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"7. We have considered the submissions of both the parties
and carefully gone through the material available on record. In
the present case, it is not in dispute that in assessee's own case,
identical issue has been decided by the Hon'ble jurisdictional
High Court and Their Lordships in the judgment dated
15.10.2011 while deciding the ITA No.2808/2005 & Ors.,
observed in paras 20 to 25 as under:
"20. Having regard to the above said definition of
'royalty', we have to consider the contents of software
licence agreement entered into by non-resident with
Samsung Electronics and also respondents in the case
represented by Sri Ganesh, learned senior counsel and
Sri Aravind Dattar, wherein it is a case of purchase, sale
or distribution or otherwise of the off-the-shelf software.
It is described as a 'software licence agreement',
wherein it is averred that customer accepts an
individual, non-transferable and non-exclusive licence
to use the licensed software program(s) progam(s) on
the terms and conditions enumerated in the agreement.
It is further averred that the customer - Samsung
Electronics shall protect confidential information and
shall not remove any copyright, confidentiality or other
proprietary rights provided by the non-resident.
However, what is granted under the said licence is only
a licence to use the software for internal business
without having any right for making any alteration or
reverse engineering or creating sub-licences. What is
transferred under the said licence is the licence to use
the software and copyright continue to be with the non-
resident as per the agreement. Even as per the
agreement entered into with the other distributors as
also the end-user licence agreement, it is clear that the
distributor would get exclusive non-transferable licence
within the territory for which he is appointed and he has
got right to distribute via resellers the Software, upon
payment of the licenses set forth in Exhibit A to the
agreement only to End Users pursuant to a valid Actuate
shrinkwrap or other Actuate license agreement and
except as expressly set forth in the said agreement,
distributor may not rent, lease, loan, sell or otherwise
distribute the Software the Documentation or any
derivative works based upon the Software or
Documentation in whole or in part. Distributor shall not
reverse engineer, decompile, or otherwise attempt to
derive or modify the source code for the Software.
Distributor shall have no rights to the Software other
than the rights expressly set forth in the agreement.
Distributor shall not modify or copy any part of the
Software or Documentation. Distributor may not use
sub-distributors for further distribution of the Software
and Documentation without the prior consent of Actuate.
What is charged is the licence fee to be paid by the
Distributor of the Software as enumerated in Exhibit A
to the agreement. Further, Clause 6.01 of the agreement
dealing with title states that the Distributor
acknowledges that Actuate and its suppliers retain all
right, title and interest in and to the original, and any
copies (by whomever produced), of the Software or
Documentation and ownership of all patent copyright,
trademark, trade secret and other intellectual property
rights pertaining thereto, shall be and remain the sole
property of Actuate. Distributor shall not be an owner of
any copies of, or any interest in, the Software, but rather
is licenced pursuant to the Agreement to use and
distribute such copies. Actuate represents that it has the
right to enter into the Agreement and grant the licences
provided therein and confidentiality is protected.
Therefore, on reading the contents of the respective
agreement entered into by the respondents with the non-
resident, it is clear that under the agreement, what is
transferred is only a licence to use the copyright
belonging to the non-resident subject to the terms and
conditions of the agreement as referred to above and the
non-resident supplier continues to be the owner of the
copyright and all other intellectual property rights. It is
well settled that copyright is a negative right. It is an
umbrella of many rights and licence is granted for
making use of the copyright in respect of shrink wrapped
software/off-the-shelf software under the respective
agreement, which authorizes the end user i.e., the
customer to make use of the copyright software
contained in the said software, which is purchased off
the shelf or imported as shrink wrapped software and
the same would amount to transfer of part of the
copyright and transfer of right to use the copyright for
internal business as per the terms and conditions of the
agreement. Therefore, the contention of the learned
senior counsel appearing for the respondents that there
is no transfer of copyright or any part thereof under the
agreements entered into by the respondent with the non-
resident supplier of software cannot be accepted.