Delhi High Court’s IP Division to hear YouTuber Mohak Mangal’s plea to transfer ANI’s copyright case.
The case involves allegations of copyright infringement, defamation, and misuse of ANI’s logo.
New Delhi: Today, on July 21, the Delhi High Court decided to send a petition by YouTuber Mohak Mangal to its Intellectual Property Division (IPD). Mangal had filed a request to transfer a copyright and trademark infringement case filed by the news agency ANI from the lower trial court to the High Court.
Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani noted that this case is about the alleged misuse of ANI’s intellectual property. Therefore, the correct forum for this issue is the IPD.
The judge observed that Rule 26 of the IPD Rules allows petitions that ask for cases to be combined or moved (consolidated or transferred) to be decided by another judge in the IP Division.
The judge said,
“It transpires that the matter relates to use of intellectual property of ANI. Rule 26 of IPD Rules provides that a petition seeking consolidation or transfer may be decided by coordinate bench in the IP Division. Since transfer and consolidation are two sides of the same coin and conflicting rulings could be discordant, list the matter before the concerned IPD bench.”
This means the request to shift the case will now be heard by the relevant bench in the Intellectual Property Division on July 25.
ANI has filed two separate legal cases against Mohak Mangal. The first one is a defamation case filed in the High Court, where ANI has accused Mangal of making damaging and insulting statements.
ANI claims that Mangal’s remarks—where he said ANI’s copyright complaints and demands for money to use their video clips are like extortion—are defamatory. ANI believes these statements harmed its reputation.
In that defamation case, Mangal agreed on May 29 to delete the parts of his video that mentioned ANI in a negative way.
The second case is a copyright and trademark infringement suit filed before a district-level trial court. In this case, ANI has alleged that Mohak Mangal used ten of its video clips on his YouTube channel without any legal permission.
ANI also accused Mangal of using the news agency’s logo without approval. Because of this, ANI is demanding a permanent and mandatory injunction against Mangal, which would stop him from using their content in the future.
ANI is also asking for Rs 50 lakh as damages for what it calls copyright infringement, piracy, plagiarism, and unjust enrichment, among other legal violations.
In Monday’s court hearing, Mangal was represented by Senior Advocate Diya Kapur, along with advocates Nakul Gandhi, Mujeeb, and Tanish Gupta. Kapur argued that Mohak Mangal had used ANI’s video clips fairly under the law, known as “fair use.”
On the other hand, ANI was represented by Advocate Sidhant Kumar, who told the court that the IP Division of the High Court is already handling the matter and that certain court orders, including injunctions, have already been passed in that case.
Case Title:
Mohak Mangal vs ANI & Ors
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