Delhi HC Directs Telegram To Block Channels Providing 'Dainik Jagran' Newspaper In PDF Forms [Read Interim Order]

The Delhi High Court on Friday passed an ad interim ex parte order against Telegram Mobile Internet application, directing them to block within 48 hours the channels providing PDF versions of 'Dainik Jagran' newspaper in breach of its copyright and trademark.

A single judge bench of Justice Mukta Gupta also directed Telegram to disclose details of the infringing channel owners, noting that currently Telegram does not disclose details of owners/admins of such channels to the readers.

In light of this, the order states,

"The defendant No.1 is also directed to disclose the basic subscriber information/identity of the users/owners of the channels who have been impleaded as defendant No.2 who are using the emails/addresses as mentioned in para (b) of the application" 

The High Court passed this order in a plea seeking injunction against the Telegram mobile app which allowed downloading of all editions of the e-paper "Dainik Jagran" (Owned by Jagran Prakash Ltd.) in PDF format.

Apropos this, the petitioner's Counsel Jeevesh Mehta had highlighted that Telegram under the capacity of an intermediary had not observed "due diligence" as provided under section 79 of Information Technology Act 2000 and Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2011 and thus, as an intermediary it could not claim any exemption from the provisions of the IT Act or escape liability under these circumstances.

The petitioner had contended that the defendant(s) were indulging into reproducing, adopting, distributing, transmitting and disseminating the e-newspapers of the plaintiff and thereby not only causing the plaintiff serious financial loss but also violating the plaintiff's trademark rights as well as copyrights in the e-newspaper.

"On these channels the e-papers of the plaintiff are being uploaded in PDF format on daily basis and thus the defendant No.1 with the help of these channels are not only permitting availability of current editions of the e-paper but also users subscribing to the channels of defendant No.1 can download all the previous editions of the e-paper published in the past, which is otherwise available to a user only if he subscribes the e-paper subscription while visiting the website of the plaintiff" - Excerpt of Order

Click Here To Download Order