Karnataka High Court on Tuesday set aside an order of the lower court to block the account of Congress and its Bharat Jodo Yatra on Twitter.
A dedicated commercial court for Bengaluru Urban District on Monday directed social media platform Twitter to block the two accounts with usernames @INCIndia and @BharatJodo after MRT Music filed a copyright infringement suit against the Congress. The order came in a suit filed by MRT Studios which claimed 45 seconds of its copyrighted music from 'KGF Chapter 2' movie was used in a 'Bharat Jodo' song by the Congress party.
The Karnataka HC set aside the lower court's order on the condition of Congress removing the offending content before noon on Wednesday. The Congress agreed to remove the 45-second clip that used the copyrighted song before noon on Wednesday from all its social media accounts.
The High Court ordered Congress to provide screenshots of the Twitter account and the other social media accounts before the contentious material was removed. The HC ordered, "We are of the opinion that prayer deserves to be allowed to set aside impugned order, subject to appellant taking down offending material."
The Division bench of Justices G Narendar and PN Desai heard the petition by the Congress in an emergency hearing on Tuesday evening. Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi argued the case for the party challenging the lower court's Monday order.
Allowing the appeal, the HC said, "Appeal is allowed in part, subject to appellants (INC) removing it from their social media accounts. This order shall not come in the way of the plaintiff making any request to court to protect their copyrights."
Before the High Court passed its order, Singhvi in his arguments pointed out that the lower court had no urgent reason to pass the interim order and unless it is stayed Twitter would take down the party's accounts. He submitted that the party was ready to take down the 45 seconds of the alleged clip which infringed on MRT's copyright. To block Twitter accounts for the 45-second clip has ulterior motives, he told the court.
"Blocking Twitter handles will not help the respondents unless they have any ulterior motive," said Singhvi.
The alleged infringed music clip was on the Twitter handle from October itself but the copyright owner filed the petition on November 2 which was heard on November 5 and the lower court gave the order on November 7. An ex-parte injunction was passed without issuing notice or recording reasons, said Singhvi to the division bench.
He further said, "There is no commercial purpose in using the audio clip. A disproportionate order could not be passed by blocking the national party accounts and affecting my freedom of expression, even when the Bharat Jodo yatra is ongoing."
The advocate for MRT Studios also made the submissions contending that the blocking order was right.
The High Court, however, noted that the Congress was agreeing that it had breached the copyright and was ready to remove the content from its Twitter handles and not to use it. "It is punitive action," the HC said.
The HC said that appointment of a Commissioner to investigate the issue by the lower court was a premature act.
"Once the mistake is admitted, where is the question of investigation into it? If you have filed an FIR, where is the question of appointing a technical expert as commissioner? You want the Commissioner to do the police's job?," the HC said.
(With PTI inputs)
