educational and research purposes.\u00a0Organisations working for persons with disabilities may exercise the said rights in order to make accessible formats available under the\u00a0exception. In the said context, most scholars do not see the need to\u00a0discuss the scope of the rights as much as other aspects of the\u00a0disability exception under Indian law.<\/p>\n<p>Recent posts on accessibility are available\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/ip-news-center\/accessibility-of-science-to-persons-with-blindness-miles-and-miles-to-go\/\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/ip-news-center\/blindness-and-accessible-books-from-marrakesh-to-marella-gunta-palem\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article analyses whether converting literary works to Braille involves reproduction or adaptation rights under Indian copyright law. It provides a structured legal perspective on the relevant copyright exceptions for accessible formats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":9,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3618,3,28,6],"tags":[7807,9663,9661,6632,9664,917,6853,9662],"class_list":["post-45302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-accessibility","category-copyrights","category-general","category-intellectual-property","tag-accessible-formats","tag-adaptation-right","tag-braille-conversion","tag-copyright-law-india","tag-disability-exception","tag-indian-copyright-act","tag-literary-works","tag-reproduction-right"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45302"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137994,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45302\/revisions\/137994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}