In a suit filed by Bhanushali Studios Ltd. & Ors. (“Plaintiff”), the Bombay High Court has passed a John Doe order against parties that were circulating links to illegally download/ stream the movie, Janhit Mein Jaari. The movie was released on June 10, 2022 and on June 11, 2022, Plaintiff came to know that links to download/ stream the movie were being circulated on the messaging app, Telegram. The Plaintiff filed a police complaint regarding the links, after which some of the links were rendered inactive. Thereafter, Plaintiff found additional links on the Internet. The Plaintiff claimed availability of links to download/ stream the movie were causing loss of revenue to the Plaintiff. Further, Plaintiff claimed to have been losing out on deals with OTT platforms due to such free availability of the movie. Telegram Messenger LLP, submitted that it has blocked such links from its app and will remove pirated links, as and when the Plaintiff informs it of such links.
The court was of the view that Plaintiff has made out a prima facie case. The court has also referred to its previous John Doe orders in cases where pirated copies of movies were circulating online and observed that such circulation of links, not only violates the copyright of the Plaintiff but also causes direct revenue loss. The court accepted Telegram’s statement and passed an ad-interim injection against other defendants, who were circulating the infringing links. Directions were issued to concerned police stations to assist the Plaintiff in restraining the defendants from circulating the infringing links. The Plaintiff was also given liberty of adding more such links as a part of the suit, if found subsequently.
Bhanushali Studios Ltd. & Ors. v. Telegram Messenger LLP & Anr. COMMERCIAL IPR SUIT (L) NO. 18595 OF 2022, Order dt. June 16, 2022.