The Delhi Court on Tuesday granted interim relief against the piracy of Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, starring Salman Khan, while directing WhatsApp and other social media platforms to suspend the accounts of the users who were illegally sharing or selling pirated videos of the film, Live Law reported.
The complainant was filed by Zee Entertainments Enterprises Ltd, which owns the film’s rights.
Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai was initially scheduled for a theatrical release on May 22 but premiered on Zee Plex on May 13 as a premium video and was digitally released on Zee 5 in India along with a theatrical release globally.
The complainant alleged that its interests were severely prejudiced due to the circulation of several pirated copies of the film along with video clips for unauthorised downloading, viewing and storage.
Initially, the complainant had written a letter to the Maharashtra Cyber Digital Crime Unit’s Inspector General of Police, accusing known and unknown individuals who were allegedly sharing the pirated copy of the receipt of payment.
A criminal complaint was initiated immediately based on the letter.
Arguing that according to WhatsApp’s terms of service, users could not use the platform for violation of intellectual property rights, the complainant demanded that the accounts which breached the terms should be suspended and terminated.
The court observed that the policy had been violated and such piracy would cause irreparable loss to the complainant if an interim injunction was not granted.
Besides restraining any unauthorised storing, reproducing, communicating, disseminating, circulating, copying, selling, offering for sale or making available copies of the film on WhatsApp or any other social media platforms, the court also ordered blanket protection against any form of piracy of the film.
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Without any further delay, the court directed WhatsApp to suspend the infringing accounts to ensure that the accused cease the infringement of Zee’s copyright on the messaging app. It also ordered Internet Service Providers to disclose the contact details of private individuals listed on the complaint.
Directed by Prabhu Deva, produced by Salman Khan, Sohail Khan, Atul Agnihotri and Zee Studios, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai stars Khan, Disha Patani, Randeep Hooda and Jackie Shroff.