Delhi High Court issues summons to American social media company Triller on Yashraj Films' suit for copyright infringement

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued summons to the American video sharing social networking platform Triller on a suit filed by Indian production house Yashraj Films alleging copyright infringement [Yashraj Films Private Limited v Triller Inc.]. .Single-judge Justice Amit Bansal also issued notice on Yashraj's interim relief application to restrain Triller from allowing infringement of its copyrighted material and listed the case for further consideration on February 2. During the hearing, counsel appearing for Triller stated that the dispute between Yashraj and the social media company has been going on for some time and that he will take instructions from the company in the matter. The counsel said that the platform has not turned a blind eye to the problem and it keeps on removing copyrighted material. .In its suit, Yashraj has argued that Triller has an extraction tool which makes available Yashraj's works to users for uploading of audio-visual content/short videos."[The defendant] illegally uploads, stores, reproduces, makes copies, creates new works embodying the Plaintiff’s Works, commercially exploits, communicates to the public, makes a sound recording in respect of the Plaintiff’s Works, adapts, modifies, synchronizes and/or otherwise exploits or permits the aforesaid acts by users of the Impugned Platforms, without a valid license from the Plaintiff," the plea stated. It said that Triller is making Yashraj's works available to its users, and actively engaging in and assisting the infringement of their valuable rights without procuring any license/authorization. "Though the Plaintiff has sent several Cease & Desist Notices to the Defendant, some of which have been responded to by the Defendant, the Defendant has sought to rely on the ‘safe-harbour’ protection guaranteed to intermediaries under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act [a USA enactment, which also find place in Indian law in the form of Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act)] in order to continue its infringing activity.".The suit further stated that though some links indicated in the notices were taken down, Triller failed to comply with its takedown obligation effectively and several of the links still remained active and/or continued to resurface repetitively. "It is also pertinent to note that the impugned platforms contain various features, such as the audio extraction feature, which are beyond the limited role of an intermediary specified under Section 79 (2)(a) of the IT Act, thereby disentitling the Defendant from the ’safe-harbour’ protection guaranteed to intermediaries under the IT Act," the plea stated. .Yashraj is being represented by advocates Abhishek Malhotra and Shilpa Gamnani of TMT Law Practise.