Delhi High Court Directs Whatsapp To Take Down Groups Illegally Circulating E-Newspapers Owned By Dainik Bhaskar Corp. Ltd.

The Delhi High Court has directed Whatsapp to take down or block the WhatsApp groups unauthorisedly and illegally circulating the e-newspaper owned by Dainik Bhaskar Corp. Ltd.Justice Sanjeev Narula was of the view that Dainik Bhaskar Corp. Ltd., the plaintiff had made out a prima facie case and that an irreparable loss would be caused to it in case an ex-parte order of injunction is not granted against those illegally circulating and distributing the it's e-newspaper.The Dainik Bhaskar Corp. Ltd. is the registered owner the trademarks "Dainik Bhaskar", "Divya Bhaskar", "Divya Marathi" and "Bhaskar Group".The Defendant No. 1 in the suit was WhatsApp LLC while Defendants No. 3 to 88 were persons who had formed whatsapp groups and were circulating e-newspapers illegally. The suit was therefore filed seeking ex-parte injunction restraining the Defendants from infringing or enabling the infringement of plaintiff's copyrights and trademarks.It was the Plaintiff's case that it began circulating e-newspapers through its websites "epaper.bhaskar.com" and "epaper.diyyabhaskar.com" on a subscription based model. Apart from the said websites, the e-newspapers and e-magazines were also accessed through its mobile phone application Dainik Bhaskar. It was therefore submitted that there might be many other whatsapp groups where the e-newspapers were unauthorisedly and illegally shared, however, the Plaintiff was unaware of the same. It was contended that Plaintiff was the owner of the copyright in 'literary works' qua the e-newspaper, along with news articles and the content published on its websites and mobile application, and the same could not be unauthorisedly circulated."…. till the next date of hearing, Defendant No. 1 is directed to take down/ block the WhatsApp groups identified under paragraph 7 of the present application – which are unauthorisedly and illegally circulating the Plaintiff's e-newspaper," the Court directed. The matter will now be heard by the roster bench on May 2, 2022. Title: DB CORP LTD v. WHATSAPP LLC & ORS.Click Here To Read Order

Delhi High Court Directs Whatsapp To Take Down Groups Illegally Circulating E-Newspapers Owned By Dainik Bhaskar Corp. Ltd.

Nupur Thapliyal

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