The Single Bench of the Delhi High Court in the case of Cape of Good Films LLP vs Hitmovies4u.Live & Ors. consisting of Justice Jyoti Singh restrains rogue websites from streaming the film ‘Ram Setu’.
Facts
This suit was filed seeking permanent injunction and damages, for infringement of copyrights of the Plaintiff in the film ‘Ram Setu’ (‘film’). It was filed against Defendant websites, i.e. Defendants No. 1 to 23, which are primarily and substantially engaged in communicating to the public, hosting, streaming, etc. the copyright protected work and are vehicles of infringement, whose whole business model is designed to provide members of the public access to copyright contents, unauthorisedly. Plaintiff is stated to be a leading film production and distribution entity in India, with a history of producing blockbuster films and the repertoire of films of the Plaintiff include National Award-winning films. It was stated that Plaintiff is the producer of the film and also has exclusive distribution rights to publicly exhibit and communicate the film through all modes including but not limited to theatrical exhibition.
Contentions Made
Plaintiff: It was contended that being the producer of the film, Plaintiff is the Author of the film u/s 2(d) of the Copyright Act, 1957 (‘Act’) and thus, the exclusive rights, as enumerated u/s 14(d) of the Act qua the film, vested in the Plaintiff. So, any hosting, streaming, reproduction and/or communicating the film to the public or facilitating the same, without authorisation from the Plaintiff would infringe Plaintiff’s copyright.
Observations of the Court
The Bench noted that piracy must be curbed and needs to be dealt with a heavy hand and injunction against screening of copyrighted content by rogue websites ought to be granted. This position has been acknowledged and re-affirmed in several decisions, like Department of Electronics and Information Technology v. Star India Private Limited and UTV Software Communication Ltd.
Judgment
Looking at the investments made by the Plaintiff in the production and promotion of the film as also the exclusive right vested in it under the Act, the Bench prima facie agreed with the Plaintiff that if the rogue websites communicate the film in simultaneously with the theatrical release of the film on 25.10.2022 or in its close proximity thereafter, it would severely impact the interest of the Plaintiff monetarily and also erode the value of the film. It restrained the Defendants No. 1 to 23 and all others acting for and/or on their behalf from providing access to and/or communicating to the public the film ‘Ram Setu’ and contents related thereto. Plaintiff was given the liberty to file an appropriate application to array other rogue websites, as and when the same are discovered in future. It shall comply with the provisions of O39R3 CPC within a period of one week from the day of order.
Case: Cape of Good Films LLP vs Hitmovies4u.Live & Ors.
Citation: CS(COMM) 726/2022
Bench: Justice Jyoti Singh
Decided on: 18th October 2022
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