Bombay High Court orders Gaurav Taneja to take down video in copyright case by Castrol

The Bombay High Court recently issued a temporary injunction against social media influencer Gaurav Taneja, also known as "The Flying Beast," in a copyright infringement case filed by Castrol India Ltd. [Castrol India Ltd. v Gaurav Taneja].The Court restrained Taneja and his associates from infringing on Castrol's exclusive copyright over creative materials used in its “Castronomy” marketing campaign and also ordered Taneja to take down a video of the campaign uploaded to his social media channels and handles. Single-judge Justice RI Chagla acknowledged that Castrol is the rightful copyright owner of the creative content produced for the campaign, which featured videographic and photographic material taken during a zero-gravity flight experience aimed at promoting Castrol’s automotive products. "In view thereof, by exploiting the Raw Data without the authorisation of the Plaintiff, the Defendant No. 1 in my prima facie view has infringed the Plaintiff’s copyright subsisting in the Raw Data," the Court held..The dispute arose when Taneja, who participated in the campaign along with others, initially shared a video that included promotional content for Castrol alongside footage from the zero-gravity flight. However, he later uploaded an edited version of the video to his social media, removing the promotional segments related to Castrol. This edited video was later made publicly available on his social media channels..Castrol argued that Taneja’s actions amounted to clear copyright infringement as he shared the video without permission and omitted the promotional content originally included.Justice Chagla ruled in favor of Castrol, stating, "I am of the view that the Defendant No. 1 has unauthorizedly uploaded and leveraged the Impugned Content which is a reproduction of the Raw Data and / or substantial parts thereof and the same is publicly available on the Defendant No. 1’s social media accounts / channels and can be readily accessed by anyone on the internet." .The Court said there was dishonesty in Taneja's actions and while the original video contained a segment promoting Castrol and its products, Taneja had deliberately deleted this part in the version he posted online. .The Court further observed that Taneja could not claim any equity as his actions amounted to deliberate infringement of Castrol’s valid and subsisting copyrights. "The balance of convenience is in favour of the plaintiff," Justice Chagla observed.Hence, the judge ordered Taneja to remove the content from his social media handles .Advocates Hiren Kamod, Prem Khullar, Neha Iyer, Vaibhav Keni and Proutima Ray instructed by Legasis Partners appeared for Castrol India..[Read Order]