Allahabad HC issues notice in Google plea challenging ex-parte decree directing it to take down videos and de-index news articles

The Allahabad High Court has issued notice in a plea filed by Google LLC challenging a permanent injunction passed by a trial court amounting to blocking of videos of news organizations and de-indexing of news articles.

. Noting that the matter requires consideration by the Court, the Bench of Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi directed the parties to maintain status quo.

. The Court has accorded six weeks' time to the respondent to file a counter affidavit, and one week thereafter for Google to file a rejoinder affidavit.

. The matter is to be listed in the week commencing November 23.

. The petition filed by Google LLC seeks to set aside the order of the trial court passed on September 14 by which it had rejected the stay application filed under Section 151 of Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 against the impugned ex parte decree.

. The ex parte decree was passed in a suit which sought takedown/removal of videos on YouTube and the de-indexing of certain search results from Google Search.

. The said decree passed by the trial court granted a permanent injunction and costs in favour of the respondent before the High Court.

. In its appeal against this order before the High Court, Google contended that summons in the suit was neither served upon the company nor YouTube Inc. Thus, it did not have knowledge of the said suit proceedings prior to passing of the decree.

. It was also submitted that the company does not have any office at the address mentioned in the memo of parties and that the plaintiff before the trial court had deliberately not mentioned Google's publicly available address.

. It was further argued that the impugned order suffered from non- application of mind and was manifestly unreasonable since the trial court dismissed the petitioner's application in limine without even providing an opportunity to be heard on merits.

. Google contended that the matter involves important questions of public interest, insofar as it has the effect of removal/takedown (from YouTube) and de-indexing (from Google Search) of news articles, reports and news videos, which the ex parte decree does not even find to be defamatory, false or factually incorrect as on the date that they were published.

Senior Advocate Anoop Trivedi , assisted by Advocate Vinayak Mithal, and Senior Advocate Manish Goyal along with Advocates Avi Tandon and Raghuvansh Mishra appeared for Google LLC and Google India respectively.

. [Read the order here]

Allahabad HC issues notice in Google plea challenging ex-parte decree directing it to take down videos and de-index news articles

Aishwarya Iyer

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