The Delhi High Court granted an ex parte ad interim relief in the favor of the Plaintiff and directed the Defendants to stop using the copyrighted material and even block access to the website that used copyrighted material. Plaintiff discovered that Defendants No. 1 and 2 were misusing the copyrighted photographs from Plaintiff’s website to sell their products on their website. Therefore, the Defendants were accused of copyright infringement as the photographs were used without any authorization or license from the Plaintiff. The Bench observed that there was a clear prima facie case of copyright infringement.
Brief Facts:
The Plaintiff is an owner of a high-end luxury brand and is involved in the manufacturing and selling of luxury and designer goods. The case of Plaintiff was that a website maintained by Plaintiff displays the products for sale. For advertisement purposes, models and photographers are hired on a contractual basis. The photographs used in the website qualify as “artistic work” under the Copyright Act of 1957.
Contentions of the Plaintiff:
Plaintiff claimed to be the owner of the copyright in all the photographs as the work photographs were taken at the instance of Plaintiff and by the persons commissioned by Plaintiff.
Sometime in January and November 2022, Plaintiff discovered that Defendants No.1 and 2 were misusing the copyrighted photographs to sell their products on their website. Therefore, the Defendants were accused of copyright infringement as the photographs were used without any authorization or license from the Plaintiff.
Therefore, a decree of permanent injunction is sought by Plaintiff against Defendants No.1 and 2 from reproducing, copying, or publishing the copyrighted photographs and a mandatory injunction to block the website of the Defendants.
Observations of the Court:
The Court observed that there was a clear prima facie case of copyright infringement and therefore, an ex parte ad interim relief was granted in the favor of the Plaintiff directing the Defendants to stop using the copyrighted material and even block access to the website that used copyrighted material.
The decision of the Court:
Accordingly, the application was allowed.
Case Title: Louis Vuitton Malletier v. www. Haute24.com & Ors.
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice C. Hari Shankar
Case No.: CS (COMM) 874/2022
Advocates for Plaintiff: Advs. Mr. Anirudha Valsangkar, Ms. Rishika Aggarwal, Mr. Abhilash Gupta
Advocate for Defendants: None
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