BATCH 2019-24

Subject: Intellectual Property Law

Star India Pvt. Ltd.

vs
moviestrunk.com and ors.

SUBMITTED TO: SUMBITTED BY:

MS. SWATI VISHAN VAMAXI CHAUHAN
ASSISTANT PROFFESSOR 91909141011
FACULTY OF LAW B.COM LLB (Hons.)
MARWADI UNIVERISTY MARWADI UNIVERISTY

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DECLARATION BY THE STUDENT

I the undersigned solemnly declare that the project report titled case study on “Case study on
Star Indiva Pvt. Ltd. vs. moviestrunk.com & ors.” is based on my own work carried out during
the course of our study under the supervision of MS. SWATI VISHAN. I assert the statements
made and conclusions drawn are an outcome of my research work. I further certify that
• The work contained in the report is original and has been done by me under the general
supervision of my supervisor.
• The work has not been submitted to any other Institution for any other
degree/diploma/certificate in this university or any other University of India or abroad.
• We have followed the guidelines provided by the university in writing the report.
• Whenever we have used materials (data, theoretical analysis, and text) from other
sources, we have given due credit to them in the text of the report and giving their
details in the references.

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SUPERVISOR’S CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the work incorporated in the project report entitled “Case study on Star
Indiva Pvt. Ltd. vs. moviestrunk.com & ors.” is a record of work carried out by VAMAXI
SHIVKUMAR CHAUHAN,91901041011 Under my guidance and supervision for the award
of Degree OF B.Com LLB (Hons.), Faculty of Law, Marwadi University, Rajkot, India. To the
best of my/our knowledge and belief the project report

• Embodies the work of the candidates themselves,

• Has duly been completed,
• Fulfils the requirement of the Ordinance relating to the degree of the Marwadi
University and
• Is up to the desired standard both in respect of contents and language for being referred
to the examiners.

MS.SWATI VISHAN,
Assistant Professor
Faculty of Law
Marwadi University

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The success and final outcome of this project required a lot of guidance and assistance from
many people and I am extremely privileged to have got this all along the completion of my
project. All that I have done is only due to such supervision and assistance and I would not
forget to thank them.

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INDEX:

Sr. Number Particulars Pg. Number

1. Introduction to intellectual property law in India 6

2. Introduction to Copyrights 7

Star Indiva Pvt. Ltd. vs. moviestrunk.com & ors.:

3. 8
Facts of the case

4. Issues 9

5. Laws concerned 9

6. Judgement 9

7. Significance 10

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Introduction:

A. Intellectual property rights in India:

Intellectual property rights are legal rights that govern the use of human mind creations. These
rights have only recently been recognized and protected. Industrial property includes patents,
designs, and trademarks. The protection of industrial property has as its object patents, utility
models, industrial designs, trademarks, service marks, trade names, indications of source or
appellations or origin, and the repression of unfair competition, according to the International
Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (Paris Convention). When copyrights,
geographical indicators, layout designs, and confidential information are added to industrial
property, they all become intellectual property.

The importance of intellectual property can be traced back to the ancient use of stamps on
bricks by Roman brick-makers for the purpose of identification, and even further back when
the leaders of the ancient Greek city of Sybaris granted the creator of a delicious dish a one-
year monopoly on cooking it. With the growth of science and technology, as well as global
commerce, a lot has changed since then.

In India, intellectual property rights recognised under statute are:

• The Patents Act, 1970;

• The Trade Marks Act, 1999;
• The Copyright Act, 1957;
• The Designs Act, 2000;
• The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999;
• The Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout Design Act, 2000;
• The Biological Diversity Act, 2002;
• The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001.

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 B. Copyrights

Copyright is a type of intellectual property protection granted under Indian law to creators of
original works of authorship such as literary works (including computer programs, tables, and
compilations, including computer databases), dramatic, musical, and artistic works,
cinematographic films, and sound recordings.

Rather than protecting ideas themselves, copyright law protects expressions of ideas. Copyright
protection is granted to literary works, theatrical works, musical works, artistic works,
cinematograph films, and sound recordings under section 13 of the Copyright Act 1957. Books
and computer programs, for example, are protected as literary creations under the Act.

Copyright is a set of exclusive rights granted to the owner of copyright under Section 14 of the
Act. These rights can only be exercised by the copyright owner or any other person who has
been lawfully licensed in this regard by the copyright owner. These rights include the right of
adaptation, reproduction, publication, translation, and public communication, among others.

All original literary, artistic, musical, dramatic, cinematograph, and sound recording works are
granted copyright protection. The term "original" refers to a work that has not been copied from
another source. Copyright protection begins when a work is created, and it is optional to register
it. However, obtaining a registration is always recommended for better safety. Copyright
registration does not give any rights; it is just prima facie evidence of an entry in the Copyright
Register kept by the Registrar of Copyrights in respect of the work.

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Star India Pvt. Ltd. vs moviestrunk.com and ors.:

A. Facts of the case:

• The plaintiff is the owner of Division Fox Star Studio who is involved in the business
of production and distribution of films in India, holding exclusive licenses in respect of
various films. The present suit is filed by the plaintiff against 67 named defendants
alleging that the said defendants are engaged in the business of transmitting third-party
content all over the Internet that is hosting, streaming, or broadcasting illegal content
to the public free of cost.
• The plaintiff and defendant no. 68- Cape of Good Films jointly owns the Intellectual
Property Rights in the film ‘Mission Mangal’ under the provisions of the Copyright
Act, 1957. The present case refers to the transmission, streaming, hosting, and
broadcasting of the said film by the defendants on their various websites over the
internet without the permission of the plaintiff that is transmitting it illegally.
• The plaintiff has alleged that the defendants have communicated infringing copies of
the said film to the public for free and have also made it available for viewing or/and
download without any authorization of the plaintiff. The plaintiff has also alleged that
this activity of the defendants will directly affect the business of the plaintiff and
constitutes an infringement of the exclusive rights conferred upon the plaintiff by
Sections 14 and 51 of the Copyright Act, 1957.
• By referring to a recent judgment of the year 2019, the plaintiff alleged that defendant
no. 1-67 is ‘Rogue websites’ because of their principal activity involving reproduction,
publication, and communication of infringing material over the internet. Along with it,
the plaintiff also placed pieces of evidence in the form of screenshots from the
defendants’ websites streaming and circulating the movie, Mission Mangal.
• The plaintiff also conducted a third-party investigation and also filed an affidavit in that
regard, alleging that as per the investigation report a large scale of copyright
infringement of the plaintiff’s content has been performed by the defendants’ websites.
• Numerous notices were sent to the defendants for taking down the alleged content from
the websites but they turned deaf ears to all of them. Therefore, the present suit has
been filed by the plaintiff in the Hon’ble Court seeking permanent injunction restraining
the defendants from violating the exclusive rights of the plaintiff, pass an order/decree
to suspend the domain names of the defendants no. 1-67 and an order for costs in favour
of the plaintiff and any other orders that the Hon’ble Court deems fit.
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 B. Issues:

Whether the defendants were engaged in the infringement’s activities?

C. Laws concerned:

Section 14 & 15 of the Copyrights Act, granting exclusive rights to the plaintiff

D. Judgment:

• The Hon’ble Court stated that by looking at the electronic shreds of evidence and the
investigator’s affidavit placed on record by the plaintiff, it is evident that the plaintiff’s content
(Mission Mangal movie) has been streaming on the various defendant-websites illegally,
without any authorization from the plaintiff. Therefore, the Hon’ble Court granted an ex-parte
interim order against defendant no. 1-67 for unauthorized streaming, downloading,
distributing, and communicating the film ‘Mission Mangal’ on their websites.
• The Court also ordered defendant no. 69 to suspend the domain names of the defendants no.
- 1-7 and defendant no. 79 & 80, that is the Department of Telecommunications and the
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology respectively, to issue a notice calling upon
all the internet and telecom service providers to block the access to rogue websites and any
other websites as alleged by the plaintiff to be illegally streaming the movie in any manner
whatsoever.
• The Hon’ble Court after having due regard to the above-mentioned things granted a decree
in favour of the plaintiff against the defendants no. - 1-67 and 69. The Court also granted the
actual costs of the suit, including the court fees and the counsel’s fees to the plaintiff.
• Therefore, on these terms, the present suit was disposed of by the Hon’ble High Court.

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Significance:

The present case is a true depiction of the day-to-day infringement of copyrights by various
non-ethical platforms. Intellectual Property Rights are something that is owned and possessed
by persons to grant them exclusive control over their creations. With the evolving times, it has
become of utmost importance in the Corporate Sector all over the globe. To gain a competitive
edge over others in the business sector, companies and individuals work day and night to invent
new products and technology. It will get snatched away in a blink of an eye if not protected.
Right from the idea to the completion of the final product, everything needs to be kept safe and
protected from fraudsters and hence, Intellectual Property Rights come into the picture in the
form of trademarks, copyrights, patents, design marks, etc. The Courts are met with challenging
and new legal scenarios in the field of Intellectual Property daily, so it is crucial that the statutes
governing Intellectual Property are applied adequately and every case is interpreted in light of
those given statutes to reach a fair conclusion.

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