KGF Song Copyright Infringement: Karnataka High Court Extends Till June 23 Stay On FIR Against Rahul Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh & Supriya Shrinate

A single judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna adjourned the hearing on the petition filed by Gandhi and others on the request made by the counsel for the petitioners. It said that no adjournments would be granted on the next date.

MRT Music has also filed a civil suit, in which a trial court earlier directed the blocking of the social media handles of the Congress party and Bharat Jodo Yatra. The order was lifted by the High Court in an appeal filed by the Congress party, on an undertaking given by it to take down the offending videos.

Counsel for the complainant M Naveen Kumar argued that in the appeal (challenging order of trial court in suit) petitioners said "yes we have wrongly used it and gave an undertaking that we will…” However, now the petitioner-accused claimed that since they have modified the video and it is playing on their social media handles it is their copyright. "It was also submitted that they have modified, shared the video and claimed copyright of the video. They say it is playing on their platform so they claim copyright,” Kumar submitted.

The FIR invokes offences under sections 120-B, 403, 465 r/w Section 34 of IPC and Section 63 of Copyright Act, Section 66 of IT Act.

The matter will be next heard on June 23.

Case Title: Jairam Ramesh & Others And State of Karnataka & ANR

Case No: WP 25123/2022