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2018 Supreme(Del) 2402
IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
PRATHIBA M. SINGH, J.
A. Parthasarathy - Plaintiff
Versus
Swami Parthasarathy & Anr. - Defendants
CS (COMM) 349 of 2018
Decided On : 27-08-2018
Advocate Appeared:
For the Plaintiff : Mr. Aditya Dewan, Ms. Iti Agarwal Verma, Ms. Tamanna Goyal, Mr. Siddharth Jain
For the Defendants : Mr. Peeyoosh Kalra, Ms. Sona Babbar, Mr. Vishal Aggarwal
The willingness of the Defendant to suffer a permanent injunction influenced the Court's decision to decree the suit in favor of the Plaintiff, emphasizing the moral rights of the Plaintiff.
Headnote:
Copyright Infringement - Literary Works - Order XXXIX Rule 3 CPC
Fact of the Case:
The Plaintiff filed a suit for permanent injunction restraining infringement of copyright, alleging that the Defendant's book was a verbatim copy of the Plaintiff's work. The Defendant, a monk, submitted an application agreeing to suffer a permanent injunction and to hand over copies of the infringing books.
Finding of the Court:
The Court decreed the suit in favor of the Plaintiff, ordering the delivery of infringing books to the Plaintiff, a public apology from the Defendant, and payment of costs to the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff agreed not to pursue a criminal complaint against the Defendant.
Issues: Copyright infringement, damages, public apology, costs, wrongful attribution of authorship
Ratio Decidendi: The Defendant's willingness to suffer a permanent injunction led the Court to decree the suit in favor of the Plaintiff. The Court also emphasized the moral rights of the Plaintiff and ordered the Defendant to issue a public apology and pay costs to the Plaintiff.
Final Decision: The suit was decreed in favor of the Plaintiff, with the Defendant ordered to deliver infringing books, issue a public apology, and pay costs to the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff agreed not to pursue a criminal complaint against the Defendant.
Prathiba M. Singh, J.
I.A. 11394/2018 in CS (COMM) 349/2018
1. The present suit for permanent injunction restraining infringement of copyright, damages, etc. was instituted by the Plaintiff on the ground that one of his literary works known as ‘Vedanta Treatise: The Eternities 11th edition was infringed by the Defendants by publishing a book titled ‘Vedanta for Modern World’. The case of the Plaintiff is that the Plaintiff is a world renowned philosopher and had published the said work after over 30 years of research. He is a philosopher well acclaimed in the field of Vedanta. It is also stated that the Plaintiff runs the Vedanta Academy, which is a well known academy for scriptures in Vedanta located in Maharashtra. The Defendants’ book had been released in the World Book Fair and upon comparison of the same, the Plaintiff realised that the same is a complete reproduction and verbatim copy of the Plaintiff’s ‘Vedanta Treatise’. This Court on 16th May, 2014 had passed an injunction order in the following terms.
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In view of the above, the plaintiff has been able to make out a good prima facie case in his favour for grant of an ad-interim order. In case the interim order is not passed, the plaintiff will suffer irreparable loss and injury. Till the next date of hearing, the defendants, their partners, officers, servants, agents, dealers, representatives, assignees, firms, corporations, associations and/or otherwise are restrained from in any manner reproducing, distributing, publishing and/or selling the infringing book titled “Vedanta For Modern World” or otherwise infringing any copyright work including Vedanta Treatise: The Eternities of the plaintiff.
Compliance under Order XXXIX Rule 3 CPC be made within ten days.
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2. Thereafter, the matter was considered from time to time. The Plaintiff had moved CCP No.59/2015 alleging various acts of contempt by the Defendants. Issues were framed on 19th October, 2016. On 14th March, 2017, this Court had accepted the unconditional apology by the Defendants and both the CCPs were disposed of. Thereafter, the Court had, on 12th July, 2017, appointed a Local Commissioner for recording of the evidence in the matter. The Defendant has moved the present application being IA No.11394/2018. In the present application, the Defendant No.1 submits that he is a monk and he had published the book only for spiritual purposes and not for a commercial motive. It is also stated in paragraphs 3 to 5 as under:-
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3. It is submitted that, without prejudice to the defence of the Defendant No.1 as detailed in the Written Statement filed before this Hon’ble Court, Defendant No.1 as a monk does not see any fruitful purpose in either claiming any rights to the alleged work or suffering a restraining order on account of claim by the Plaintiff.
4. In view thereof, Defendant No.1 by way of present application, without prejudice to his rights and contentions as submitted in his Written Statement, submits that he is willing to suffer a decree of permanent injunction as prayed in Prayer A of the plaint and also willing to hand over the copies of the books available with Defendant No.1 as prayed for in prayer B of the plaint.
5. The offer aforesaid as prayed for in the preceding paragraph is without prejudice to the rights and contentions of Defendant No.1 and subject to the allowing of the plaint and disposal of the suit in terms of the prayers aforesaid.
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3. Accordingly, in the I.A., it is prayed that appropriate orders be passed disposing of the suit.
4. A perusal of the pleadings of the parties and the applications shows that both the works of the Plaintiff and the Defendant respectively, are spiritual in nature. Since the Defendant is willing to suffer an injunction, the trial of the suit would only be in respect of damages. Since both the persons i.e. the Plaintiff and Defendant are engaged in philanthropic and spiritual pursuits, the
