Relief for Rahul Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh, Supriya Shrinate in copyright case

Karnataka HC passes stay order on probe against the three in a copyright infringement case filed by MRT Music over the use of a song from 'KGF Chapter 2' for Congress Party's Bharat Jodo Yatra

The Karnataka High Court on Friday stayed the investigation against Rahul Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh, and Supriya Shrinate in a copyright infringement case filed by MRT Music over the use of a song from the film ‘KGF Chapter 2’ for the Congress Party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.

A single bench of Justice Sunil Dutt Yadav passed the order after hearing the arguments of Senior Advocate AS Ponnanna who said the videos featuring the song have been taken down from the official social media handles of the Congress.

A Bengaluru court on November 7 had ordered Twitter to temporarily block the accounts of the Congress Party and of its Bharat Jodo Yatra.

The case against Congress was filed by MRT Music which said both accounts illegally used sound recordings of the film KGF-Chapter 2.

An FIR was lodged against Rahul Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh, and Supriya Shrinate at Yeshwanthpur Police Station.

The order of November 7 was lifted by the High Court after an appeal was filed by the Congress party, in which the party gave an undertaking to take down the videos.

Ponnanna said Rahul Gandhi could be made an accused merely because his face was featured in the video. “There is also the issue of territorial jurisdiction, as the FIR is registered at Yeshwanthpur police station, and the Yatra never entered Bengaluru,” he said.

Senior Advocate Shyamsundar M S, appearing for MRT Music, said that as of now there was no urgency to hear the petition and requested for a hearing after the winter vacations.

The issue

The court order of November 7 had said that based on prima facie material before the court, the plaintiff would suffer irreparable injury if the alleged illegal use of sound records was encouraged. It would also encourage piracy, the court added.

“The plaintiff produced a CD showing the side-by-side file, that is, the original version of his copyrighted work with that of the illegally synchronised version. These prima facie materials available before this court at this stage establish that if the same is encouraged, the plaintiff, who is in the business of acquiring cinematography films, songs, music albums, etc, will be put to irreparable injury and further the same will lead to encouraging the piracy at large," the Court said.

Observing the materials on record, the court restrained the defendants from using the copyrighted work owned by the plaintiff till the next date of hearing.

It also directed Twitter to take down three links from its platform and block the accounts of INC and Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Counsel for MRT said it was necessary to appoint a Commissioner to inspect and conduct an electronic audit and to preserve the infringing material on INC's Twitter account and Bharat Jodo Yatra's Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook accounts.

The Court agreed and appointed an administrator from its computer section as local commissioner to visit the defendants' accounts, conduct an electronic audit and preserve any infringing material available.

"This court is convinced that the object of granting an injunction would be defeated by delay if the commissioner is not appointed to make the local inspection. Accordingly, Sri. S.N. Venkateshmurthy, District System Administrator of Computer Section, Commercial Court, Bengaluru is appointed as Local Commissioner to visit the defendants 1 to 3 websites, conduct an electronic audit and preserve the infringing materials available in the above social media and prepare an inventory of the same and store the same in this court’s system and separate CD," the order stated.