On 2 March 2021, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court — Rohinton Fali Nariman, Hemant Gupta and B.R. Gavai, JJ. — held that amounts paid by Indian resident end-users and distributors to non-resident software suppliers for the resale or use of computer software do not constitute 'royalty' under the applicable Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements, because no interest in the copyright under Section 14 of the Copyright Act, 1957 is parted with. Consequently, no obligation to deduct tax at source under Section 195 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 arose. A digest of the four transaction categories the Court analysed, the treaty-override reasoning under Section 90(2), and why Explanation 4 to Section 9(1)(vi) could not be applied retrospectively.