Karnataka High Court Stays FIR Against Amazon Over Alleged Counterfeit Sale Of Late Journalist Ravi Belagere's Novel

The Karnataka High Court in an interim order on Tuesday (May 19) stayed further proceedings in an FIR lodged against Amazon Seller Services Private Limited over the alleged sale of pirated copies of late journalist Ravi Belagere's novel, 'Heli Hogu Kaarana', by unauthorised sellers using the platform.

The court was considering Amazon Seller Services' plea seeking to quash the FIR, wherein the e-commerce platform has invoked the 'safe harbour' protection under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, as the primary ground.

Before a vacation bench of Justice K.V Aravind, senior advocate Sandesh J Chouta appearing for Amazon sought a for a stay on the FIR registered at the Subramanyapura police station, at the instance of Belagere's daughter Bhavana Belagere for alleged copyright infringement.

Issuing notices to the state government and the complainant the court adjourned the matter to the third week of June.

“…Issue notice to R1 and R2. Further proceedings stayed…in the FIR… till the next date of hearing. List during the third week of June”, the court said. 

Chouta argued that the company only acts as an intermediary platform. He stated that it merely facilitates the sale of products by providing a platform for various sellers, who independently decide the prices of their products too.

“There are three lakh registered users…we only provide a place for the sellers to put up their products…We only provide the platform for the sale to take place”, he said. 

It was also argued that Amazon can avail the 'safe harbour' provisions of Section 79 of the IT Act, which protects intermediaries from liability for third-party content hosted on their platforms, provided it has exercised due diligence.

He placed reliance on the Supreme Court's landmark judgment in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015), which upheld the constitutional validity of Section 79, noting that it grants intermediaries immunity from prosecution as long as they adhere to the due diligence requirements.

The complainant who is the copyright holder of the book (on behalf of Bhavana Publications), filed the complaint on the ground that Amazon and other e-commerce platforms are facilitating copyright infringement of her father's novel named 'Helli Hogu Kaarana', by allowing the sale of its counterfeit copies.

The FIR has also been registered against other platforms such as Flipkart and Meesho under Section 51(1)(b) [Infringement of Copyright] and Section 63[Offence of Infringement & Penalty] under the Copyright Act, 1957.

Along with the quashing of the FIR, Amazon has also sought interim reliefs of no coercive action against its officers in connection with the FIR and keeping in abeyance the Section 35(3) BNSS notice issued to the Company representatives on 05.05.2026.

Chouta submitted that Amazon had already provided the investigating officer with complete details of the erring sellers in question, including their names, email IDs, phone numbers and the dates of their first and last sales of the aforesaid book on the platform.

He argued that without specific allegations of non-compliance with due diligence, the company could not be made an accused in the matter.

"We have given the details and the entire list of sellers to the investigating officer. We could never be made accused. The unknown persons could be proceeded under the Copyright Act, not the intermediaries," he added. 

He also referred to the Karnataka High Court coordinate bench judgment in Kunal Bahl v. State of Karnataka (2022) and the Delhi High Court decision in Flipkart Internet Pvt. Ltd.(2022), which has consistently held that intermediaries are not liable unless there is an explicit court order directing them to take down certain content under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act.

Accordingly, the court passed an interim order staying further proceedings in the FIR pending the next hearing.

Case Title: Amazon Seller Services Private Limited v. State of Karnataka & Ors.

Case No: Crl P 7018/2026