Madras High Court: Ilaiyaraaja — makers of Dude & Good Bad Ugly settle; INR 50 lakh paid
Composer Ilaiyaraaja and the producers of the films Dude and Good Bad Ugly informed the Madras High Court that they have entered into a settlement over alleged unauthorised use of his works; the producers paid INR 50 lakh (after TDS) as part of the compromise and the suits were disposed. The court recorded the joint compromise memo and closed the copyright suits.
Madras High Court: Interim injunction against release of Akhanda 2 in favour of Eros
Madras HC passed orders restraining exploitation/release of the film Akhanda II pending compliance with an earlier arbitral award — This appeal was filed by Eros in connection with its long-standing arbitral award against 14 Reels Entertainment Private Limited, under which Eros is the award holder of a money decree of approximately Rs28 crore.
Eros argued that this was an indirect attempt to flout the arbitral award and avoid compliance with legally determined financial obligations.
Eros International obtained an interim injunction seeking to prevent release until an arbitral award sum is satisfied.
Delhi High Court awards ₹1.5 lakh to Tommy Hilfiger — counterfeit sale by Kolkata trader (Tommy Hilfiger v. Kolkata trader)
The Delhi High Court (bench of Justice Tejas Karia) held that a Kolkata trader sold counterfeit Tommy Hilfiger goods and granted monetary compensation of ₹1.5 lakh for trademark infringement and passing off (judgment delivered 28 Nov 2025). The court found clear use of the registered mark on fake products that deceived consumers.
Madras High Court strikes out Sangeetham House Of Veg trademark for violating earlier settlement (Sangeetha Veg v. Sangeetham House Of Veg)
The Madras High Court (Justice N. Senthilkumar) struck out registration of the mark Sangeetham House Of Veg (a Tiruchendur eatery), finding it obtained in violation of an earlier court-recorded settlement that required a change of name.
The registration was ordered removed for breaching the settlement terms recorded in the earlier infringement suit.
Bombay High Court bars Chemco Plast from using “CHEMCO” as a trademark; allows domain use
The Bombay High Court restrained Chemco Plast from using CHEMCO as a trademark but permitted them to continue using it as a domain name. The court balanced trademark rights with practical use in the online presence (domain), disallowing trade-mark use that would cause confusion with the established brand-owner, while recognizing limited non-trademark online usage is permissible subject to conditions.
Delhi High Court restores Kohinoor Seeds trademark suit against Veda Seed; territorial jurisdiction found in Delhi
The Delhi High Court restored Kohinoor Seed’s trademark suit against Veda Seed, holding that Delhi has territorial jurisdiction to entertain the suit. The bench found proper cause to restore the proceedings and proceed with the trademark infringement/pass-off claim
Calcutta High Court refuses interim relief in PL SUPREME trademark dispute (Parul Ruparelia v. Camme Wang)
The Calcutta High Court (Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur) refused interim injunction to Kolkata importer Parul Ruparelia in a suit against Chinese manufacturer Camme Wang over the mark PL SUPREME.
The court found the Chinese manufacturer to be the prior adopter and owner, accepted its export invoices and registration evidence, and held the Indian importer could not claim independent goodwill. The court also vacated earlier interim orders and directed seized goods be returned.
Delhi High Court: suit over pre-1965 sound recordings closed — defendant says it claims no rights
Delhi HC (Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, J.) disposed of CS(COMM) 1094/2025 (Bignet Solutions LLP v Novex Communications Pvt. Ltd.) after Novex confirmed it does not assert rights in recordings published before 1965.
The court recorded that the plaintiff’s event took place and that Novex does not claim copyright in the listed pre-1965 recordings; the suit was disposed.
Supreme Court: “We are cautious” — on petitions about unregulated/unchecked use of AI in the judiciary
In a public statement / hearing this week, the Supreme Court recorded that judges must exercise “utmost caution” in using AI in judicial processes; the Court signalled caution on petitions seeking to regulate judicial use of AI and emphasized safeguards and careful, measured adoption.
CBFC / Government: Policy update — 50% women participation in every Examining & Revising Committee for film certification
Government / CBFC statements this week confirmed that the Central Board of Film Certification will ensure 50% women participation on every Examining and Revising Committee constituted for film certification.
Policy implementation measures were referenced alongside the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024.
Netflix acquires Warner Bros. for US$82.7 billion — a seismic reshuffle in entertainment
Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) announced that Netflix will acquire Warner Bros. (including its film & television studios, HBO, HBO Max and streaming/production assets) in a landmark cash-and-stock deal valuing Warner Bros. at an enterprise value of US$82.7 billion (equity value US$72.0 billion), at US$27.75 per WBD share.
The acquisition is contingent on WBD first spinning off its Global Networks division (cable/news networks such as CNN/TNT/Discovery) into a separate publicly-listed entity (expected Q3 2026).
South Korea: Training AIs on full news-articles or textbooks ruled copyright-infringing
On 4 December 2025, the government authorities in South Korea — through the Korea Copyright Commission together with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (South Korea) — publicly declared that using full text of news articles or textbooks to train generative-AI systems constitutes copyright infringement.
The new “Guide to Fair Use of Generative AI Training on Copyrighted Works” clarifies that training AI on such works (news, textbooks, images, music) without consent does not qualify as fair use.
Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment — United States Supreme Court hears massive internet music-piracy case
In early December 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court took up arguments in the high-stakes piracy case Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment. The issue before the Court: whether an internet service provider (ISP) can be held liable for “contributory copyright infringement” merely because it knew users of its service repeatedly engaged in illegal file-sharing — but did not take action to cut off their access — even without evidence that the ISP itself took affirmative steps to facilitate the infringement.
The case has a background: a jury previously awarded over US$1 billion in damages to record labels (affiliated with Sony) based on allegations that Cox ignored repeated infringement by its subscribers. That verdict was partially overturned on appeal, which remanded the matter for reconsideration. The Supreme Court’s decision could re-set the rules for secondary liability of ISPs.
U.S. Court orders OpenAI to hand over 20 million anonymized ChatGPT logs in copyright-suit led by The New York Times
A U.S. federal judge — Ona Wang (Magistrate Judge, Southern District of New York) — ruled that OpenAI must produce approximately 20 million anonymized user-chat logs from ChatGPT for discovery in a copyright lawsuit brought by the New York Times and other media outlets. The court rejected OpenAI’s arguments that turning over the logs would violate user privacy.
The news outlets argue the logs are critical: they contend the logs will show whether ChatGPT output reproduces or closely mirrors copyrighted content from their publications. OpenAI had objected, claiming that nearly all the chat logs were irrelevant to the dispute and that handing them over would compromise user trust and confidentiality. The judge held that the logs are relevant and that built-in de-identification and protective orders sufficiently mitigate privacy risks
Star dancers & a lawmaker demand better copyright protection for choreography in K-pop
On 4 December 2025, a group of prominent K-pop choreographers and a member of the Korean parliament convened at a talk show hosted by Korea Choreography Copyright Association (KCCA) and the Korean Sports Development Association in Seoul.
Among the panel were celebrated choreographers like Lia Kim, founder of 1Million Dance Studio, and Choi Young‑joon, along with legislator Jin Jong‑ho (People Power Party), an ex-Olympian and former athlete. They collectively called for stronger legal recognition and protection of choreography as a standalone creative work — including mandatory attribution and better enforcement of rights.
U.S. media v. AI startup: New York Times (and Chicago Tribune filing) — copyright fight vs AI summarizer/startup
On December 5, 2025, The New York Times filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Perplexity AI.
The complaint alleges that Perplexity has engaged in “large-scale, unlawful copying and distribution” of NYT’s copyrighted content — including articles, videos, and podcasts — to power its AI tools.
The lawsuit claims Perplexity reproduces NYT material verbatim or “near-verbatim,” presents it to users as its own output, and even attributes fabricated content to the Times
