THE BHAKTIVEDANTA BOOK TRUST, INDIA ….Plaintiff
Versus
HTTPS://BHAGAVATAM.IN/#GSC.TAB=0 & ORS. ….Defendants
Date of Order:- 21.09.2023
The Plaintiff in the present case was – Bhaktivedanta Book Trust which is a trust established by Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada was a renowned scholar, philosopher, cultural ambassador, prolific author, religious leader, spiritual teacher, a social critic and is revered by his devotees as a Guru. He is also credited with the establishment of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
Srila Prabhupada had spread the message from various Hindu scriptures including from the Shri Bhagavad Gita, in India and in several foreign countries. Publications written by the Author include various lectures and published books which are read by devotees and those who are interested in his teachings, in a large number of languages. The copyright in all the works which have been based on the prabhupada teachings, writings, lectures and preaching vests with the Plaintiff -Trust.
The Plaintiff Trust has numerous copyright registrations granted by the Copyright Office, for its works.
grievance of the Plaintiff – was that
Defendant Nos. 1 to 4 are websites which are making available a large number of the Plaintiff’s copyrighted works almost in a verbatim manner on their online platforms. The said websites are as under:
https://bhagavatam.in/#gsc.tab=O Email ID: [email protected]
http ://fr33books.xyz/#
https://shrbooks.online
http;//www.kisnabooks.pro
Defendant Nos. 5 to 9 are mobile applications which are making available the Plaintiff’s copyrighted works to the public without the consent and permission of the Plaintiff-Trust. The said apps are as under:
Shrimad Bhagwatam Reasola
Bhagavad Gita Audio Offline English
Bhagavad Gita Audio Offline Hindi
My BVL One World One Family Spiritual Society, Inc.
Bhagavad Gita in Hindi Audio
Defendant Nos. 10 to 14 are Instagram handles where the copyrighted works are being uploaded and communicated to the public through various links.
Defendant No.15 – Google LLC, is a search engine which is making available the infringing mobile applications on its Google play store.
Defendant No.16 – Meta Platforms Inc., is a social media platform which runs the Instagram platforms where the infringing Instagram handles are making available the infringing copies of the copyrighted works.
Defendant No.17 – Godday.com is the Domain Name Registrar (DNR), of Defendant No.1 domain name i.e. Bhagawatam.in.
Defendant Nos.18 to 26 are ISPs.
Defendant Nos.27 and 28 are DoT and MeitY.
Counsel for the Plaintiff submits that the, Plaintiff – Trust is engaged in a large number of charitable activities in India and one of the main sources of income for the Trust is the royalties which are earned from the aforementioned copyrighted works. Further, the Plaintiff – Trust also runs a number of spiritual establishments including in India and abroad and thus, ought not to be deprived of the revenues from the sale and distribution of these works to the public.
Counsel for the Plaintiff further submitted that the deception is not merely by making the books available, but by actually using the Plaintiff’s name as the source of the book. ld. Counsel showed some of the infringing copies of the Copyrighted works which bear the name of the Plaintiff itself.
Views of the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi
The Court perused the record and saw the extracts from the infringing websites, mobile applications, Instagram handles, etc. and remarked that the platforms reveal that there is a large-scale infringement that has been carried out in the reproduction of a substantial number of copyrighted works of the Plaintiff – Trust.
Court said, In the present case, the Author(Srila Prabhupada) himself has set up the Plaintiff Trust and handed over the copyrights to be administration of the trust, the said copyrighted works cannot be reproduced without authorization, licence or the permission of the Plaintiff-Trust.
Court mentioned that the rights of the plaintiff in the copyrighted works are also protected by the Hon’ble Bombay High Court in Bhaktivedanta Book Trust vs. Thomson Press (India) Ltd , which says:-
There can be no copyright claimed in the Scriptures. However, any adaptations of the said work including providing explanation, summary, meaning, exegesis/interpretation or creating any audio visual works for eg., television series like Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana or B.R. Chopra’s Mahabharata; dramatic works created by drama societies based on scriptures etc., being transformative works, would be entitled to copyright protection – being original works of the Authors themselves. Thus, there can be no objection in the actual reproduction of the text of Shrimad Bhagavad Gita or similarly other spiritual books. However, the manner in which the same is interpreted by different gurus and spiritual teachers being varied in nature, copyright would vest in respect of the original parts of the literary works which preach, teach or explain the scripture.
A perusal of the record showed that the books being made available by the Defendants 1 to 14 were complete reproductions of the works of the Plaintiff, which were authored by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, ‘Srila Prabhupada’. These were not mere reproductions of the original scriptures as it is, i.e., the shlokas but their अनुवाद (Anuvaad) and तात्पर्य (Tatparya), summary, introduction, preface, cover etc., all have been reproduced.
Under these circumstances, the Court was of the opinion that the Plaintiff has made out a prima facie case for grant of an ex parte ad interim injunction. The balance of convenience lies in favour of the Plaintiff and irreparable injury would be caused to the Plaintiff if the interim injunction was not granted.
The following directions were issued by Delhi High Court:-
Defendant Nos.1 to 14 were restrained printing, reproducing, communicating, disseminating any part of the Plaintiff’s works to the public either in print form or in audio-visual form or in electronic form including through websites, mobile applications, weblinks, Instagram posts or any other posts on the social media as would result in the infringement of Plaintiff’s copyright.
Defendant Nos.15 and 16 was directed to take down the infringing mobile applications from their respective platforms.
Defendant No.17 – Godaddy.com LLC ,the DNR shall immediately block and suspend the domain name/website ‘www.bhagavatam.in’.
Defendant Nos.15 to 17 was directed to communicate to the Plaintiff the details of the persons/individuals/entities who may be running these accounts/mobile applications/websites including the details relating to credit card payments, phone number, e-mail addresses, postal addresses, if any.
Defendant No.18 to 26 were directed to block access to the above mentioned infringing websites/other platforms.
Defendant Nos.27 and 28 were directed to issue blocking orders in respect of all the infringing links/URLs/websites.
Next date of Hearing in the present matter is 12th March, 2024.