Delhi High Court Rules on Copyright Protection for Adaptations of Religious Scriptures: A Deep Dive into the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust Case
In a significant ruling, the Delhi High Court has stated that while religious scriptures themselves cannot be copyrighted, their adaptations, including dramatic renditions and other derivative works, are indeed eligible for copyright protection. This observation was made by Justice Prathiba M Singh during a case involving the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, founded by Srila Prabhupada, the luminary behind the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), had filed the copyright infringement suit. Srila Prabhupada, celebrated as a profound scholar, philosopher, and cultural ambassador, was instrumental in promoting the teachings of various Hindu scriptures both within India and abroad. His contributions include numerous lectures and a series of books, many of which simplified religious scriptures, making them comprehensible to the layperson.
Detailing the essence of Prabhupada’s works, the court was informed,
“He wrote gave various lectures and published books which are read by devotees in several languages. Many of these works were stated to be the simplified religious books and scriptures which made it easy for the common man to understand.”
The trust’s primary contention was that the copyright for all these works, initially held by Srila Prabhupada, had been transferred to the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust after his passing in 1977. Armed with this copyright, the trust sought legal action against several online entities, including four websites, five mobile applications, and four Instagram handles, accusing them of unauthorized uploads and dissemination of the copyrighted content.
Justice Singh, after a thorough examination of the materials presented, remarked,
“A perusal of the record would show that the books being made available by the Defendants 1 to 14 are complete reproductions of the works of the Plaintiff, which were authored by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, ‘Srila Prabhupada’. These are not mere reproductions of the original scriptures as it is, i.e., the shlokas but their अनुवाद (Anuvaad) and तात्पर्य (Tatparya), summary, introduction, preface, cover etc., have all been reproduced.”
Highlighting the gravity of the infringement, she further stated,
“Such piracy of the copyrighted works cannot be permitted and if such piracy goes unchecked, the copyright in the works would be considerably diluted leading to immense loss of revenues.”
In light of these findings, Justice Singh issued an ex-parte interim injunction against the defendants, effectively barring them from infringing upon the copyrighted materials of the plaintiff. Moreover, she directed tech behemoths, Google and Meta, to expeditiously remove the implicated applications and pages. The Court also mandated the relevant authorities to enforce blocking orders against the flagged websites.
This pivotal judgment delineates the fine line between original religious texts and their adaptations, reaffirming the sanctity of copyright laws in today’s digital landscape.
