Applause Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. v. Meta Platforms Inc. & Ors.
In the High Court of Bombay
IA (Lodging) 10257/2023 and Commercial IP Suit (Lodging) 10238/2023
Before Justice Manish Pitale
Decided on May 02, 2023

Relevancy of the Case: Injunction to restrain defendants from sharing short videos of a web series on Instagram

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 79)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The plaintiff owns the sole copyright for the web series “Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story.”
• Defendants 2 to 35 published substantial parts of the series on Instagram, an intermediary.
• The plaintiff complained through Instagram’s grievance redressal mechanism. However, the platform did not take cognisance of the proprietary infringement.
• In their report, the plaintiff also provided a list of social media handles of defendants 2 to 35.

Prominent Arguments by the Advocates

• The plaintiff’s counsel argued that defendants 2 to 35 illegally used short clips from the series for their personal benefit. Further, he submitted that defendants may use different identities or rogue handles to violate the plaintiff’s rights. The court’s order on this issue shall be considered as per Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Opinion of the Bench

• There is a prima facie case in the plaintiff’s favour. Any other broadcast, except as authorised, would amount to copyright violation.
• The plaintiff did everything in their power, but there was a lack of cooperation from Instagram.
• If the court does not grant the required relief, the plaintiff would suffer grave loss due to further infringement.

Final Decision

• The court granted an ex-parte ad-interim injunction against defendants 2 to 35 and directed Instagram to remove the impugned posts.

Nikita D’Lima, an undergraduate student at NMIMS School of Law, Navi Mumbai, prepared this case summary during her internship with The Cyber Blog India in May/June 2023.