New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ordered social media platforms, 'shady' websites, and numerous other platforms to remove the pirated footage and stop their distribution as well after snippets of the upcoming Shah Rukh Khan movie 'Jawan' were leaked.
Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan's production company, Red Chillies Entertainment Private Limited, have submitted a petition in the Delhi High Court on the matter.
The petitioner claims that two clips from the film were posted on social media; one of them included Shah Rukh Khan in a fight scene, and the other featured a dance sequence.
"It is the plaintiff's (Red Chillies) case that these leaked video clips are nothing but clear violation of copyright/intellectual property rights of the plaintiff which are are causing damage and loss to the plaintiff. The leaked video clips together give away the look of the actors in the said film, as well as the music, both of which are typically disclosed at strategic points in time as part of the carefully-curated marketing strategy of a film," the court was told.
The plea claimed there was concern that the fraudulent social media pages would continue to copy, reproduce, and distribute the copyright-protected materials.
"The plaintiff reasonably apprehends that such publication and unauthorised circulation of the leaked video clips will jeopardise the promotion and exploitation rights of the plaintiff in the said film, and as and when the said film is released in theatres, similar acts of piracy relating to the entire film would also commence and intermediaries/websites as described would again be utilised to illegally copy, record, download, reproduce, transmit and communicate the said copyright protected work to the general public," the plea said.
A Delhi High Court panel led by Justice C. Hari Shankar on Tuesday ordered several internet service providers to block access to websites that were showing or making movie footage open for viewing or downloading. The bench also instructed social media platforms like YouTube, Google, Twitter, and Reddit to take action to stop the distribution of the film's copyrighted content.