Shelly, Bennett University
BACKGROUND OF THE CASE
Right to Internet as enriched under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, provides us with information with the click of a button but along with it, it brings various rights and threats in the business media. Soon after government of India declared nation-wide lockdown, various sectors all around the globe suffered massively. The trademark and copyright infringement were one such sector that became a vexing activity which started to affect the commercial rights of various publication houses. In fact, it is an instinct in social media users to share viral information as soon as they come across any astounding fact, without even getting into finding the reality. Similar happened in the recent news that sparked among the media because of the very reason that the conflicting parties are one of the leading heads in their respective fields of information commission. While one being a prominent newspaper publishing house named ‘Dainik Jagran’, popular for its Hindi newspaper, other being an emerging messaging and voice over IP service named ‘Telegram’.
At the most challenging time, when no industry was left that were not facing the consequences were spared, newspaper companies too lost their users. As soon as the world shifted from offline to online mode, there emerged a need to strike a balance between safety of persons with that of flow of information. The publishing houses shifted towards use of softcopy availability of their services so that they do not lose their market credibility and goodwill in such challenging times. In the present case, the plaintiff reported that the defendants were sharing their material in PDF forms on their social media through unidentified users and therefore they alleged defendants to have infringed their trademark and copyright along with financial losses. Hence, the plaintiff seeks to claim injunctive relief from the Delhi High Court against the defendants.
