Delhi High Court issues orders in favour of Bollywood’s Badshah

Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan’s production company, Red Chillies Entertainment Private Limited, has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court on this subject.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ordered social media platforms, “shady” websites, cable TV outlets, direct-to-home services, and numerous other platforms to erase the leaked footage and prohibit their distribution. The leaked snippets were from the upcoming Shah Rukh Khan film Jawan.

Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan’s production company, Red Chillies Entertainment Private Limited, has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court on this subject.

A Delhi High Court panel led by Justice C. Hari Shankar on Tuesday ordered several internet service providers to block access to websites that were displaying or making movie footage available for viewing or downloading. The panel also ordered social media platforms like YouTube, Google, Twitter, and Reddit to take action to stop the distribution of the movie’s copyrighted content.

The petitioner claims that two movie-related video snippets, one of which has Shah Rukh Khan in a fight scene and the other of which features a dance scene, were leaked on social media.

The court was told, “It is the plaintiff’s (Red Chillies) case that these leaked video clips are nothing but clear violation of copyright/intellectual property rights of the plaintiff which are are causing damage and loss to the plaintiff. The leaked video clips together give away the look of the actors in the said film, as well as the music, both of which are typically disclosed at strategic points in time as part of the carefully-curated marketing strategy of a film.”

Additionally, the lawsuit contended that the defendants were responsible for certain pictures from Jawan’s set, which were taken in a studio and shot behind closed doors.

The plea stated that there was concern that the fraudulent social media accounts would continue to copy, reproduce, and distribute the copyright-protected materials and other intellectual information on different platforms.

“The plaintiff reasonably apprehends that such publication and unauthorised circulation of the leaked video clips will jeopardise the promotion and exploitation rights of the plaintiff in the said film, and as and when the said film is released in theatres, similar acts of piracy relating to the entire film would also commence and intermediaries/websites as described would again be utilised to illegally copy, record, download, reproduce, transmit and communicate the said copyright protected work to the general public,” the plea said.