Delhi High Court Rules In Favour Of Bhaktivedanta Book Trust In ISKCON Copyright Infringement Case

The Delhi High Court has ruled in favour of Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, which reproduces the writings and speeches of ISKCON founder Srila Prabhupada, in its suit against a website over copyright infringement.

Justice Anish Dayal decreed the suit against the website www.friendwithbooks.co, which was carrying copies of the books in which copyright vests with the Trust, without any authorization.

The suit was filed by the Trust seeking a decree of permanent injunction restraining the website from infringing their copyright under Section 14(a) of the Copyright Act, 1957.

In February, 2021, an ex parte ad interim injunction was granted in favour of the Trust and the website was restrained from engaging in or authorizing the reproduction of the books and artworks to the public.

Later, the defendant website made a statement that it had taken down all references and content relating to the books, artworks and sound recordings from all mediums. Accordingly, the interim order was made absolute.

An application was then moved by the Trust seeking summary judgment.

Allowing the application, the court noted that the defendant website accepted the injunction and the existence of the copyright in Srila Prabhupada of his works.

“There is also no other compelling reason why the claim should not be disposed of before recording oral evidence, especially since the trust deed by which copyright was assigned in favor of plaintiff's Trust is registered and the defendant does not claim to be either the owner, assignee or licensee of the said right. Moreover, the defendant does not dispute that these works being communicated to the public are authored by Srila Prabhupada,” the court said.

It added that copyright vests in a person by virtue of his sweat and toil and therefore, subsists by law as per Section 17 of the Copyright Act.

“Once the person is the repository of the right recognized by law it can only extinguish qua him or her by a legal mode,” the court said.

It added that the right would stand extinguished in the hands of the renunciate, only if the person transfers or relinquishes the right by a process known to law, and not otherwise.

“There could be a situation where it may be implied that by subjecting themselves to a monastic order, of which there were rules agreed to and accepted by conduct, oral utterance or writing, that the right and property would be deemed to be transferred in accordance with those rules, but even this hypothetical situation requires evidence to prove that the renunciate had agreed to his property being transferred to a beneficiary in a particular manner or mode. However, in this case, there was a categorical written assignment by Srila Prabhupada in favor of the plaintiff Trust,” the court observed.

Title: THE BHAKTIVEDANTA BOOK TRUST INDIA v. WWW.FRIENDWITHBOOKS.CO

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 473

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