1. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
COPYLEFT
Anju Srinivasan
2. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
IntroductIon
Copyleft is an idea. To understand it you first
need to understand copyright.
Copyright is a law which restricts the public's
natural right to use, modify, and share creative
works such as a written report or the original
sheet music for a song. It also covers works
such as poetry, movies and computer software.
The work may be published or unpublished but it
is placed under copyright restriction the very
moment the work is authored.
3. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
EVoLutIon
Pre-
1992
The Copyright
Act, 1957
Life +50
Post-
1992
Amendment of
1992
Life +60
Post
2012
Copyright
Amendment Act,
2012
Even
photographs
get Life +60
4. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
orIgIn of copyLEft
There were certain drawbacks in Copyright which
led to the origin of Copyleft.
Need for free access to ideas
Lack of incentivisation
Danger of Monopolization
5. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
tHE concEpt
Copyright is more like a monopoly than a property.
The protection it offers creative people are thin
and unreliable at best, at the cost of propping up a
system for exploitation. Now various arguments
have been propagated that this monopolization
locks away knowledge from the public, that it hurts
free speech and basically doesn’t help anyone at
all other than the copyright holder. This whole
arrangement of exclusivity lead to the origin of the
practice of offering people the right to freely
distribute copies and modified versions of a work
with the stipulation that the same rights be
preserved in derivative works down the line. Such
arrangement came to be known as copyleft.
6. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
Copyleft uses Copyright law , but flips it over to
serve the opposite of its usual purpose. Instead
of fostering privatization, it becomes a guarantee
that everyone has the freedom to use, copy,
distribute and modify software or any other work.
It can be seen that copyleft emerged out of
hackers ethic, in pursuit of knowledge for
knowledge’s sake.
If someone releases a novel under the copyleft
license and a publishing house prints it and
makes a profit off the author’s work, there is
nothing wrong with this as long as copyleft is
passed down.
8. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
ECONOMIC BENEFITS
The economic incentives to work on copyleft
content can vary. Traditional copyright law is
designed to promote progress by providing
economic benefits to creators. When choosing to
copyleft their work, content creators may seek
complementary benefits like recognition from their
peers. Copyleft software has economic effects
beyond the individual creators. The presence of
quality copyleft software can force commercial
producers to increase the quality of their
products, which must compete with free software.
This may also have the effect of preventing large
commercial entities from applying monopoly
9. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
COPylEFT lICENSE
The concept of Copyleft is usually implemented in
the details of a specific copyright license, such as
the GNU General Public License and the Creative
Commons Attribution Share Alike License.
Copyright holders of creative work can unilaterally
implement these licenses for their own works to
build communities that collaboratively share and
improve those copylefted creative works.
Copyleft attempts to create a commons based on
reciprocal rights and responsibilities- those who
want to share the common resources have certain
ethical obligations to respect the rights of other
users. Everyone can add to the commons, but no
one may subtract from it.
10. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
GNu GENERAl PuBlIC
lICENSE
Copyleft type licenses are a novel use of existing
copyright law to ensure a work remains freely
available. The GNU General Public License,
originally written by Richard Stallman, was the
first software copyleft license to see extensive
use, and continues to dominate in that area.
GNU is not in the public domain. Everyone will be
permitted to modify and redistribute GNU, but no
distributor will be allowed to restrict its further
redistribution. That is to say, proprietary
modifications will not be allowed.
11. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
GPL
Stallman justified software sharing, protesting
that when sharing, the software online can be
copied without the loss of the original piece of
work. Everyone is a winner. The software can be
used multiple times without ever being damaged
or wearing out.
As Stallman deemed it impractical in the short
term to eliminate current copyright law and the
wrongs he perceived it perpetuated, he decided
to work within the framework of existing law. In
1985, he created his own copyright license,
which evolved into the GNU General Public
License, which is now one of the most popular
Free Software licenses.
12. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
CREATIVE COMMONS &
COPYLEFT.ORG
Creative Commons, a non-profit
organization founded by Lawrence Lessig.
Creative Commons provides free tools that let
authors, scientists, artists and educators easily
mark their creative works with the freedoms they
want it to carry. You can use CC to change your
copyright terms from ‘All Rights Reserved’ to
‘Some Rights Reserved’.
Similarly, copyleft.org is a collaborative project to
create and disseminate useful information,
tutorial material and new policy ideas regarding
all forms of copyleft licensing.
13. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
FREE SOFTWARE
Free software means software that respects
user’s freedom and community. Roughly it
means that users have the freedom to run,
distribute, copy, study, change and improve the
software. Free software is a matter of liberty and
not price. It is synonymous with free speech.
A program is free software if the program's users
have the four essential freedoms:
1) to use it for any purpose,
2) to know how it works,
3) to improve it by modifying, and
4) to share or propagate or distribute the modified
code to others.
14. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
CASE LAW
Apple Computer Inc., v. Frankline computer
Corporation (714 F.2d 1240)
In this case it was held that the definition of
‘literary’ includes computer programmes as ‘works
of authorship’.
Section 2(o) in The Copyright Act 1957: “literary
work includes tables compilations and computer
programmes…”
This is a problem as copyrighted software code
ensconces ideas and blocks access to matter
which does not belong to the software coder. All
the information is digitized whereas the key
remains only in the hands of a few.
15. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
STRONG & WEAK
COPYLEFT
The strength of the copyleft governing a work is an
expression of the extent that the copyleft provisions
can be efficiently imposed on all kinds of derived
works. Weak copyleft refers to licenses where not
all derived works inherit the copyleft license. Weak
copyleft licenses are generally used for the creation
of software libraries, to allow other software to link
to the library, and then be redistributed without the
legal requirement for the work to be distributed
under the library's copyleft license. Only changes to
the weak-copylefted software itself become subject
to the copyleft provisions of such a license. This
allows programs of any license to be compiled and
linked against copylefted libraries and then
16. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
CONCLUSION
The Copyright law clearly states that works that
are restricted by copyright cannot be copied or
modified without the permission of the Copyright
holder and this includes reproducing the work in
another medium. Nothing forces someone to
publish their work, but once they do the public
should have the right to use, modify and share it
and this is normally done by way of a license.
Under copyleft, the author claims a copyright on
the work and makes a statement in the form of a
license that other people have the right to use,
modify and share the work so long as their
modified versions are put under the same license
and anyone receiving a copy of the work must be
17. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
CONCLUSION
The basic aim of copyleft is to develop a more
permissive regime that allows for the creation of a
shared space of commons from which everyone
can derive benefit. The fact that the current
generation is guilty of copyright violations in some
form or the other is indicative of an untenable
legal position.
I urge you all to gain more awareness about this
concept and spread the word around, and
exercise your freedom by opting for free software
for all your work, and participate in it to help
ourselves sustain our culture and knowledge
forever.
18. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
THANK YOU
19. CHENNAI
3rd Floor, ‘Creative Enclave’,
148-150, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore,
Chennai - 600 004.
Tel: +91 - 44 - 2498 4821
BANGALORE
Suite 920, Level 9,
Raheja Towers,
26-27, M G Road,
Bangalore - 560 001.
Tel: +91 - 80 - 6546 2400
COIMBATORE
#1533, Trichy Road,
Coimbatore – 641018.
Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921
HYDERABAD
Suite 132 & 133,
Level 1, Midtown,
Road No 1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad - 500034.
Tel: +91 - 40 - 6050 6009
EMAIL
info@altacit.com
WEBSITE
www.altacit.com
DISCLAIMER
Any copyrighted material in this presentation is
used in fair use for the purpose of study, review or
critical analysis only, and will be removed at the
request of the copyright owner(s).
