Delhi High Court Denies Interim Relief To TV Today In Defamation & Copyright Infringement Suit Against Newslaundry

The Delhi High Court on Friday refused interim relief to TV Today Network, which owns news channels India Today and Aaj Tak, in the suit filed by it against news portal Newslaundry, its CEO Abhinandan Sekhri and others, seeking damages of Rs. 2 crores for copyright infringement and defamation of its anchors, management and employees.

Justice Asha Menon, who ruled on the interim application, observed that neither the aspect of any balance of convenience nor irreparable loss was met to grant interim relief to TV Today Network.

However, the Bench held the suit to be a commercial dispute. Justice Menon said that she has discussed various aspects under broadcast rights rather than just copyright issue in the order. A copy of the same is awaited.

Now the matter will be listed for further proceedings before the roster Bench.

In the interim application, TV Today Network had sought injunction against Newslaundry and its employees,m from infringing its copyrights in any manner.

It also sought injunction against Newslaundry and its employees from making, writing, posting, tweeting or publishing any defamatory or commercially disparaging content about TV Today, its news channels and anchors.

The interim application also sought suspension and termination of Newslaundry's Youtube channel as well deletion of allegedly defamatory content against TV Today. A direction was also sought to suspend and terminate their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram handles. 

The suit alleges that Newslaundry had uploaded various videos on its website including social media platforms, infringing TV Today Network's copyright. It is also alleged that the online news portal also made "unfair, untrue and disparaging defamatory remarks" about its anchors as well as the management.

The company had therefore sought permanent and mandatory injunction against Newslaundry, it's CEO Abhinandan Sekhri and others.

It has been alleged that the impugned acts of the Defendants caused defamation to TV Today Network , its news channels, anchors, employees and management and caused prejudice to their commercial reputation and goodwill.

According to the suit, the unpermitted and unlicensed use of the original cinematograph films and sound recordings of the Plaintiff company by the Defendants is not protected by sec. 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957.

During the course of hearings, Senior Advocate Saurabh Kripal appearing for Newslaundary argued that expression of an opinion does not amount to defamation and that the cause of action as disclosed in the plaint was extremely unclear. Hence, he argued that it was not possible for the Court to decide interim application on the basis of the said pleadings.

He also argued that even assuming that it was possible to consider some injunctive relief, TV Today had disentitled itself from any interim relief because of the "misleading documents" filed by it.

Referring to the plaint, it was submitted by Kirpal that the averments made in the plaint were unclear and did not specifically depicted as to how the alleged videos were defamatory.

According to Kirpal, every video as alleged by TV Today to be defamatory had to be viewed by the Court on its own merits and that there can be no generalised attempt to curtail Newslaundry's free speech.

Kirpal had also argued that the plaint mentioned that the cause of action in the suit arose on November 12, 2018 while referring to a back dated allegedly defamatory video made by Newslaundry. 

Advocate Hrishikesh Baruah on the other hand, representing TV Today, argued that copyright protected work of another cannot be used "out of context". 

He also emphasized that copying of another's work, to make one's own program more interesting, attractive or enjoyable, is not permitted.

Case Title: TV Today Network Pvt Ltd v. Newslaundry & ORS.