Ministry Issues Advisory Against Advertisements Of Betting Still Visible On Television And Digital Media
I&B Ministry has issued two Advisories, one for private television channels and the other for digital news publishers and OTT platforms strongly advising them to refrain from showing advertisements of online betting sites and surrogate advertisements of such sites.
It had come to the notice of the Government that several sports channels on television, as well as on OTT platforms, have recently been showing advertisements of offshore online betting platforms as well as their surrogate news websites. The Advisories were supplemented with evidences which contained direct and surrogate advertisements of offshore betting platforms such as Fairplay, PariMatch, Betway, Wolf 777, and 1xBet.
Link: Advisory to TV channels
Link: Advisory to digital media
Case Against Poet For Alleged ‘Condom-Trisul’ Remark
It was alleged in the complaint that poet Srijato had posted a poem on Facebook containing defamatory statements/writings, wherein it is stated inter-alia that “a condom should be put on the Trisul’.
It was further alleged that the poem was not only defamatory but at the same time, it was against the supporters of the Hindu religion and hurts the sentiments of those who repose faith in the Hindu religion.Now, when on repeated dates no report (after conducting a further investigation) was submitted, the petitioner moved the High Court with the instant plea directing the police to submit a further report as to the progress of the investigation immediately.
The bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha has asked Bidhannagar DCP to file the report on November 17 duly vetted by the Commissioner of Police, Kolkata Police.
Tata Motors Agrees To Drop ‘T-Series’ Mark
Super Cassettes Pvt. Ltd. had filed a suit in February seeking a permanent injunction restraining infringement, passing off and damages against Tata Motors Ltd.
The companies recently settled the matter before the Delhi High Court with the automotive manufacturer undertaking not to use the record label ‘T-Series or T.Series’ in respect of its automobile products.
As per the settlement, it was also undertaken that Tata Motors will remove or takedown all the content with reference to the mark T-Series from its websites and social media platforms.
In view of the settlement agreement, Super Cassettes gave up its claim for rendition of accounts and damages.
Delhi High Court Permanently Restrains Foreign Company From Using ‘Tata’ Trademark In Cryptocurrency Trading
Ruling in favour of Tata Sons Private Limited, the Delhi High Court has permanently restrained a UK-based company from unauthorisedly using the Indian conglomerate’s registered trademark ‘TATA’ while selling and marketing digital token or cryptocurrency.
The appellate court had also asked the company and domain name registrar to take down the two websites www.hakunamatata.finance and www.tatabonus.com.
PIL Filed Against TV Reality Show Bigg Boss (Telugu)
A public interest litigation has recently been filed before the Andhra Pradesh High Court against showcasing television reality show ‘BIGG BOSS 6’ (Telugu season) on grounds that the show promotes obscenity and vulgarity, among others.
The petition also points to the IBF’s Certification Rules and states the act of telecasting the show as being in violation of the ‘IBF’s Content Code & Certification Rules, 2011,’ which expressly prohibit television content containing sex, obscenity, and indecent, derogatory and degrading acts.
The matter has been posted for October 11.
Decree Against Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) For Playing Music Without License
The Ad-hoc District Judge-1 (FTC-1), Panjim, after hearing the counsel for IPRS stated that “They (ESG) are permanently restrained from infringing the copyright of IPRS in any musical works by holding any concerts under the umbrella of International Film festival of India (IFFI) or any other such events at Kingfisher Village in public” and has ordered the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) to pay Rs 5,77,500 to the Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRS) towards the royalty licence fee for infringement of copyright.
ApplesTree vs ApplePlant: Delhi High Court
Interpreting synonymy in a matter related to two similar trademarks – APPLESTREE and APPLEPLANT, which belong to different manufacturers, the Delhi High Court in a recent order said the words ‘plant’ and ‘tree’ are a classic example of synonymy where reading one would bring in mind the other and lead to confusion in the mind of purchasers.
The court passed an interim injunction restraining the sale, advertisement or promotion of any product under the mark ‘APPLEPLANT’ or any other mark deceptively similar to ‘APPLESTREE’ in the suit. The court further said that the mark NUAPPLEPLANT is deceptively similar to the mark APPLESTREE when compared and seen visually.
The adoption of the impugned trademark by Arora prima facie is dishonest, said the court. It further noted that he has not been able to give a plausible explanation as to how he came across and decided to use the mark APPLE as a part of its trademark, considering that the word has no association with the products in question such as abrasive papers.
The court also said that the addition of the prefix ‘Nu’ to the impugned trademark cannot take away the semantic similarity of the two competing marks and make them distinguishable.
ISRA Withdraws Suits Filed in Delhi High Court
In lieu of amicable settlement ISRA withdraws suits against Ashok Singh, Debashish Mukherjee, Deepak Arora, Garuav Mehta, A. D. Singh, Marshal Sports Pvt. Ltd., Amit Kumar Chauhan, Priyanshu Sukheja, Harminder Singh and others.
The matter is now listed on 12th October.
Ed Sheeran To Face $100 Million Copyright Trial Over ‘Thinking Out Loud’: Report
Ed Sheeran will be facing a jury over his $100 million copyright case surrounding the 2014 hit track Thinking Out Loud. A federal judge in Manhattan has cleared the way for further legal proceedings against the singer-songwriter, who is alleged to have copied Marvin Gaye’s 1973 classic Let’s Get It On to write his own track.
According to the publication, the judge wrote, “There is no bright-line rule that the combination of two unprotectable elements is insufficiently numerous to constitute an original work,” and added,” “A work may be copyrightable even though it is entirely a compilation of unprotectable elements.”
The claim over Thinking Out Loud was originally filed in 2018 by investment banker David Pullman and his company called Structured Asset Sales. They alleged that the singer, as well as his co-writer Amy Wadge, had “copied and exploited, without authorisation or credit” Marvin’s track, “including but not limited to the melody, rhythms, harmonies, drums, bass line, backing chorus, tempo, syncopation and looping.
