Back
2022 Supreme(Online)(Kar) 31126
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU
DATED THIS THE 08TH DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2022
PRESENT
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE G. NARENDAR
AND
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE P.N.DESAI
COMMERCIAL APPEAL NO.460 OF 2022
BETWEEN:
SMT SUPRIYA SHRINATE
AGED ABOUT 45 YEARS,
W/O. DHIRENDRA SINGH
CHAIRPERSON OF SOCIAL MEDIA
AND DIGITAL PLATFORMS OF THE
INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS,
R/AT. NO.24, AKBAR ROAD,
NEW DELHI-110 011.
... APPELLANT
(BY SRI. ABHISHEK MANU SINGHVI, SRI. UDAYA HOLLA AND
SRI. A.S PONNANNA, SENIOR ADVOCATES FOR
SMT. LEELA P. ADVOCATE )
AND:
1.
M/S MRT MUSIC ORS.
A PARTNERSHIP FIRM,
'HAVING IT'S OFFICE
AT 4TH FLOOR, TTMC,
BMTC BUILDING,
YESHWANTHPURA CIRCLE,
BANGALORE-560 022.
2.
TWITTER INC.
HAVING REGISTERED OFFICE AT;
1355 MARKET ST#900,
SAN FRANCISO, CA 94103,
UNITED STATES
REPRESENTED BY ITS DIRECTORS.
R
2
3.
INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS;
HAVING ITS OFFICE AT NO.24,
AKBAR ROAD, NEW DELHI,
REPRESENTED HEREIN BY THE
ALL INDIA CONGRESS COMMITTEE,
REPRESENTED BY GENERAL SECRETARY I/C ,
COMMUNICATION, PUBLICITY,
MEDIA INCLUDING SOCIAL AND DIGITAL MEDIA
OF THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS
MR. JAIRAM RAMESH.
4.
SRI. RAHUL GANDHI,
S/O LATE RAJIV GANDHI,
MEMBER OF STEERING COMMITTEE,
INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS,
HAVING HIS ADDRESS
AT 3 12, TUGHALAK LANE,
NEW DELHI-110 011.
5.
ASHOK KUMAR,
... RESPONDENTS
(BY SRI. SRINIVASA RAGHAVAN .V, SENIOR ADVOCATE FOR
NARASIMHAN S. PRANAV, ADVOCATE FOR C/R1)
THIS COMMERCIAL APPEAL IS FILED UNDER SECTION
13(1A) OF THE COMMERCIAL COURTS ACT, 2015 R/W SECTION
37 OF THE ARBITRATION AND CONCILIATION ACT, 1996,
PRAYING THAT THIS HON'BLE COURT MAY KINDLY BE PLEASED
TO
1.
CALL
FOR
RECORDS
IN
COM.
ORIGINAL
SUIT
NO.1594/2022, PENDING ON THE FILE OF LEARNED LXXXV
ADDITIONAL CITY CIVIL AND SESSIONS JUDGE, COMMERCIAL
DIVISION, AT BANGALORE. 2. SET ASIDE THE ORDERS DATED
07.11.2022 IN IA NO.1/2022, IA NO.03/2022, IA NO.04/2022,
IA
NO.5/2022,
IA
NO.6/2022
PASSED
BY
THE
LXXXV
ADDITIONAL CITY CIVIL AND SESSIONIS JUDGE, COMMERCIAL
DIVISION, AT BANGALORE (CCH-86) IN COMMERCIAL ORIGINAL
SUIT NO.1594 OF 2022. 3. AWARDS COSTS TO THE APPELLANT
THROUGHOUT AND 4. PASS SUCH OTHER FURTHER ORDERS AS
THIS HON'BLE COURT MAY DEEM FIT, THE FACTS AND
CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE AND IN THE INTERESTS OF
JUSTICE AND EQUITY.
THIS COMMERCIAL APPEAL COMING ON FOR ORDERS,
THIS DAY, G. NARENDAR J., PASSED THE FOLLOWING:
3
The appellants have assailed the order passed by
LXXXV Additional City Civil & Sessions Judge, Commercial
Division, Bangalore(CCH-86), on I.A. Nos. I to VI in
Commercial Original Suit No.1594/2022 dated 07.11.2022
wherein the trial Court issued a direction to respondent
No.2 (defendant No.4) to remove and take down the links
from it9s platform and to block the social media handle of
Indian National congress (@ INC India) and Bharat Jodo
Yatra (@ Bharat Jodo) on Twitter, on the ground of
Appellants having infringed the copyright of the 1st
Respondent/Plaintiff.
2. The appellant herein is the defendant No.2 before
trial court and the respondent No.1 is plaintiff. The other
respondent Nos.1, 3, 4 and 5 are also defendants before
trial court.
3. The plaintiff instituted a suit before the trial court
with a prayer to grant a relief of permanent injunction and
also mandatory injunction. The plaint pleadings in brief
are that, the plaintiff is a registered partnership firm
engaged in production, marketing, distribution and sale of
4
sound recordings and cinematography, sale of audio, CD,
DVD, purchase of Audios and Videos and Film Digital rights
therein. That it is a reputed entity in the sound and music
industry. The plaintiff operates its business by use of its
trademark "MRT MUSIC". The repository of the plaintiff
consists of more than 20,000 songs which the plaintiff
owns and control and not limited to copyright. The plaintiff
has acquired all the rights of sound recordings of the Block
Buster film KGF- Chapter-2. Thereafter, the plaintiff has
released the same through various channels and pen
drives.
It is alleged by the plaintiff that there is a
copyright infringement by the defendants 1 to 3. It is
pleaded that during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, an initiative of
the Indian National Congress, certain video recording of
the Yatra and also the leader of the Yatra were shared by
the first defendant9s Twitter Handle as well as the Bharat
Jodo Twitter Handle. Each video twitter was posted with a
background music. That in two videos, the background
music is alleged to be similar to the sound track of the
movie titled as KGF Chapter- 2. It is alleged by the plaintiff
5
that Indian National Congress social media Handle has
used the alleged sound track in two videos and uploaded it
to the Indian National Congress Twitter Handle and
circulated the said video in an alleged fraudulent manner in
order to make a wrongful gain. It is alleged by the plaintiff
that the defendants are profiteering and their gains is
causing unlawful, unjust and irreparable loss to the
plaintiff. The use of copyright work without authorisation
and consent is willful and dishonest. Hence, the suit
praying and seeking for injunction against infringement of
it9s copyright.
5.
Alongwith the said suit, plaintiff had filed
I.A.No.1 to 6 which are heard by the Commercial Court and
the Commercial Court passed an ex-parte order which is
under challenge now.
6.
I.A.No.3 is filed under Order 39 Rule 1 and 2
r/w 79 of the IT Act with a prayer restraining the
defendants 1 to 3 and 5 from infringing or illegally using,
the copyrighted work owned by the plaintiff and from
illegally using the said work owned by the plaintiff. I.A
6
No.4 is for direction to defendant No 4 to remove and take
down the links from its platform and I.A.5 is with prayer to
suspend the social media handle till submission of report.
I.A.No.6
is
for
an
order
to
appoint
a
Court
Commissioner/technical expert, to inspect and conduct an
electronic audit of the said twitter-handle, controlled by
defendant No.1 to 3. The trial court heard and proceeded
to grant an ad-interim temporary and mandatory
injunction, ex-parte, which is under challenge before this
Court.
7. Heard learned Senior counsel Sri. Abhishek Manu
Singhvi along with senior counsels Sri. Udaya Holla and Sri.
A.S. Ponnanna representing Smt. Leela P., learned counsel
for the appellants and learned Senior counsel Sri. Srinivas
V. Raghavan for Sr
