Court Orders 10 Lakhs In Damages For Board Game Copyright Infringement

Summary

The Delhi District Court adjudicated a copyright dispute between Ashim Ghosh, creator of the Hindi board game ShabdKoshish, and Madrat Games, makers of Aksharit. The Court found that Aksharit was a substantial adaptation of ShabdKoshish, citing significant overlaps in design and gameplay elements. Despite the defendant's arguments of independent creation, evidence established the plaintiff's originality and authorship. The Court granted a permanent injunction against the defendant and awarded 10 lakhs in damages. This decision underscores the protection offered to original literary works under Indian copyright law.

Factual Background

Plaintiff Ashim Ghosh, an internationally recognized multimedia artist and author, created and published the Hindi word board game ShabdKoshish in 2000, with improved versions in 2001 and 2008. This game was resembled a Hindi version of Scrabble, and used letters and symbols printed on tiles and transparent tiles for forming Hindi words.

The Defendant, Madrat Games, launched a similar Hindi word game called Aksharit in 2010, which the Plaintiff noticed in 2012. The Plaintiff alleged that Aksharit was a substantial reproduction/adaptation of his copyrighted work ShabdKoshish, which infringed his rights under the Copyright Act, 1957.

Issues Before the Court

1. 1. Whether the Plaintiff was the rightful author/owner of the literary works ShabdKoshish and Shabd Games.
   2. Whether the Defendant’s Aksharit constituted a substantial adaptation/reproduction of the plaintiff’s works, resulting in infringement.
   3. Whether the Plaintiff was entitled to the claimed relief, including permanent injunction and damages.

Arguments from Each Party

Plaintiff averred as follows:

• • He was the original author of ShabdKoshish I–III, duly copyrighted and published. He had invested significant time, effort and money in creating and publishing the game and subsequent innovations in each version.
  • Defendant’s game Aksharit was a clear copy, using identical linguistic systems like universal matra tiles, half consonant tiles, and transparent diacritic tiles. Unlawful reproduction and commercial exploitation of the design, letter distribution, and gameplay without license, amounting to copyright infringement.

In response, Defendant argued as follows:

• • Aksharit was an independent and innovative creation for modern Hindi education through gameplay. Defendant company founders were qualified and expended considerable technical skills since 2006 to research and develop the game. Their contributions in marketing the game and expanding into software applications was recognized by many third parties.
  • Defendant added elements such as transparent tiles, modified board size, various tools to address underutilized letters, and distinct markers for spaces.
  • Plaintiff’s claims lacked originality and fell outside the scope of copyright protection. Use of transparent tiles and other innovations could not be monopolized under copyright law. Defendant did not copy either the instructions manual or the actual board, and therefore, there is no case of copyright infringement.

Court’s Analysis

• • The Court noted that both the Plaintiff’s and Defendant’s games were heavily inspired by Scrabble. ShabdKoshish was an original and novel literary work, which was properly granted copyright protection. Further, the Plaintiff’s extensive documentation, copyright certificates, and testimony established authorship and originality beyond doubt. (“… nobody can claim copyright upon a mere idea but any novel and ingenious expression of the idea is certainly worth copyright protection.” – para 13.1)
  • Comparative analysis of letter and matra distributions showed striking similarities between ShabdKoshish and Aksharit (64%–69% overlap). Such similarities could not be mere coincidence. Transparent universal tiles, half consonant systems, and orthographic innovations used in Aksharit mirrored the Plaintiff’s work.
  • The Court found that Defendant’s argument of independent development was not substantiated with sufficient evidence. Accordingly, the Court held that Aksharit was a substantial adaptation/reproduction of ShabdKoshish.

Final Decision

The Court granted the relief sought by the Plaintiff, including:

• • Permanent injunction restraining the Defendant and its agents from infringing, reproducing, or marketing in any form Aksharit or similar games based on ShabdKoshish I–III.
  • Damages of ₹10,00,000 based on the Defendant’s claimed sales of the infringing game, though the Plaintiff had not provided direct evidence of harm.
  • Costs of the suit.

Citation: Ashim Ghosh vs. M/s MadRat Games Pvt. Ltd., [CS No. 31/2021], Delhi District Court, on 11^th September 2025. Available at: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/157867244/

Authored by Ms. Ashwini Arun