ITV

Tag: court case

  • SPN obtains Delhi HC injunction order to protect copyright of India-England cricket series

    SPN obtains Delhi HC injunction order to protect copyright of India-England cricket series

    Mumbai: Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) has obtained a Dynamic John Doe injunction order from the Delhi high court to prevent copyright infringement for the India-England international cricket series in July. This will protect SPN against unauthorised and illegal IP disclosure on the internet and other social media platforms.

    As per the Dynamic John Doe order, certain multi-system operators (MSO), local cable operators (LCO) and websites/uniform resource locators (URLs) are prohibited from communicating and broadcasting to the public the cricketing series due to their indulgence in piracy and infringing SPN’s copyright in the broadcast and digital transmission rights for the cricketing series.

    The said order prohibits the websites/URLs in any manner, from hosting, streamlining, reproducing, distributing, making available to the public and/or communicating to the public or facilitating the same on their websites, through the internet in any manner whatsoever, any cinematograph work, content, programme or event in which SPN has copyright.

    The said order further prohibits MSOs and LCOs from in any manner hosting, streaming, reproducing, distributing, broadcasting, making available to the public and/or communicating to the public any unauthorised and unlicensed reproduction or broadcast on the local channels or through other means of various copyrighted content, including but not limited to the cricketing series through cable network.

    Further, in general, various internet service providers (ISPs) are directed to block access to the websites/URLs. If SPN discovers any other websites / MSOs/LCOs infringing its copyrights in respect of the cricketing series, it can approach the Delhi high court under this John Doe Order and seek requisite reliefs. In addition, a local commissioner has also been appointed to enforce the provisions of the said order against MSOs/LCOs indulging in piracy by unauthorizedly distributing or transmitting/communicating/redistributing the cricketing series without a valid license from SPN.

    SPN had acquired an exclusive license from the England and Wales Cricket Board Limited (ECB) to broadcast/communicate the India-England series to the public in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and the Maldives in 2021.

    However, the series had to be stopped midway, after four test matches, owing to rising Covid cases. The current John Doe Order protects SPN’s copyright for the remainder of the cricketing series, starting July 2022, which comprises one test match, three T20 matches and three one-day international matches.

  • Disclaimer ends the PepsiCo vs. MSM dispute

    Disclaimer ends the PepsiCo vs. MSM dispute

    MUMBAI: The case filed by cola giant PepsiCo against MSM Motion Pictures and Vashu Bhagnani-owned Pooja Pictures over use of the title ‘Youngistaan’ for their upcoming movie starring Jackky Bhagnani, Neha Sharma, Boman Irani and late Farooq Sheikh, has been dissolved with both parties agreeing to a settlement.

     

    Following a hearing at the Delhi High Court by Justice A K Pathak, it was agreed upon by both parties that a disclaimer will be displayed not only at the beginning of the movie when it releases in theatres on 28 March but also in non-theatrical trailers, the official website of the film, the official twitter account, official facebook account and the official YouTube page. The disclaimer reads: “This movie is not related to or associated with, sponsored or promoted in any manner by Pepsi or Pepsi’s Youngistaan Campaign” and will be effective 15 March onwards.

     

    Apparently, there was talk of the disclaimer even yesterday but PepsiCo finally relented only today. Asked about the same, a spokesperson for Singh & Singh, the law firm representing the cola company, simply said, “The defendants (MSM Motion Pictures and Pooja Pictures) worded the disclaimer the way we wanted it to be. Hence, we agreed to it.”

     

     It was in January this year that Singh & Singh sent legal notice to MSM Motion Pictures and Pooja Pictures, alleging that the title of their upcoming film, Youngistaan, was an infringement of their client’s (PepsiCo’s) registered trademark.  

     

    The objections raised by PepsiCo notwithstanding, MSM Motion Pictures and Pooja Pictures went ahead and announced the launch of their film on 6 February. PepsiCo then moved the Delhi High Court on 12 February, and its plea said, “Restraining them (the producers) from launching their movie under the impugned title ‘Youngistaan’ which is nothing but a blatant imitation of the plaintiff’s (PepsiCo) registered trademark.”

     

    The hearing was earlier slated for 24 February however, it was postponed to 3 March as the judge was on leave. On 3 March, the case was adjourned as MSM Motion Pictures and Pooja Pictures had sought more time.