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Rediff.com Facing Lawsuit Filed By T-Series In Delhi High Court

By Nikhil Pahwa - Fri 28 Sep 2007 03:43 AM PST

A lawsuit has been filed against Rediff (NSDQ: REDF).com and Ram Gopal Verma Films Private Ltd. in the Delhi High Court by Super Cassettes Industries Limited (T-Series) for copyright violation. As per the lawsuit, Rediff placed video clips of songs from two Hindi Films - Nishabd and Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd on their website, of which T-Series claims to own sole copyrights. T-Series has sought damages amounting to Rs. 20 lakh (around $50,000) from Rediff. We’ve gleaned this information from a recent filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by Rediff. Rediff’s response in the extended entry:

As per the SEC filing, Rediff says that:

(i) these song clips were uploaded as an editorial feature due to the recent release of the two films believing these to be newsworthy, in the course of our regular activity and not for commercial purposes; (ii) the clips in question were not downloadable by our users; (iii) these clips were accompanied by editorial review as normally done for a film’s release; (iv) these were uploaded on our sites with the permission of the producer of these films or their publicists who had provided us with such clips for the intended use; and (v) the use of the these clips on our website was fair use, uploaded for its newsworthiness for promotional review and was non-commercial in nature.

We’ve learned that the lawsuit was filed around the same time that we had reported about T-Series’ lawsuit against SantaBanta.com. The next hearing is in November. This was all before the launch of Rediff’s video sharing platform iShare, which Rediff agrees (as per the filing) could be subject to litigation within or outside of India, and costly to defend. Details of earnings, shareholding and other litigation in the filing here.

Posted in: Companies, Rediff, Music, T-Series



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6 Responses:
  • From Vinod bhanushali Fri 28 Sep 2007 01:28 PM

    Hmmmmmm interesting stuff

    should really the appreciate the work by the T Series team .... MM Satish , Vinod Bhanushali , Mukesh Desai , Neeraj and above all Salim Mobani from hungama guys you’ll just saw two videos playing there hahaha wat about the audio songs

    and wat happened with you tube and google video’s

    there are thousands of site guys grow

    Just Mr . Bhushan have some intelligent people around you

  • From scorp Sun 30 Sep 2007 10:19 AM

    Ha ha ha.....T-Series files copyright violation lawsuit.......T-Series of all companies......It itself came into business violating all forms of copyright rules......only at that point of time these weren’t used to pin down most of the violators......

  • From Salian Sun 30 Sep 2007 10:58 PM

    I had a feeling anout this. I think there will be more law suits filed in the near future on Rediff by the Top production houses and music labels.

  • From Hari Mon 01 Oct 2007 03:08 AM

    Look who is talking about copyright violation lawsuits… T-Series....hahahhahaaaa......

    The company which violat music rights of HMV’s & other audio companys in 80’s & 90’s… is talking of copyright violation lawsuits

  • From ishan Fri 19 Oct 2007 03:04 PM

    i wud like to add to this conversation, does ne1 have ne gud reason, to on what basis can the Plaintiff or Defendant win this case....????????

    lets all we do some serious talking on increasing lawsuits on copyright violation…

    can ne1 answer me the ques. that i had asked???????

    i think rediff can win this case on the contention that all it was doin a promotional activity, with the prior permission or the said proposal from the RGV for such promotional activity.

    on the other hand, t-series can win this case, on the contention that t-series is the sole copyright owner of the said film, & the rediff has to ask the owner of such copyright ie t-series for carrying out such promotional activity....

    can ne1 defend or allege nemore points on this case???
    ishan

  • From BlogsDNA Fri 20 Jun 2008 10:13 AM

    I suppose this is going to be one of very difficult to judge kind of copyright Case as both party have their own sole reasons and both seems to be best at their place. its really difficult to give judgment that who is actual culprit.
    We might need a better low suite to help us in this situation to get proper judgment
    What you guys Says??

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