7/27, 14:56] Sekarreporter1: [7/27, 14:56] Sekarreporter1: https://twitter.com/sekarreporter1/status/1552223873076445185?t=zNTcyWdkpbvfHcyTTtzM4Q&s=08 [7/27, 14:56] Sekarreporter1: MADRAS HIGH COURT GRANTS RELIEF FOR THE LEGAND FILM Madras High Court granted an order blocking of 1262 piracy websites for the film The Legand starring Arul Saravanan, and music by Legandry Harris Jayaraj and directed by Jd-Jerry. The Legand New Saravana Stores Productions filed a suit before Madras High court through their Advocate Vijayan Subramanian

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[7/27, 14:56] Sekarreporter1: [7/27, 14:56] Sekarreporter1: https://twitter.com/sekarreporter1/status/1552223873076445185?t=zNTcyWdkpbvfHcyTTtzM4Q&s=08
[7/27, 14:56] Sekarreporter1: MADRAS HIGH COURT GRANTS RELIEF FOR THE LEGAND FILM

Madras High Court granted an order blocking of 1262 piracy websites for the film The Legand starring Arul Saravanan, and music by Legandry Harris Jayaraj and directed by Jd-Jerry.

The Legand New Saravana Stores Productions filed a suit before Madras High court through their Advocate Vijayan Subramanian @lawyervijayan.

Today Hon’ble Justice Senthil Kumar Ramamoorthy after hearing the arguments of @lawyervijayan granted an order of interim injunction restraining 29 Internet Service Providers from infringing the cinematographic film The Legand by blocking 1262 piracy websites.
[7/27, 14:57] Sekarreporter1: Vijayan Subramanian appeared for the producer

 

 

N THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

(Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction)

O.A. No.             of 2022

in

C.S. (Com. Div.) No.             of 2022

 

M/s. The Legend New Saravana Stores Productions,

(a unit of the Legend New Saravana Stores Bramandamai),

Represented by its Authorised Signatory,

Mr. T. Ravindran (M – 57 years),

Having its registered office at No. 128 & 129,

North Usman Road, T. Nagar, Chennai – 600 017                … Applicant / Plaintiff

 

– VS –

 

1. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited,

Bharat Sanchar Bhavan, Harish Chandra Mathur Lane,

Janpath, New Delhi – 110 001

 

2. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.,

5^th Floor, Mahanagar Doorsanchar Sadan,

9, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi – 110 003

 

3. Bharati Airtel Limited,

Bharati Crescent, 1, Nelson Mandela Road,

VasantKunj, Phase II, New Delhi – 110 070

 

4. Vodafone Idea Limited (formerly Idea Cellular Limited),

Suman Tower, Plot no. 18, Sector 11,

Gandhinagar, Gujarat – 382 011

 

 

 

5. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.,

9^th Floor, Maker Chambers-IV,

222, Nariman Point, Mumbai – 400 021

 

6. Atria Convergence Technologies Private Limited,

Indian Express Building, 2^nd & 3^rd Floor,

No. 1, Queen’s Road, Bengaluru – 560 001

 

7. Hathway Cable &Datacom Limited,

4^th Floor, “Rahejas” Main Avenue,

Santacruz West, Mumbai – 400 054

 

8. Tata Docomo,

2A, Old Ishwar Nagar, Main Mathura Road,

New Delhi – 110 065

 

9. Asianet Satellite Communications,

2A, 2^nd Floor, Leela Infopark, Technopark Limited,

Kazhakoottam, Thiruvananthapuram – 695 581

 

10. Tikona Digital Networks Private Limited,

3A, 3^rd Floor, ‘Corpora’, L.B.S. Marg,

Bhandup West, Mumbai – 400 078

 

11. You Broadband & Cable India Limited,

Plot No. 54, Marol Co-operative Industrial Estate,

Makwana, Andheri East, Mumbai – 400 059

 

12. Reliance Communications Infrastructure Limited,

Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City,

Navi Mumbai – 400 709

 

13. Rail Tel Corporation of India Ltd.,

6^th Floor, Block III, Delhi Technology Park,

Shastri Park, Delhi – 110 053

14. Shyam Spectra Pvt. Ltd.,

A-60, Naraina Industrial Area,

Phase -I, New Delhi – 110 028

 

15. Sify Technologies Limited,

2^nd Floor, ‘Tidel Park’, No. 4, Canal road,

Taramani, Chennai – 600 113

 

16. AT & T Global Network Service India Pvt. Ltd.,

13^th Floor, 1305-06, Mohan Dev House,

13, Tolstoy Marg, New Delhi – 110 001

 

17. Peak Air Pvt Ltd.,

No. 36/567 G, Ananthapuri Building,

P.F Road, Kaloor, Cochin – 682 017

 

18. Knet Solutions Pvt Ltd. (Cherrinet),

No. 141, Prakash Towers, Ground Floor, OMR,

Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai – 600 041

 

19. Limras Eronet Broadband Services Private Limited,

No. 18/7, 1^st Floor, Postal Colony,

III Street, West Mambalam, Chennai – 600 033

 

20. SITI Networks Limited,

Unit No. 38, 1^st Floor, A Wing Madhu Industrial Estate,

P.B. Marg, Worli, Mumbai – 400 013

 

21. Andhra Pradesh State Fiber Net Limited,

3^rd Floor, NTR Administrative Block,

Pandit Nehru Bus Station, NH – 65, Vijayawada,

Andhra Pradesh – 520 001

 

 

22. Raaj Internet (I) Private Limited,

Old No. 12, New No. 27,

Singanna Chetty Street, Chintadripet,

Chennai – 600 002

 

23. Joister Infoserve Private Limited,

Shop No. 4 Borivali Neelkamalco, Daulat Nagar,

RD No. 10, Borivali East, Mumbai – 400 066

 

24. GTPL Hathway Ltd.,

202, 2^nd Floor, Sahajanand, Shopping Center,

Opp. Swaminarayan Temple,

Shahibaugh, Ahmedabad – 380 004

 

25. Ready Link Internet Service Limited,

Galaxy, Plot No. 7, Sakthi Colony,

RK Puram, Ganapathy, Coimbatore – 641 006

 

26. Nettlinx Limited,

5-9-22, 3^rd Floor, My Home Sarovar Plaza,

Secretariat Road, Saifabad, Hyderabad – 500 004

 

27. Excitel Broadband Private Limited,

Plot No 48, 2^nd Floor, Okhla Industrial Estates,

Phase III, New Delhi – 110 020

 

28. Southern Online Bio Technologies Limited,

Flat No. A3, 3^rd Floor, Office Block,

Samrat Complex, Saifabad, Hyderabad – 500 004

 

29. Dawn Supports Private Limited,

39/4916/D3, Divans Tower, Karimpatta Cross Road,

Pallimukku, Kochi, Ernakulam – 682 016

… Respondents / Defendants

AFFIDAVIT OF MR. T. RAVINDRAN

 

I, Mr. T. Ravindran, S/o. Thiyagarajan, aged about 57 years, having office at No. 128 & 129, North Usman Road, T. Nagar, Chennai – 600 017, do hereby solemnly affirm and sincerely state as under:

 

1. I am the Authorised Signatory of the Applicant Company herein and I am well acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case. I crave leave of this Hon’ble Court to treat the averments in the Plaint and Schedule as part and parcel hereof and I am not repeating the contents therein for the sake of brevity.

 

2. I submit that the Applicant is a new film Production Company and is involved in the business of film productions in Tamil film industry.
   The Applicant’s latest venture is the cinematograph film titled
   “THE LEGEND” in Tamil language, starring Arul Saravanan and Urvashi Rautela Vivek, Suman and Nassar, music composed by Harris Jayaraj and directed by J.D. Jerry. The said Film is an upcoming Tamil Movie. The Applicant has invested substantial sums of money in the production of the said Film and is scheduled to be released in more than 500 screens worldwide including Chennai. The film title was announced on 03/03/2022 along with the first look and motion poster was released. The trailer for the promotion of the said Film have been released to the general public and the official trailer was published during 29/05/2022 and the said Film has already garnered nearly 3 Crores views. The said Film is scheduled to be released on 28/07/2022. The Applicant acquired all exploitation and distribution rights including theatrical rights, music rights, other rights including TV, internet, digital and home video and all the aforementioned rights are exclusive. Furthermore, the Applicant has the right to bring, extend or defend any proceedings related to the infringement in respect of the film. The Applicant has the exploitation rights of the said Film under the provisions of Copyright Act, 1957 as amended in 2012 vide the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012.
3. I submit that the various cable and internet services provided by various persons (Respondents 1 – 38) across the world are involved in activities of recording, cam-cording and reproducing the audio songs, audio-visual clips, audio-visual songs and full cinematographic films that are screened in theatres and then copying / reproducing them through various medium including but not limited to CDs, DVDs, VCDs, Blu-ray Discs, computer
   hard drives, pen drives, etc., and distribute the same for selling at a meagre sum to the general public without any leave or authorisation of the production houses / copyright holders / right holders such as the Applicant herein. Such activities results in heavy loss and damage to production houses/copyright holders/right holders such as the Applicant herein.

 

4. I submit that the web pages and websites which provide such links are also multifarious and are disbursed all over the globe. Such websites are allowed to be viewed in India through various internet service providers and cable operators such as Respondents 1 – 38 herein.

 

5. I submit that the web pages and websites which provide such links are also multifarious and are disbursed all over the globe. Such websites are allowed to be viewed in India through various internet service providers such as Respondents 1– 29 herein. As per the Copyright (Amendment)
   Act 2012, the Applicant is permitted to seek an order from this Hon’ble Court directing ISP’s including but not limited to those listed as the Respondents 1-29 and any other person and/or entity infringing the Applicant’s rights herein to block access to links which are hosting the complete Film, audio songs, audio-visual clips and audio-visual songs of the said Film (hereinafter referred to as “said Work”), without knowledge, consent or authorisation from the Applicant herein.

 

6. I submit that the Applicant reasonably apprehends that as and when
   the said Film is released in theatres, such acts of piracy would also commence and websites as described would again mobilize to illegally copy, record, download, reproduce, transmit and communicate the said

   copyright protected said Work to general public. Such act would cause serious loss and damage to the business of the Applicant and would also render a death blow to the commercial viability and business prospects of the said Film.

 

7. I submit that the extensive list of 1262 websites in Schedule consist of Non-Compliant websites. There is a distinction to be made when comparing these websites to other websites that such as YouTube that host primarily legitimate content and have a reporting and “take down” mechanism in place, with respect to any infringing content. The list of websites provided in Schedule primarily host infringing content. When only URL’s for specific links of these websites in question are blocked, these Non-Compliant Websites merely create mirror websites by changing an insignificant part of the URL and are therefore able to reinstate the infringing material with minimal effort. I submit that the main purpose of these websites is to host infringing content, and thus these websites should be blocked in their entirety. Furthermore, the websites that are listed in Schedule do not have any sort of “take-down” mechanism whereby copyright holders can notify the website of a user who has posted content that infringes their Copyright. Additionally, in the past, requests to take down certain infringing content by Copyright Holders have fallen on deaf ears.

 

8. I submit that the Applicant reasonably apprehends that 1262 websites mentioned in Schedule of the Plaint have the potential to upload and/or enable third parties to copy, reproduce, distribute, display through cable or online medium of the Applicant’s copyright protected Film and Work through the 29 ISPs. The Applicant out of abundant caution and to protect its interests is in the process of issuing notices to the websites/URL’s including the websites mentioned in Schedule. The Respondents have not
   entered into any license agreement with the Applicant for communicating the movie and thus it amounts to infringement of Applicant’s Copyright under Section 14(1) (d) read with Section 16 of Copyright Act, 1957.

 

1. I submit that the present suit is being instituted as a quiatimet action on account of reasonably apprehended acts of infringement. Unless the Respondents are restrained from such unauthorised transmission, communication of the said Film and said Work, public interest would
   also suffer on account of poor quality of the said Film and said
   Work communicated to them by the Respondents.  Further, unless the Respondents are restrained as prayed for, other persons with whom the Applicant had entered into agreements for the purpose of marketing, promotion, exploitation, communication etc., would also suffer huge financial losses and be encouraged to communicate Applicant’s said Film and said Work without making agreed payments to the Applicant.

 

1. I submit that the Applicant has prima facie case for grant of ad-interim / temporary injunction in its favour. The Applicant is the producer and the
   first owner of the Copyright in the cinematographic film “THE LEGEND”.
   The Respondents herein, on the other hand, have no right whatsoever
   to copy, reproduce, record or in any manner communicate or allow others
   to communicate the Applicant’s Copyright protected cinematographic
   work “THE LEGEND”. The Respondents have not entered into any agreement with the Applicant herein in respect of communication of the cinematographic film / motion picture to the general public through
   any medium including online medium through uploads and downloads.
   The Applicant has further proved that the Respondents prepare poor
   copies of the film / motion picture and disburse it among general public in consequence whereof the reputation and goodwill of the Applicant is tremendously prejudiced. The balance of convenience is also in favour
   of the Applicant. The Applicant has shown reasonable cause for the
   present action based on the past experience with such unnamed and unidentified pirates who have time and again involved in such nefarious and infringing activities causing enormous loss to the business of the Applicant. Unless an order of injunction as prayed for is granted, the Applicant
   would be put to enormous loss and prejudice not only to its business

   but also to the goodwill and reputation of the forthcoming motion picture “THE LEGEND”. On the other hand, the Respondents would not be prejudiced with the present application.

 

In view of the above, the Applicant / Plaintiff, therefore prays that
this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to grant an order of interim injunction restraining the Respondents 1 to 29 / Defendants 1 to 29 from infringing the cinematographic film “THE LEGEND” and said work be directed to block all websites/web pages including websites mentioned in Schedule hosting contents that relate to Applicant’s / Plaintiff’s copyright protected cinematographic film
“THE LEGEND” in any manner, thereby restraining the unauthorised copying, transmission, communication or make available or display or release or show or upload or download or exhibit or play and/or in any manner communicate in and /or through their services immediate of receipt of details of such infringing websites/web pages in writing, pending disposal of the above suit and thus render justice.

 

 

 

 

Solemnly affirmed at Chennai                                                   BEFORE ME
on this the 22^nd day of July 2022

and the deponent signed his name in my presence

ADVOCATE, CHENNAI