Delhi High Court's Big Move: Safeguards Andaz Apna Apna IP From Unauthorized Use

Delhi High Court's Big Move: Safeguards Andaz Apna Apna IP From Unauthorized Use

Introduction

The Delhi High Court has issued an interim order restricting more than thirty parties from using the intellectual property linked to the Hindi movie Andaz Apna Apna without authorization. Vinay Pictures, represented by Shanti Vinaykumar Sinha, the legal heir of the film's producer Vinay Sinha, filed a suit alleging copyright and trademark infringement through merchandise, online content, domain names and content generated by AI.

Factual Background

Vinay Pictures, the producer of the iconic Hindi film Andaz Apna Apna, has been fighting to protect its intellectual property rights against unauthorized use. The film continues to enjoy enduring popularity and cultural relevance, with its characters, dialogues, and artistic works being commercialized by unauthorized parties.

Procedural Background

The suit was filed before the Delhi High Court, seeking relief against alleged infringement of intellectual property rights. After reviewing the plaintiff's documents and over 70 infringing URLs, the court presided by Justice Amit Bansal granted an ex parte interim injunction.The interim injunction prohibits both known and unidentified persons from producing, disseminating, or hosting any kind of materials, including pictures, videos, or artificial intelligence-generated content, that replicates or is derived from the film or its iconic characters and catchphrases. The protected features include popular characters such as "Crime Master Gogo," "Teja," "Amar," and "Prem," along with trademarked catchphrases like "Aila" and "Ouima."

Issues Involved

1. Copyright Infringement: Whether unauthorized use of the film's characters, title, dialogues, and artistic works constitutes copyright infringement.

2. Trademark Infringement: Whether unauthorized use of registered trademarks and character names constitutes trademark infringement.

Contentions of the Parties

Plaintiff’s Contentions: Vinay Pictures argued that Andaz Apna Apna continues to enjoy enduring popularity and cultural relevance, and that unauthorized parties are commercializing its intellectual property.

Defendant’s Contentions: No contentions were recorded from the defendants as the decision was passed ex parte.

Reasoning and Analysis

The Court determined that the balance of convenience favoured the plaintiff, emphasizing that unlicensed products may mislead the public into assuming they were officially licensed. The court recorded that, “Any objections to the quality of the defendants’ products will be attributable to the plaintiff, as the public would have purchased such goods under the mistaken impression that they emanate from the plaintiff.” Moreover, the Court issued a series of interim directions, including:

Restraining various defendants from:

• “...creating any content, including images, videos, audio-visual content, or AI-generated content which is identical to, adapted from, or derivative of the plaintiff’s film Andaz Apna Apna.”
• Directing Google LLC (Defendant 26) to “...take down, remove, and disable the infringing videos, shorts, or other content uploaded by defendants no. 19 to 21…” Google was also asked to disclose details of the uploaders of identified YouTube Shorts.
• Directing Flipkart , Etsy , Meesho , and Desertcart ) to:
• Remove infringing listings
• Disclose identity and payment details of sellers
• Directing GoDaddy (D25) to share registration information of the domain www.ailaouima.com
• Directing MeitY to “...block and disable all infringing links, websites, and social media channels as identified by the plaintiff.”

Final Decision

The Court issued a series of interim orders prohibiting defendants from producing content that is the same as, modified from, or derivative of the plaintiff's film, as well as from marketing and selling products with marks that are deceptively similar to the registered trademarks and character names of the film. The Court further clarified that the injunction would apply to mirror/redirect URLs and allowed the plaintiff to add other infringers.

Law Settled

This case highlights the importance of protecting intellectual property rights, particularly in the context of popular cultural works. The Court's decision reinforces the principle that intellectual property rights must be protected to prevent unauthorized commercialization and maintain the integrity of creative works.

In this case the plaintiff was represented by team Anand & Naik led by Mr. Pravin Anand, Mr. Ameet Naik, Ms. Vaishali Mittal, Ms. Madhu Gadodia, Mr. Siddhant Chamola, Ms. Prachi Sharma, Mr. Shivang Sharma, Ms. Saijal Arora, Mr. Sujoy Mukherjee and Mr. Devushal Tudekar, Advocates.

Meanwhile the defendant was represented by team Inttl Advocare led by Ms. Mamta Jha, Mr. Rohan Ahuja, Ms. Shruttima Ehensa, Ms. Aiswarya Debadarshini and Mr. Rahul Choudhary, Advocates.