The Press Trust of India Ltd v. Kashmir Times

1. Present'suit is filed by the plaintiff seeking a decree of permanent injunction restraining, the defendants etc. from directly or indirectly publishing, using, reproducing or copying the news articles, works,, copyrights which vests with theplaintiff. Othisr reliefs arealso soiight. " ^

2. Plaintiff is registered under the provisions of Companies Act and is stated to be a premier news agency which provides national and international news content to various newspaper, televisioii/radio networks,, websites and others. The defendant is a newspaper incorporated in the name of 'Kashinir Times' and is publishing in the region of State of Jammu and Kashmir.

3. It is the plea of the plaintiff that it is engaged in collection of news and creation of news articles/stories and compilations on the basis of gathered data and hence has the exclusive copyrights in the news articles/stories/compilations being original literary work in terms of the provisions ofthe Copyright Act. Hence, it is pleaded that the plaintiff has CS(COMM) 16/2017 / - Page 1 2018:DHC:8606 the exclusive rights toreproduce the work in any material form.

4. It is also stated that the plaintiff provides news articles to its subscribers against a subscription fee. The calculation o^the subscription fee charged by the plaintiff for providing its news articles is based on the circulation ofthe subscribing newspaper.

5. It is also pleaded that the plaintiffcarried out checks for the months of March 2014, October2014 and November 2014, showingthat the defendant has continued to flout the copyright of the plaintiff,in its news articles and has copied exclusivenews articles ofthe plaintiff verbatim and has infringed y the rights of the plaintiff. The details ofthe news articles which have been. copied and published by the defendant in violation of the Copyright of the plaintiff are elaborated in paragraph 16 of the plaint. It is pleaded that the defendant has no legal right to reproduce the news items of the plaintiff in which the plaintiff has a copyright. The defendant is only trying to unlawfully enrich itself by free-riding at the plaintiffs cost. Plaintiff has also issued a legal notice to the defendant on 11.6.2010. No response was received from the defendant. The defendant has continued to flout the copyrights ofthe plaintifffor a considerable time.

6. On 13.1.2017 this court noted that the defendant has been served but none has appeared or filed written statement. The defendant was proceeded fK, exparte.

7. The plaintiff has filed evidence by way of affidavit of Ms.Padma Alva, Chief Administrative Officer of the plaintiff company. She has reiterated the submissions ofthe plaintiff. The legal notice dated 23.11.2010 has been exhibited as PWl/3. Another legal notice dated 23.12,2013 has been exhibited as PW1/4. The infringed articles of the defendant have been CS(COMj;i) 16/2017. \ Page-2 r exhibited and marked as PWl/5 toPWl/168. It has been pleaded that the published news articles of the defendant in the newspaper Kas^ir Times shows that the defendant's publication is a verbatim copy of the news articles of the plaintiff. It is also pleaded that the subscription charges for a subscriber for the plaintiffs services is approximately Rs.2,37,000/- per. rnonth. The defendant has infringed the plaintiffs copyright in March 2010, July 2010, November 2013, March 2014, October 2014 and November

2014. It is pleaded that the plaintiffhas acpordinglysuffered damages.

8. Learned counsel for the plaintiff has stressed that in these i ' circumstances itis afit case for this court to award penal damages. Reliance is placed on a judgment of this comi m Cartier International AG and Others vs. Gaurav Bhatia & Ors.,226(2016) DLT 662.

9. It is quite clear that the defendant has violated the copyrights ofthe plaintiffsubsisted in the copyright act specially Section:13(l)(a) and 14(a) ' ~ oftheCopyright Act, 1957.

10. Section 13(1)(a) reads as follows;- "Works in which copyright subsists;-(l) Subject to the provisions ofthis isection and the other provisions ofthis -Act, cppyright shall subsist throughout India in the, following classes of works, that istos a y, (a) original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works;. ^ Section 14(a) ofthe CopyrightAct, 1957 reads as follows:.- "14. Meaning ofcopyright—For thepurposes ofthis Act, "copyright" means the exclusive right subject to llie provisions ofthis Act, todo orauthorise the doing ofaiiy; of the fpllowirig acts in respect of a work or any substantial part thereof, namely:— 14. Meaning of copjright.—For the purposes of this Act, "copyright' means the exclusive rightsubject to the provisions ofthis CS(COMM) 16/2017; Page 3 i nn/ Act, to do or authorise the doing of any of the following acts in respect of a work or any,substantial part therepf, namely:— (a) in the case of a literary, dramatic or musical work, not being a computer programme,—

(i) to reproduce the work in any material form including the storing of it in any medium by electronic means

(ii) to issue copies of the work to the public not being copies already in circulation;

(iii) tQ perform the work in public, or communicate it to the public;

(iv) to make any cinematograph film or sound recording in respect of the work;