Producer Suneel Darshan has won a copyright infringement case against Google India and its YouTube video-streaming platform. The court battle yielded results after eight years.
Suneel had filed a suit for permanent injunction against Google India and YouTube, and their parent company in the US in 2011 in the district court of Gurgaon for infringement of his copyright. The court awarded damages of Rs. 50,000 to Suneel Darshan, and restrained Google and YouTube from infringing on his works including his films and film songs and scenes.
Suneel’s lawyers argued in the court that the defendants had infringed on his copyright in respect of sound recording, cinematograph films and audio-visual songs, without his licence or authorisation. They argued that the unauthorised downloader and the defendants were sharing the advertisement revenue generated from unauthorised exploitation of the copyrighted works, causing huge financial losses to the petitioner.
