Karnataka HC stays Bengaluru court's order to block Congress, Bharat Jodo Yatra Twitter accounts

The Congress approached the HC against the order by a Bengaluru court to temporarily block the Twitter accounts of the Congress party and Bharat Jodo Yatra for illegally using the sound records of the film KGF Chapter-2.

Bengaluru: Karnataka High Court on Tuesday set aside the lower court order directing Twitter to temporarily block user accounts of Congress, Bharat Jodo Yatra in copyright infringement suit by MRT Music, with conditions to take down posts, news agency ANI reported. The HC has asked Congress has to provide screenshots of the posts that infringe respondent's copyright. The Congress on Tuesday approached the Karnataka High Court questioning a local court`s direction to Twitter for provisionally blocking the handles of the Indian National Congress and its `Bharat Jodo Yatra` in a case related to music copyright infringement. The local court on Monday also directed Twitter to remove three links from its platform.

Appearing for the Congress, senior counsel A.S. Ponnanna appealed for an urgent hearing in the matter.

Music record label MRT Music, which owns the copyright for the music of the film `KGF - Chapter 2`, had alleged that the audiovisual promotions of the yatra headed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had illegally used music from the pan-India blockbuster movie.

#UPDATE | Karnataka HC stays the lower court order of blocking Twitter accounts of Congress & Bharat Jodo Yatra with conditions to remove posts. Congress has to provide screenshots of the posts that infringe respondent's copyright. https://t.co/Gy0tqhhysY

— ANI (@ANI) November 8, 2022

After going through the material evidence submitted, the court noted that prima facie materials available at this stage, if established, will cause irreparable damage to the plaintiff and also encourage piracy.

The court issued an ex-parte injunction that restrains the defendants from unauthorisedly and illegally using the copyrighted work belonging to the plaintiff till the next date of hearing.

Last Friday, MRT Music`s counsel Narasimhan Sampath had said, "A complaint has been filed against the Indian National Congress represented by its General Secretary Jairam Ramesh, Supriya Shrinate, and Rahul Gandhi for infringement of copyrights owned by MRT Music."

(With agency inputs)