Copyrighted Standards available for free download - Is there a caveat?

[Reg Morrison]

Very interesting. Technically they are making the national Indian Standard available for free. The only "problem" for ISO is the fact that the IS document contains the ISO standard word for word. I would think that ISO would have a major heartburn with this arrangement because, if this gets widely known, nobody would ever pay to buy an ISO Standard if they can have the IS equivalent document for free.

I predict a legal fight between ISO and BIS.

 

[Marcelo]

Heh, just noted the problem. Those standards are made available by the shady guy from resource.org (it?s on a stamp on the first page), not by the Indian Government.

The RTI act is, like all such acts, related to disclose of public information by the government on request, not to display documents such as these.

So yes, I would say this is still piracy.

 

[Marcelo]

I predict a legal fight between ISO and BIS.

They are already fighting the guy from resource.org.

 

[Wes Bucey]

FWIW:
I googled using the following
ISO Standards pdf "Bureau of Indian Standards"
and the first item on the list was found at (https://law.resource.org/pub/in/bis/S07/is.iso.9001.2008.pdf)
It included this information on page five of thirty-seven pages (I have redacted the spacing, font, and line breaks to offset the locked-in ones on the pdf file.):

NATIONAL FOREWORD
This Indian Standard (Third Revision) which is identical with ISO 9001 : 2008 'Quality management systems — Requirements' issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was adopted by the Bureau of Indian Standards on the recommendation of the Quality Management Sectional Committee and approval of the Management and Systems Division Council.

This standard was first published in 1988 and subsequently revised in 1994 and 2000. This third revision of the standard was necessitated because of the publication of the revised version of ISO9001 in the year 2008.

This third revision of IS/ISO 9001 cancels and replaces the second revision (IS/ISO 9001 : 2000), which has been amended to clarify points in the text and to enhance compatibility with IS/ISO 14001 : 2004 'Environmental management systems — Requirements with guidance for use'.

Details of the changes between the second revision and this third revision are given in Annex B-.

 

[Chennaiite]

Question - if they are available in the public domain, why in the BIS website - https://www.standardsbis.in/Gemini/home/Home.action# they are sold?

I don't know. It is with this curiosity I am raising this subject here.

 

[Marcelo]

In fact, it carries a disclosure from the Indian Government as the first page.

The disclosure is from the shady guy from resource.org, not from the Indian government.

 

[Chennaiite]

Heh, just noted the problem. Those standards are made available by the shady guy from resource.org (it?s on stamp on the first page), not by the Indian Government.

The RTI act is, like all such acts, related to disclose of public information by the government on request, not to display documents such as these.

So yes, I would say this is still piracy.

If this is not the official website, my apologies I misunderstood. But what surprises me is such pirated documents can go scot-free out there in the websites.

 

[Marcelo]

Let me try to wrap this in an easier way:

The guy from resource.org thinks that a lot of information, such as standards, should be public domain.

He usually distorts reality in his way to make this be real.

In this example, I think that he used a public disclosure law from India, and put the standards online (by himself, I?m pretty sure this would not be permitted, because it?s the same pattern he used before). I know that he put it himself because the colourful first page does not have any Government stamp, only the "made available by public.resource.org" stamp.

The standard is not public domain in India or anywhere, it?s sold in the BIS website and even has a a price group (Price Group XX) on the pdf.

So, in my opinion this is the same shady practice and in fact, piracy.

 

[Marcelo]

If this is not the official website, my apologies I misunderstood. But what surprises me is such pirated documents can go scot-free out there in the websites.

As I mentioned before, ISO and other standards organizations are already dealing with this guy on courts. Please not that the guy from resource.org does not think this is piracy

 

[rtfmpliz]

Maybe it is the same case in my country.

about 2 years ago, Indonesian Standard (especially equivalent to ISO) can be obtained for free, and there seems to be complaints from the ISO.

now, these standards can no longer be obtained for free anymore.