The Hon’ble Delhi High Court granted ad-interim injunction in favour of Jagran Prakashan Ltd. (Plaintiff) against Telegram FZ LLC (Defendant) on 29.05.2020 and further, directed to block Telegram channels which are providing pdf version of Danik Jagran thereby infringing intellectual property rights within 48 hours of the receipt of the order. The order was passed by single bench Hon’ble Ms. Justice Mukta Gupta vide video conferencing in pleas seeking injunction against Telegram App which provided users to download all editions of Danik Jagran e-paper in pdf version.

The Plaintiff claimed that it is a leading publishing newspaper in both English and Hindi language providing wide circulation in physical as well as in digital media. The readers have option to either subscribe print newspaper or access its website www.jagran.com . In view of the COVID-19 pandemic the Plaintiff is not charging online subscription fee for readers in India but for other countries it is charging a fee of 1$. The website has a security feature where the readers can access the newspaper but cannot download the same in the PDF format. The Plaintiff is sole owner of the trademark Danik Jagran. The Plaintiff in the suit expressed that the Defendant is providing its user access and permission to create various channels which are providing e-newspaper of Plaintiff and downloading options. The defendant did not provide the identity of user who have created the channel circulating the e-newspaper, therefore the Plaintiffs has impleaded them as Defendant No.2.

The Hon’ble Justice considering the facts noted that the Plaintiff made prima facie case in its favour and if ad-interim injunction is not granted they will suffer an irreparable loss. Further, directed the Defendant to disclose the user/owners of the channels who are impleaded as Defendant No. 2 in the suit.

Order:DELHI_HC_29.05.2020

Image link: 08_05_2020-dainik_jagran_20254876_2354736.jpg