Delhi High Court orders Meta, X to take down pirated content of Telugu movie Kannappa

The Delhi High Court has passed an ex parte interim injunction, directing social media giants Meta and X Corp to take down pirated clippings, reels, and content of the Telugu film 'Kannappa' [Twenty-Four Frames Factory Private Limited v. John Doe & Ors.].

Twenty-Four Frames Factory (plaintiff), the production house of actor Mohan Babu, which is backing the film, had approached the Court seeking a dynamic interim injunction against a host of rogue websites involved in such copyright infringement. The Court was told that a pirated copy of the full movie was also uploaded online.

The production house added that such infringement adversely impacted its commercial interests, disrupted contractual obligations with distributors and caused irreparable reputational harm.

Justice Jyoti Singh observed that the criteria for interim injunction was made out and directed Meta and X Corp to take down and disable the infringing URLs highlighted in the plea. 

“Defendant No. 2/Meta Platforms Inc. is directed to take down and disable the URLs hosting the infringing videos on Instagram and Facebook (mentioned at pages 176 to 212) and Defendant No. 4/X Corp. shall take down and disable the URL mentioned at page 213, in accordance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021,” the Court ordered on July 21. 

The production house had submitted to Court that there are 1776 infringing links on Meta, of which 191 infringing videos have been taken down, but not the rest of the videos.

Counsel appearing for Meta told that they are ready to abide by the Court’s directions, following which the Court past its interim order for the takedown of pirated content.

Twenty-Four Frames Factory (plaintiff) was represented by Advocates Neha Khanduri and Achal Mittal of Singhania and Co.

Advocates Varun Pathak, Akhil Shandilya and Mrityunjay Roy appeared for Meta Platforms Inc. and X Corp. 

Central Standing Counsel Nidhi Raman with advocates Arnav Mittal and Om Ram appeared for the Union of India.

[Read order]