Google asked to take down Saheb Biwi aur Gangster movie from Youtube

The Delhi High Court has asked Google LLC to remove from Youtube the Hindi movie 'Saheb Biwi aur Gangster' which according to its co-producer has been uploaded illegally on the social media platform.

Justice Rajiv Shakdher in an interim order on Tuesday, directed Youtube to take down the movie within 48 hours, but its lawyer said that the platform has been taken over by US-based Google LLC which will comply with the direction.

The high court recorded the statement made by the lawyer appearing for Youtube and listed the matter for further hearing on July 9.

The order came on a lawsuit filed by the movie's co-producer, Rahul Mitra, who has claimed that Tigmanshu Dhulia, the other producer, has assigned to him all the rights in the film.

In his plea, Mitra has contended that uploading of the subject movie on Youtube has degraded his rights. 

He claimed that he was suffering a huge monetary loss as he is not in a position to sell rights in the movie to video streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.

The high court issued notice to Youtube and Google LLC seeking their response to the lawsuit.

During the proceedings held via video conferencing, Youtube's lawyer told the court that it is only an intermediary and, therefore, cannot be held liable for uploading of the movie on its platform .

It also said that had the plaintiff specified the uniform resource locator or URL of the works in which he had rights, Youtube would have been in a position to take down the infringing material.

Youtube said that the plaintiff ought to have impleaded in the suit the person or entity which uploaded the movie in question.

The high court, thereafter, directed the plaintiff to make the movie uploader a defendant in the suit within five days.

"Furthermore, having heard learned counsel for the parties, I am inclined to direct defendant No. 1 (Youtube) to take down the subject movie. Thus, defendant No. 1 is directed to effectuate the aforesaid direction issued by me within the next 48 hours. 

"At this stage, Mamta Rani Jha (Youtube's lawyer) also informs me that defendant No. 1 has been taken over by a US entity by the name Google LLC and that the aforesaid directions will be complied with by the said entity. The statement of Ms. Jha in this behalf is taken on record," the judge said.