Software Distribution - Copyright and Income -Tax Issues in India

Taxation of cross-border payments in respect of software has been a controversial subject with the law yet to be settled in India. This can be seen from the number of contradictory and contrasting decisions on software in the last couple of years. Though largely the debate has been on the End User Licence Agreements (EULA), copyrighted article and copyright, there are a few judgments which have dealt with the distributor model. In this article, the author addresses those Indian court judgments that have dealt with software distribution and the resultant copyright and income tax issues. In particular, the First Sale Doctrine and Principle of Exhaustion under copyright law and its effect on taxation of royalty under Indian income tax law and tax treaties are examined