‘No irreparable loss caused’: Delhi HC refuses India Today interim relief in copyright case against Newslaundry

The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to direct Newslaundry to take down its videos which contain clips from India Today and Aaj Tak broadcasts and, according to a suit brought by TV Today, infringe copyright.

In October 2021, TV Today, parent company of India Today and Aaj Tak, brought a defamation suit against Newslaundry, alleging infringement of their copyright and demanding damages of Rs 2 crore.

Newslaundry had uploaded several videos on its website and YouTube channel that included clips from shows aired on India Today and Aaj Tak. The TV news channels had previously sent over 50 copyright strikes and claims to Newslaundry, causing our YouTube channel to be temporarily suspended. The defamation suit alleged that Newslaundry had reproduced the work of India Today and Aaj Tak and the “use of such material by the defendants is therefore an infringement of the copyright of the plaintiff in its news broadcasts” under the Copyright Act of 1957. To know more about the copyright law and the exceptions under it, watch our explainer.

At the hearing on Friday, Justice Asha Menon said neither the aspect of any balance of convenience nor irreparable loss was met to grant interim relief to TV Today. The court also said the matter must be treated as a commercial dispute and discussed under broadcast rights instead of copyright.

Appearing for TV Today, advocate Hrishikesh Baruah had argued that Newslaundry had used the content without offering a valuable critique. He also said Newslaundry was piggybacking on their content, Bar and Bench reported.

Newslaundry argued that edited content was being wrongly shown in court. “We are an organisation with a philosophy where we report and critique the media. They want to criticise everyone and want others to be thick skinned but when we criticise them, they become thin skinned,” we argued.