The Delhi high court, vide order dated May 14 in Vinay Pictures vs. Good Hope & Ors., passed a significant ex parte ad interim injunction protecting the intellectual property rights in legendary Hindi film Andaz Apna Apna.
The plaintiff, Vinay Pictures, represented through its proprietress, Shanti Vinaykumar Sinha, legal heir of late producer Vinay Sinha, sought urgent relief against widespread unauthorised exploitation of the film and its underlying works such as characters, dialogues, catchphrases, and other IP assets across merchandise, digital platforms, domain names, and AI-generated content.
Acknowledging the iconic and cult status of the film and its characters such as ‘Crime Master Gogo’, ‘Amar’, ‘Prem’, and dialogues like ‘Aila’ and ‘Ouima’, the court has restrained over 25 defendants including sellers on e-commerce aggregator platforms, digital content creators, and web domain holders, from:
- Using any content identical to or derived from the film;
- manufacturing or selling any merchandise or products bearing the film’s IP; and
- creating AI-based or digital works that exploit the characters or dialogues.
The court further directed YouTube, GoDaddy, Desertcart, Flipkart, Meesho, and others to remove infringing content, block access to URLs, and disclose details of infringing sellers and uploaders. Importantly, the court upheld the plaintiff’s trademark rights and the exclusive right to commercially exploit the film and its elements.
The order sets a strong precedent for enforcement of IP rights in Indian cinema and reaffirms that legacy content enjoys full protection under Indian copyright and trademark law, including against AI-based infringement.