Anand Anand notches yet another copyright victory for T-Series

In line with the Indian Courts’ severe new stand on copyright infringements, the Delhi High Court has directed Zee Telefilms Ltd to pay several crore rupees to T-Series to compensate for its unlicensed use of copyrighted work..Counsels for the defendant, Mr. Salve and Mr. Rajiv Nayyar, were briefed by Ms. Prathiba Singh, of Singh & Singh Advocates, New Delhi. Counsel for the petitioner, Mr. Dave, was briefed by Mr. Jagdish Sagar of Anand & Anand who were in turn advised by Super Cassettes’ Company Counsel, Mr. K.K. Khetan..In line with the Indian Courts’ severe new stand on copyright infringements, the Delhi High Court has directed Zee Telefilms Ltd to pay several crore rupees to T-Series to compensate for its unlicensed use of copyrighted work..The case arose out of Zee Telefilms’ refusal to renew its expired license agreement with T-Series for use of its material in Zee’s programmes such as ‘sA RE GA MA PA’, and its subsequent use of the material whose copyright vests with T-Series..As a result of such unlicensed use, T-Series petitioned the Delhi High Court to grant a permanent injunction against Zee Telefilms. Senior Counsel Mr. Dushyant Dave argued on behalf of Super Cassettes (T-Series) that Zee must either refrain from using its copyrighted material, or use such material after paying as per T-Series’ tariff card for Satellite Channels. In response, Zee’s Counsel Harish Salve contended that as its application for a compulsory license was pending with the Copyright Board, an interim injunction would adversely affect its business. Furthermore, Mr. Salve added that the copyrighted content was being used to promote talent and impart training, and thus was excused from infringement as Fair Dealing. Counsels for the defendant, Mr. Salve and Mr. Rajiv Nayyar, were briefed by Ms. Prathiba Singh, of Singh & Singh Advocates, New Delhi. Counsel for the petitioner, Mr. Dave, was briefed by Mr. Jagdish Sagar of Anand & Anand who were in turn advised by Super Cassettes’ Company Counsel, Mr. K.K. Khetan. Mr. Pravin Anand and Mr Sagar, speaking to Bar & Bench, commended Mr. Dave’s handling of the case..The Court, in an interim order, concluded that a prima facie case of copyright infringement had been established, and added that the pendency of a compulsory licence application does not inhibit the direction of compensatory measures for damage already suffered by the Plaintiff. It granted a compensatory amount of more than Rs. 4 crores but refused to grant an injunction against the defendants’ usage of T-Series’ copyrighted work. Instead, it directed the plaintiffs to renew the license agreement until 2010 upon receipt of the compensation..The Court’s directions indicate an unwillingness to permit pending applications to delay fair treatment of copyright proprietors. Also, the Court maintained the delicate balance between copyright infringement and the fair dealing defence. It recognised that the defence of fair dealing is meant to stimulate the propagation of ideas, and is not a means of deflecting the unwarranted use of another’s intellectual activity. The Court therefore dismissed Zee’s arguments and directed it to pay T-Series for prima facie copyright infringement at fair market price..This is not T-Series’ first copyright dispute. The company has previously gone up against global giants Google, Yahoo and MySpace, as well as Indian networking site ibibo, alleging copyright infringement, and for showing videos of T-Series copyrighted songs without the license or permission of T-Series. T-Series in its suit had claimed that the business model of YouTube and Yahoo videos allows, encourages and profits from use of copyrighted work uploaded on the website without obtaining any license or permission from the rightful copyright owners and without paying them any royalty..Resource Points.I.A. No.5670 /2009 & IA No.8067/2009 in C.S. [OS] No.769/2009