The Bombay High Court allowed an application asserting copyright in a web series titled “Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story”, which is said to be a cinematic adaptation and dramatization of the book titled “The Scam”.
The court observed that unless interim injunction reliefs are granted urgently in favor of the plaintiff, the plaintiff is likely to suffer grave and irreparable loss, thereby indicating that the balance of convenience also lies in favor of the plaintiff.
Brief Facts:
The authors of the said book, published in the year 1992 and thereafter, republished in 2001-2002, executed an assignment agreement in favor of the plaintiff for valuable consideration, whereby they assigned all rights, title, and interest in the said book, in favor of the plaintiff for adapting the book into a series or any audio-visual content.
Thereafter, the plaintiff entered into a Memorandum of Understanding dated 16th January 2019, with Sony Pictures Network India Private Limited, whose studio acted as a line producer for producing the aforesaid web series. It is emphasized that the credits show the plaintiff as the copyright owner of the said web series. Subsequently, by license agreement dated 20th May 2020, the license was granted to the OTT platform of Sony i.e., SonyLIV for broadcasting the said web series.
According to the plaintiff, in December 2022, it came across the social media handles of defendants Nos.2 and 3 on defendant No.1’s platform i.e. Instagram, whereby the said defendants were found to be using features available on Instagram to publish or communicate to the public, substantial parts of the said web series. Certain clips from the web series were found to be stored, broadcasted, and communicated by defendants Nos.2 and 3 in the context of their business and to promote their activities for generating revenues. The plaintiff specifically raised a grievance against defendants Nos.2 and 3, which was acknowledged by defendant No.1, but according to the plaintiff, defendant No.1 took no action against defendants Nos.2 and 3 in respect of the said activity. After several further communications, the defendants did not satisfactorily address the concerns of the plaintiff. Hence, the present petition.
Contentions of the Applicant:
The learned Counsel for the Applicants submitted that the said defendants are illegally using short audio-visual clippings from the aforesaid web series of the plaintiff, thereby infringing upon the proprietary rights of the plaintiffs. He submitted that the nature of the illegal activities of defendants Nos.2 to 34 is such that the plaintiff is further seeking relief by showing defendant No.35 as Ashok Kumar on the basis that there is every possibility of defendants Nos.2 to 34 using different identities or rogue handles on the Instagram platform to continue to violate the proprietary rights of the plaintiff.
Observations of the Court:
The Court noted that there are sufficient documents placed on record to demonstrate that a strong prima facie case is made out by the plaintiff in its favor, as regards its copyright in the aforesaid web series. The nature of documents placed on record does show that the said web series can be watched only on the aforesaid OTT platform SonyLIV, as per the terms and conditions insisted upon by the said OTT platform.
Further, the Court observed that the material placed on record also indicates that defendants Nos.2 to 34 have used the Instagram platform to illegally use parts, snippets, or short clips of the audio-visual content of the said web series on their handles, to promote their own business activities. Prima facie, it appears that the said activity of defendants Nos.2 to 34 violates the proprietary rights of the plaintiffs. The Court said that unless such interim reliefs are granted urgently in favor of the plaintiff, the plaintiff is likely to suffer grave and irreparable loss, thereby indicating that the balance of convenience also lies in favor of the plaintiff.
The decision of the Court:
The Bombay High Court, allowing the application, granted ex-parte ad-interim reliefs.
Case Title: Applause Entertainment Private Limited v Meta Platforms Inc. and others
Coram: Hon’ble Justice Manish Pitale
Case no.: INTERIM APPLICATION (LODGING) NO. 10257 OF 2023
Advocate for the Applicant: Mr. Hiren Kamod
Advocate for the Defendant:
Read Judgment @LatestLaws.com
Picture Source :
