Bombay High Court passes John Doe order for removing pirated links of film 'Janhit Mein Jaari'

The Bombay High Court last week passed a John Doe order directing the removal of all the links and pirated versions of the film 'Janhit Mein Jaari' on the internet and social media [Bhanushali Studio Ltd. vs Telegram Messenger LLP]..Single-judge Justice Riyaz Chagla also directed concerned police stations to ensure that "unidentified defendants" do not continue to infringe the copyright in the film. The Court was hearing an intellectual property rights (IPR) suit filed by the film's producers Bhanushali Studios Ltd. seeking an injunction against unidentified persons, who created pirated versions of the film and also uploaded the same on the internet."In my prima facie view, a case has been made out by the plaintiffs that the defendant No. 2 which is an unknown entity and who have been proceeded against in John Doe action is by virtue of the infringing links on the internet directly infringing the copyright held by the producers or the plaintiffs in the film as these unknown defendants appear to have no licence and/or authority to make available a copy of the film to the public," the Court said. .According to the suit, the film that is based on the life of a woman, who is on a mission to sell condoms to men in rural Madhya Pradesh, was released on June 10, 2022 across the world. It was released in 600 theatres in India alone.However, on June 11, the makers of the film found the links of their film's pirated version in a chat group on social media app, Telegram.It highlighted that this piracy has resulted in revenue loss for the producers.Further, the movie became freely available on the internet and no user would now want to watch it on an Over The Top (OTT) platform, which would mean that no OTT platform would now want to air the film on its brand..Counsel for Telegram told the Court that it has already blocked the links that were found in a chat group on the messaging platform. It also assured that in future too, it would immediately block such links if brought to its notice.Accordingly, Justice Chagla asked the plaintiffs to delete Telegram from the list of defendants.The bench noted that similar orders were passed in the case of Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. vs Hathway Sonali Om Crystal Cable Pvt. Ltd. in December 2015, which pertained to the leaking of pirated copies of Shahrukh Khan-starrer film Dilwale."In fact, this case is on a higher footing, considering that the subject film was already released on June 10, 2022 and thereafter, the infringing links of the internet have surfaced. Thus, it appears that directly a revenue loss has been incurred to the plaintiff apart from the infringing links prima facie infringing the copyright held by the producers or plaintiffs in the subject film," Justice Chagla held.He, therefore, proceeded to pass a John Doe order in favour of the plaintiff. The matter would be next heard on June.Advocates Megha Bagchi along with Mahalakshmi G and Savani Vaze appeared for the producers while Telegram Messenger was represented by advocates Kingshuk Banerjee and Isha Srivastava briefed by Khaitan & Co..[Read Order]