Delhi High Court likely to transfer ANI’s copyright suit against YouTuber to itself

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday indicated it would direct the transfer of a trademark and copyright infringement suit filed by news agency ANI against YouTuber Mohak Mangal from a city district court to the high court, as per the report.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora made the observation after hearing both parties and said the court would pass a formal order. “I don’t see the point of two (different) courts trying the same issue… I’ll allow the petition, I’ll pass the orders,” Justice Arora stated.

According to a report, ANI had initiated a copyright and trademark infringement suit against Mangal before the Patiala House court, and had also filed separate defamation and disparagement suits in the Delhi High Court in June and May, respectively.

Mangal subsequently moved the high court, requesting that the copyright and trademark case pending at Patiala House be transferred to the high court, citing overlapping issues across the suits. He also contended that the validity of copyright strikes issued by YouTube needed judicial scrutiny.

As explained in the report, copyright strikes on YouTube are triggered when a rights holder submits a takedown request for alleged unauthorised use of protected material. If found valid, YouTube, owned by Google, removes the flagged content.

ANI’s complaint alleges infringement of its exclusive content in at least 10 of Mangal’s videos. At the time of writing, all 10 videos appear to have been removed or are no longer publicly accessible.