Madras HC dismisses Netflix' plea against actor Dhanush in copyright infringement issue
Chennai, Jan 28 (PTI): The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed an application filed by Los Gatos, an Indian entity of OTT platform Netflix, which sought to reject actor Dhanush's plaint over alleged copyright infringement by well-known actor Nayanthara, her husband Vignesh Sivan and others, at the preliminary stage itself.
Justice Abdul Quddhose dismissed the application filed by Los Gatos and posted to February 5, further hearing of the application filed by Dhanush's production house Wunderbar, seeking interim injunction against Los Gatos and others.
In his application, Dhanush had submitted that he produced a Tamil film "Naanum Rowdy Dhaan" a few years ago. Some of the behind-the-scene footage from the film were used unauthorizedly in the making of Nayanthara's documentary "Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale", he alleged. The documentary was aired on Netflix.
Dhanush said that since Netflix's office was in Mumbai, which was outside the jurisdiction of the Madras HC, he had moved an application seeking leave to sue the OTT player in this court, which was allowed. Aggrieved, Netflix filed the present application to revoke the order, granting leave to sue.
Netflix contended that the plaintiff in this case had obtained leave to sue only against Los Gatos and because the office was situated outside the jurisdiction of this court. The plaintiff ought to have obtained leave against all the defendants, Netflix added.
Applications filed by Netflix seeking revocation of leave and rejection of plaint were dismissed by the High Court.
Netflix's contentions were that the suit ought to have been filed in Kancheepuram as plaintiff's registered office is situated there and leave was not specifically sought for that part of cause of action that arose outside of the Madras High court's jurisdiction. Thus it sought leave to be revoked.
Rejection of Plaint was sought for on the ground that there is no urgency as the documentary is already released. Therefore the plaintiff ought to have gone for mandatory pre suit mediation.
The High Court did not agree with the plaintiff and both the applications were dismissed.
In his order, the judge said at this preliminary stage, when the first respondent/plaintiff (Wunderbar Films Private Limited) has prima facie satisfied this Court that there was an urgent need for obtaining interim reliefs, the question of rejecting the plaint for non compliance of pre-suit mediation does not arise.
Listing out the reasons, the judge said, " this Court is of the considered view that since a part of cause of action arose within the jurisdiction of this Court, this Court had rightly granted leave to the Plaintiff (Wunderbar) to institute the suit against the applicant/fifth defendant (Los Gatos) by exercising its power under Clause 12 of the Letters Patent."
"Since adequate averments have been made in the plaint for seeking urgent interim reliefs by the first respondent/ plaintiff (Wunderbar) without exercising pre-suit mediation, this Court, at this preliminary stage, cannot reject the plaint for non-compliance of pre-suit mediation by the first respondent/plaintiff (Wunderbar)," the court said.
The judge said this court, after giving careful consideration to the averments contained in the plaint, which includes the cause of action, was of the considered view that Wunderbar has rightly sought leave of this Court and has also rightly obtained leave to institute the suit against Los Gatos since they were having their registered office at Mumbai which was outside the jurisdiction of this Court.
It was settled law that as long as any infringing material remains on air and for each moment that material continues to be screened, it will dilute the rights of the copyright holder and was a continuous cause of action.
Though Los Gatos contends that the cause of action for the suit arose in the year 2020 itself as seen from the plaint, the said contention cannot be accepted by this Court at this stage when admittedly the documentary "Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale" was released by Netflix only on November 18, 2024.
It was clear from the plaint averments that only due to the urgent necessity to seek interim reliefs, Wunderbar did not go for pre-suit mediation under Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, the judge added.
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
