Copyright violation of Salman Khan’s movie ‘Radhe’

NEWS

By Pallavi Paul

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. filed a suit for permanent injunction in the High Court of Delhi, for exploitation of their exclusive rights in the cinematographic film ‘Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai’ released in their online streaming platform ‘Zee 5’ on 13th May, 2021. The plaintiff contended that it is a reputed production house and film studio which operates about 48 channels across 11 languages and is regarded India’s No. 1 Entertainment Network. The plaintiff owns and operates the digital entertainment streaming service ‘Zee 5’ through which they provide the 

NEWS

By Pallavi Paul

service known as ‘Zee Plex’ which is a premium movie-on-demand service accessible to users upon payment of minimal price. The movie was victim to rampant piracy, through social media platform including WhatsApp, where illegal and infringing copies of the movie and various clips thereof have been made, stored, shared and sold to public at large by WhatsApp users. The plaintiff has filed various complaints with the Digital Crime Unit and Cyber Cell under the provisions of Copyright Act and have even reached out to WhatsApp LLC, through various channels and shared details of phone numbers of concerned persons infringing the movie rights. However, no response has been received from WhatsApp. The plaintiff’s rights are being infringed under Section 51(a)(i) of the 

NEWS

By Pallavi Paul

 Copyright Act, as the users of WhatsApp are viewing, downloading and storing the movie on the platform on pan-India basis, including Delhi. Moreover, the terms and conditions of WhatsApp clearly states that the users cannot violate the services of IP rights and since the defendant is breaching the terms, WhatsApp should permanently terminate their accounts. In view of this, Delhi High Court granted an injunction to the plaintiff as they have established a ‘prima facie’ case and restrained the defendants from unauthorizedly accessing the plaintiff’s movie through any mode and further directed WhatsApp to suspend the accounts of the concerned persons. The matter is listed for hearing on 1st June, 2021.