The Court clarified the scope and applicability of Section 60 of the Copyright Act, emphasizing that the proviso to Section 60 ceases to apply if the person making the threats commences and prosecutes an action for infringement of the copyright claimed by them.

JUDGMENT :

1. This appeal is directed against an order dated 21 February 2023 passed by the learned District Judge on an application (Exhibit 5) in Civil Suit No.19 of 2022 whereby the learned District Judge was persuaded to restrain the Appellant-Defendant from, either directly or indirectly, in any form, publishing or making any statement alleging copyright infringement against the Plaintiff and also from publishing defamatory statements alleging copyright infringement against the Plaintiff, and also from extracting, excerpting, mutilating any part of the Plaintiff’s Literary Work and publishing the same, till the disposal of the suit, which has been instituted for restraining the Appellant-Defendant from giving groundless threat of legal proceeding alleging infringement, under Section 60 of the Copyright Act, 1957.

2. The backgrounds facts leading to this appeal can be stated, in brief, as under :

2.1 The Plaintiff is an author and has been self-publishing literary works under her own name “Sapna Bhog” in the romance genre. The Plaintiff has been self-publishing her works on the Amazon Kindle platform since the year 2019. On account of her original authorship of various forms of literary works, the Plaintiff has developed a distinct style of writing and various Plaintiff’s works have been featured on best seller lists of Amazon, on many occasions. Amongst many titles, the Plaintiff has ideated on, created and written Indie romance title “The Bond of Brothers”.

2.2 The Defendant is also an author. The Defendant has published works in the Indie romance genre.

2.3 The Plaintiff asserts, “The Bond of Brothers” series commenced with the first title “My Ruin”. It was published on 17 August 2021 and soon featured on the Amazon Best Sellers list. The second title of “The Bond of Brothers Series”, namely, “My Rebel” was published on 26 April 2022. The Plaintiff alleged, the Defendant published a statement on social media platform on 8 May 2022, baselessly and malafide predicting that the work of the Plaintiff that had yet been unwritten and, therefore, unreleased, would be copied work and the existing second title “My Rebel” was also a copied work. The Defendant indulged in baseless comparison of the Defendant’s literary work “wicked Trap” and the Plaintiff’s then still unwritten third title “My Enemy”. It was falsely alleged that the Plaintiff had copied the Defendant’s cover art of the Defendant’s Series “The Varma Brothers”.

2.4 On 28 July 2022, the Plaintiff avers, the Defendant malafide published a baseless statement that the fourth title in the Plaintiff’s series “My Sinner” is the copy of the Defendant’s title “Devil’s Love”. The insinuation of plagiarism was directed against the Plaintiff. On that day, the Defendant allegedly posted a social media statement in the form of a story alluding that the Plaintiff’s literary work in the Series “The Bond of Brothers” was an unauthorized copy of the Defendant’s literary work, “The Varma Brothers” Series.

2.5 The Plaintiff alleged that the baseless, reckless and malafide statements made by the Defendant mired the name and reputation of the Plaintiff in the esteem of the “Romance Genre” readers. The said allegations damaged the reputation of the Plaintiff and also adversely affected the sales of “The Bond of Brothers” Series. On 2 August 2022, the Defendant mala fide directly named the Plaintiff in a social media post making wild allegations. Thus, reckless allegations of copyright infringement, according to the Plaintiff, generated hate in the minds of the readers. Due to such acts and omissions of the Defendant, the Plaintiff suffered immense mental agony and harassment. The Defendant indulged in such unlawful acts to derive undue advantage and also lower the Plaintiff’s image and that seriously impacted the ratings of the Plaintiff’s literary work.

2.6 The Plaintiff, therefore, addressed a legal notice on 8 August 2022, calling upon the Defendant to cease and desist from making such wild al