Dhanush filed lawsuit in Madras High Court against Nayanthara and husband Vignesh Sivan over use of Naanum Rowdy Dhaan clip in Netflix documentary
Dhanush K. Raja’s company Wunderbar Films Private Limited, has filed a civil suit in the Madras High Court against actress Nayanthara Kurian, her husband and director Vignesh Sivan, Rowdy Pictures Private Limited, and others. The dispute arises from the alleged use of visuals from the Tamil film Naanum Rowdy Dhaan in the Netflix docu-drama “Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale”.
In its petition, Wunderbar Films has requested the court’s permission to add Los Gatos Production Services India LLP, a Mumbai-based company handling Netflix’s content investments in India, to the case. As per Hindu, the court has granted permission to include Los Gatos in the case, and both parties are expected to present their arguments in upcoming hearings.
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Nagraj Manjule faces copyright dispute Over Khashaba Jadhav Biopic
Renowned director Nagraj Manjule is embroiled in a legal dispute over his upcoming biopic on Indian freestyle wrestler and 1952 Helsinki Olympics bronze medalist Khashaba Jadhav. The controversy stems from allegations made by Pune-based author and professor Sanjay Dudhane, whose book Olympicveer Khashaba Jadhav is the source material for the film. Dudhane has filed a lawsuit in the Pune District and Sessions Court, seeking a permanent injunction to halt the film’s production and promotional activities, accusing the filmmakers of failing to acknowledge his contributions.
Dudhane, who has held the rights to Jadhav’s biography since 2001 and possesses a certificate from the Government of India’s Copyright Office, claims that Manjule entered into an unlawful agreement with Khashaba Jadhav’s son, Ranjit Jadhav, in 2019.In 2020, Manjule allegedly assured Dudhane that his name would be credited as the writer and that he would receive equal recognition, similar to Ranjit Jadhav. However, when the issue remained unresolved, Dudhane sent a legal notice to Manjule on December 26, 2022. A settlement meeting took place on July 8, 2023, where it was agreed that Dudhane would be credited in the “author, researcher, and thank you” sections and would receive the same honorarium as Ranjit Jadhav.
Despite this agreement, Dudhane claims the terms were not fulfilled. He was later offered a settlement of Rs 3 lakh, which he rejected because it required transferring all rights to the book to Ranjit Jadhav.
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P&H High Court: No copyright in manufacture, sale of clothing items
The Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed a case against a man accused of manufacturing and selling garments under a fake Puma label, ruling that copyright does not apply to the manufacture and sale of clothing items. The case originated from a 2017 incident in which the accused was charged under Sections 63 and 65 of the Copyright Act for allegedly infringing Puma’s copyright. Later, additional charges for trademark infringement were added under Sections 103 and 104 of the Trade Marks Act. A Bench of Justice Karamjit Singh examined Section 13 of the Copyright Act, which specifies the types of works eligible for copyright protection. The Court clarified, “As per Section 13 of the Act of 1957, Copyright could subsist with regard to the afore-stated classes of works. There could be thus no Copyright in manufacture and sale of garments. Thus, prima facie, the prosecution has failed to prove infringement of the provisions of Act of 1957, punishable under Sections 63 and 65 of the said Act” The Court also addressed the trademark infringement charges, ruling that the case had been improperly investigated. It found, “The case was investigated by Inspector Vijay Kumar in violation of the provision of Section 115(4) of the Act of 1999, which provides that in a case relating to infringement of the provisions of Trade Mark Act 1999, the matter is to be investigated by the police officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police.” Due to these procedural errors, the Court concluded that the prosecution under both the Copyright Act and the Trade Marks Act was legally invalid, leading to the quashing of the criminal case
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Government Urges Parliamentary Standing Committee to Address Obscene Content on Social Media
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday during the ongoing session of the Lok Sabha called for laws to curb objectionable content on social media. Speaking on the subject, the Union Minister said, “We are living in the era of social media and OTT platforms. However, the democratic institutions and traditional forms of the press that once relied on editorial checks to ensure accountability and correctness of content, have seen these checks diminish over time.” He noted that due to the absence of such editorial oversight, social media has become a platform for freedom of press on one hand, but on the other hand, it has also become a space for uncontrolled expression, which often includes vulgar content.
Read more about the matter here.
CCI initiates probe against Google after WinZO files complaint
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Thursday ordered a probe against Google for an alleged breach of antitrust rules following a complaint filed by online gaming company Winzo. Winzo has accused Google of abusing its dominant position in the market and its restrictive policies towards online gaming companies, among others. WinZO further argued that Google Play’s policies prohibited the hosting of gaming applications offering Real Money Games (RMGs) in India. As a result, users could only download apps with real money skill-based games directly from their websites through a process known as sideloading. Consequently, WinZO’s app was made available solely via its website. When users tried to download the app on Android devices from the website, a disclaimer or warning appeared, which WinZO claimed was specific to Google’s Android operating system. WinZO argued that this warning was unjustified, misleading, and unlawful. It contended that the warning damaged its market reputation, involved active misrepresentation, and led to significant business losses.
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Bombay HC grants John Doe order in favor of HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd over customer data threat
The Bombay High Court on Friday granted ad-interim relief to HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd., issuing a John Doe order against an unidentified individual who threatened to leak confidential customer data. The Court also directed Meta Platforms, WhatsApp and Telegram to take immediate action to remove accounts, content and phone numbers associated with the threatening communications. “Disclosure of the sensitive and confidential customer data can be highly damaging to both the Plaintiff and its customers. The Plaintiff has pointed out that publication, sale, or misuse of the data can result in identity theft, financial fraud, privacy violations, and unauthorized transactions. The data can be misused for a variety of purposes, including impersonating the Plaintiff, which would also involve infringement of the Plaintiff’s registered trademark and passing off,” the single-judge stated.
Read order here.
Bombay HC restrains Sports Authority Of India from using unlicensed songs of Novex Communications Private Ltd At ‘HT City Unwind’ event
Bombay High Court prohibited use of sound recordings assigned or authorised to Novex Communications Private Ltd in connection with the event HT City Unwind at the premises of Sports Authority of India (SAI) unless a permission is obtained. SAI’s lawyers had stated that they have been recently provided with the case papers and have no instructions from their client.The Court, acknowledging the Defendant’s counsel’s request for time, has directed that the Defendant must inform the event organizers that they cannot use the Plaintiff’s sound recordings at the event without obtaining a license and the Defendant itself cannot use the Plaintiff’s sound recordings at the premises without a license. The matter is scheduled for hearing on December 10, 2024.
Read the order here.
Bombay High Court restrains YouTube, others from infringing copyright of SOBO Films
The Bombay High Court has issued an order against YouTube, Daily Motion and several unidentified parties for infringing the copyrighted content of SOBO Films’ regional TV shows, including Sun Naam Oruvar. The dispute arose from the licenses granted by SOBO Films to SUN TV to air Sun Naam Oruvar, the Tamil talk show hosted by actor Vishal and aired on Sun TV between 2018 and 2019. SOBO claims that despite these licenses expiring in 2019, Sun TV has continued to broadcast the show on its platforms including Sun NXT, YouTube and Daily Motion, without authorisation.
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Zee Entertainment shareholders reject proposal to reappoint Punit Goenka as director
The filing by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) stated that the resolution for the reappointment of Punit Goenka was defeated in the annual general meeting (AGM) of the company. As per ZEEL’s statement, Resolution number three in the AGM, which proposed the reappointment of Goenka as director, was supported by only 49.54 per cent of the total number of votes cast while 50.4 per cent voted against the resolution.
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OpenAI faces copyright infringement case in Canada
A coalition of several Canadian news organizations is suing OpenAI, accusing it of using their news content to train ChatGPT, its AI chatbot. In a statement issued on November 29, the group claimed that OpenAI is violating copyright by sourcing significant amounts of content from Canadian media, profiting from their work without offering any compensation, benefits, or even seeking permission.
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Drake claims Universal Music and Spotify ‘artificially inflated’ Kendrick Lamar’s numbers for ‘Not Like Us’ diss track
Drake has launched two legal actions against Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify, alleging that they conspired to artificially inflate interest in Kendrick Lamar’s viciously personal song Not Like Us, which accuses him of pedophilia, while suppressing his own music, as well as accusing them of defamation. As per online reports, the petition, claims that UMG “engaged in conduct designed to artificially inflate the popularity of ‘Not Like Us’… including by licensing the song at drastically reduced rates to Spotify and using ‘bots’ to generate the false impression that the song was more popular than it was in reality.”.
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