Copyrights | Intellepedia

Sacred Cow, Groundless Threat: Delhi High Court on Copyrights and Amazon

In the case of Avaia Ventures Private Limited v. Wildship Enterprises Private Limited, a competitor filed successive copyright complaints on Amazon against a seller of silver plated Kamdhenu cow idols, armed with no copyright registration, no court proceedings, and a product page URL where the copyright number should have been. The Delhi High Court found that filing platform level takedown complaints without ever approaching a court of competent jurisdiction is a groundless threat within the meaning of Section 60 of the Copyright Act, 1957. The court also held, at a prima facie stage, that the Kamdhenu cow with calf is a sacred motif in the public domain and that mass commercial production of more than fifty units had, in any event, extinguished any copyright the complainant may have claimed.

Dhurandhar Song Rights: Oye Oye, Not So Easy

Promotional banner for “The Revenge: Dhurandhar” showing a lone man walking through a fiery, orange-lit urban setting, with bold metallic title text in the foreground and flames surrounding the scene.

In the case of Trimurti Films Private Limited v. B62 Studios Private Limited & Ors., the plaintiff claimed copyright ownership over Tirchi Topiwale from the film Tridev and objected to its use and remix in Dhurandhar: The Revenge. The defendants relied on a 1988 assignment agreement and earlier uses of songs from Tridev in other films. The court refused interim relief after considering the agreement, prior conduct, suppression allegations, and balance of convenience.

Golden Stag Hunts Blue Mangoes: Copyright Claim Falls Short

Golden stag glowing in a dark forest, symbolizing the copyright infringement dispute over Golden Stag and The House of Blue Mangoes.

In the case of Mr. David Davidar vs Ms. Sivasundari Bose, two novels set in South India turned into a long dispute over copyright and reputation. Ms. Bose claimed that The House of Blue Mangoes drew from her manuscript Golden Stag, while Mr. Davidar denied access, denied copying, and challenged the allegations.

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No Copyright in a Golf Swing of Ideas

In the case of Gurbaaz Pratap Singh Mann vs Kunwar Raghav Bhandari and Ors., the Delhi High Court looked at whether the defendants had copied the plaintiff’s protected expression in a golf format. It held that similarities related to ideas and game mechanics do not amount to infringement. It found that the defendants had not reproduced any protectable expression from the plaintiff’s work.

Copy Paste Creativity Fails the Originality Test

In the case of Bombay Metal Works (P) Limited vs Tara Singh Prop. R.S. Industries (Regd), a dispute arose over competing packaging designs for bicycle parts. The petitioner challenged the respondent’s copyright registrations on the ground that the designs were copied. The court looked at whether the impugned works were original and whether the registrations could stand.

No Euphoria for Pirates: Copyright infringement injunction against rogue websites

Banner with a purple neon city skyline, a judge’s gavel on the left, a hooded figure using a phone on the right, and the headline “NO EUPHORIA FOR PIRATES.”

The Delhi High Court granted an ex parte ad interim injunction in favor of HBO, to protect Euphoria from online piracy ahead of its India release. The court noted that rogue websites could cause immediate commercial harm and directed blocking measures against the identified websites.

TV9’s News Clips Fair Use or Copyright Abuse

In the case of TV9, namely Associated Broadcasting Company Limited v Google LLC and Others, the broadcaster faced multiple YouTube copyright strikes for using short clips of real world events in its news programmes. TV9 argued that the clips were minimal, used only to report current events, and in several instances came from licensed sources, while some disputed clips were alleged to be used without licence only in a limited and illustrative manner. The court examined whether that use crossed the line into infringement.

Employment First, IPL Later, Copyright Nowhere

Copyright Authorship and Moral Rights Dispute

In the case of Gaurav Garg v. Aly Morani & Ors., the dispute arose from claims over the IPL Awards event, its presentation, and related written material. The plaintiff said that he had developed the event, reduced it into writing, and was entitled to authorship credit, moral rights, and commercial benefits, but the court rejected those claims after examining the employment relationship, Section 17(c), Section 57, the nature of the material, and the MOU.

Copyright Lives On, Even Before Probate

In the case of Dev Sahitya Kutir Pvt Ltd v. Smt. Archana Debnath & Anr., the dispute arose from alleged publication and sale of copyrighted literary and artistic works of a deceased author after expiry of an earlier publishing arrangement. The publisher argued that the suit could not proceed because probate had not yet been granted and because an earlier suit had already been dismissed for default, but the court rejected both objections at the interim stage.