Delhi District Court
Also At vs ZLib.Org And Ors on 19 April, 2023
In the Court of Shri Dinesh Bhatt, District Judge (Commercial
Court)01, Tis Hazari Courts, West District, Delhi
CS (Comm.) No.221/2022
CNR No. DLWT010025132022
M/S TAXMANN PUBLICATIONS P. LTD.
THROUGH ITS AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE
MR. MITRA PAL YADAV
HAVING ITS REGISTERED OFFICE
21/35, WEST PUNJABI BAGH,
NEW DELHI110026.
ALSO AT:
59/32, NEW ROHTAK ROAD, NEW DELHI110005
........Plaintiff
Versus
1.ZLIB.ORG AND ORS.
Address WEB SITEHTTPS/ZLIB.ORG EMAIL[email protected]
2. HATHWAY CABLE AND DATACOM PVT. LTD.
RAHEJAS, 4 FLOOR, MAIN AVENUE SANTACRUZ (W), MUMBAI - 400054
3. ATRIA CNVERGENCE TECHNOLOGIES LTD. 99A/113A, MANORAYANA PALYA R.T. NAGAR BANGALORE - 560032 ALSO AT 2ND AND 3RD FLOOR, NO. 1 INDIAN EXPRESS BUILDING, QUEEN'S ROAD, BANGALORE 560001, KARNATAKA CS (COMM.) No.221/22 M/s Taxmann Publications P. Ltd. Vs. ZLIB.Org & Ors. Page No.1 of 9
4.VODAFONE INDIA LTD.
VODAFONE HOUSE, PENINSULA CORPORATE PARK, GANPATRAO KADAM MARG, LOWER PAREL, MUMBAI - 400013 ALSO AT BIRLA CENTURION, 10th FLOOR, PLOT NO. 794, B WING, PANDURANG BUDHKAR MARG, WORLI, MUMBAI - 400030
5.SHYAM SPECTRA PVT. LTD.
PLOT NO. 258, OKHLA INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, PHASE III, NEW DELHI - 110020 ALSO AT PLOT NO. 2122, 3RD FLOOR, UDYOG VIHAR, PHASE IV, GURUGRAM - 122015
6. MAHANAGAR TELEPHONE NIGAM LTD.
5TH FLOOR, MAHANAGAR DOORSANCHAR SADAN 9, CGO COMPLEX, LODHI ROAD NEW DELHI - 110003
7. RELIANCE JIO INFOCOMM LTD.
RCP 14 (TC23), PHASE 4, BBLOCK, 3RD FLOOR, C4130 TWANEBELAPUR ROAD, GANSOLI, NAVI MUMBAI - 400701
8.TATA TELESERVICES LTD.
A, E AND F BLOCKS VOLTAS PREMISES T.B. KADAM MARG CHINCHPOKLI, MUMBAI - 400033 ALSO AT JEEVAN BHARATI TOWER I, 10TH FLOOR, 124, CONNAUGHT CIRCUS, NEW DELHI - 110001
9.BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LTD.
CS (COMM.) No.221/22 M/s Taxmann Publications P. Ltd. Vs. ZLIB.Org & Ors. Page No.2 of 9 BHARAT SANCHAR BHAWAN, REGULATION CELL 5TH FLOOR, HARISH CHANDRA MATHUR LANE JANPATH, NEW DELHI - 110001
10. BHARTI AIRTEL LTD.
AIRTEL CENTRE, TOWERA, 6TH FLOOR, 'A' WING, PLOT NO. 16, UDYOG VIHAR PHIV, GURGAON - 122016
11. UNION OF INDIA THROUGH SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND IT, 20, SANCHAR BHAWAN, ASHOKA ROAD, NEW DELHI - 110001
12. UNION OF INDIA THROUGH ITS DIRECTOR GENERAL (DIT) CYBER LAWS AND ESECURITY MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (MEITY) ELECTRONICS NIKETAN, 6, EGO COMPLEX, LODHI ROAD, NEW DELHI - 110003
13. DR. VINOD K. SINGHANIA R/O 205, MOHAN PLACE, ABOVE STATE BANK OF INDIA SARASWATI VIHAR, DELHI
14. DR. MONICA SINGHANIA R/O 205, MOHAN PLACE, ABOVE STATE BANK OF INDIA SARASWATI VIHAR, DELHI
15. A.K. MAJUMDAR R/O J18, SECTOR 12, NOIDA - 201301
16. DR. G.K.KAPOOR R/O A1/1002, UNIWORLD CITY, SECTOR, 30, GURGAON - 122001 CS (COMM.) No.221/22 M/s Taxmann Publications P. Ltd. Vs. ZLIB.Org & Ors. Page No.3 of 9
17. DR. SANJAY DHAMIJA R/O 10 B, CITIZEN ENCLAVE, SECTOR 14, EXTENSION, ROHINI, NEW DELHI - 110085
18. AIWMI KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PVT. LTD. B401, SAHIL SARVADA, OPP. SAI SERVICE STATION, KONDHWA, PUNE - 411048
19. BHUSHAN KUMAR GOYAL R/O T1, NEW FLATS, SHRI RAM COLLEGE OF COMMERCE, MAURIEE NAGAR, NEW DELHI - 110007
20. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SECURITIES MARKETS A PUBLIC TRUST REGISTERED UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF BOMBAY PUBLIC TRUST ACT, 1950 NISM BHAVAN, PLOT NO. 82, SECTOR 17, VASHI, NAVI MUMBAI - 400703
21. R.P. RUSTAGI R/O 2316, FIRST FLOOR, HUDSON LANE, MALL ROAD, DELHI - 110009
22. NITIN SONI R/O A2/42B, KESHAV PURAM, LAWRENCE ROAD, NEW DELHI 110035 ........Defendants Date of Institution : 16032022 Date of hearing of arguments : 10042023 Date of decision : 19042023 Ld counsel for Plaintiff' Ms. Ashu Choudhary Defendant no.1 is exparte Ld. counsel for defendant no.11 Sh Sudhanshu Tyagi Ld. counsel for defendant nos.13 to 22 - Sh Manish Kumar CS (COMM.) No.221/22 M/s Taxmann Publications P. Ltd. Vs. ZLIB.Org & Ors. Page No.4 of 9 EXPARTE J U D G M E N T
1. This is suit for permanent injunction for restraining infringement of copyright, rendition of account, unfair competition against the defendant no.1.
2. Plaintiff is stated to be a company dealing in publishing of books on tax and corporate law etc. and had spent huge amount of money on its books to ensure best content and quality for its readers.
3. Defendant no. 1 claims to be an international elibrary and has uploaded numerous books by illegally creating PDFs of books written by various authors and are available for download to one and all on its website Z/lib.org. Defendant was also owning other names as http://booksc.org, https://booksc.eu. Defendant nos. 2 to 10 were internet service providers and defendant no. 11 and 12 were the Government Departments / Ministry relating to electronic and information technology. Defendant no. 13 to 22 are the authors of the ten books in question.
4. Plaintiff was owner / copyright holder of ten books viz. (i) Corporate Tax Planning & Business Tax Procedures with Case Studies - by Vinod K. Singhhania and Monica Singhania (ii) Taxmann's Comapny Law and Practice: A Compresensive Text Book on Companies Act 2013 - Dr. G.K. Kapoor and Dr. Sanjay CS (COMM.) No.221/22 M/s Taxmann Publications P. Ltd. Vs. ZLIB.Org & Ors. Page No.5 of 9 Dhamija, (iii) Certified Credit Research Analyst (CCRA) Level1) by Aditya Gadge, Biharilal Deora and Revati Kasture, (iv) Taxmann's Basis Financial Accounting (Choice Based Credit System) Set of 2 Volumes 7th Edition, December2020 by Bhushan Kumar Goyal, (v) Nism Series VII: Securities Operations and Risk Management by Nism, (vi) Company Law and Practise by G.K. Kapoor, (vii) Taxman's Fundamentals of Financial Management by R.P. Rustagi, (viii) The 7 Laws of Clearing CA Final - by Nitin Soni, (ix) Right to Information Law & Practice with Case Book on Right to Information by Dr. R.K. Verma and (x) Taxmann's Consumer Protection Law & Practice A Comprehensive Guide to New Consumer Protection Law by Taxmann written by the authors i.e. defendant nos. 13 to 22. The said authors had assigned the copyright of the said books in favour of the plaintiff by virtue of written agreement and, therefore, plaintiff had the absolute right for the books in question. Defendant no. 1 had without plaintiff's permission or any right uploaded their aforesaid ten books on their website in contravention of their copyrights of the said books and the said books were available for free download for all. Defendant no. 1 was therefore a rogue website and has prayed that they be restrained from infringing the plaintiff's copyrights in the books in CS (COMM.) No.221/22 M/s Taxmann Publications P. Ltd. Vs. ZLIB.Org & Ors. Page No.6 of 9 question alongwith rendition of accounts and damages.
5. As per plaintiff, defendant no. 1 was not having any physical address and was only having its email address / website and therefore on his request the summons of the suit had been sent to defendant no. 1 on the email ID given in the memo of parties for 1082022 but none had appeared.
6. None of the other defendants have filed any written statement.
7. Plaintiff has examined PW1 as sole witness who has reiterated the contents of the plaint and relied on documents Ex. PW1/1, Ex. PW1/5 and Mark A to E. PW1 further stated that after website of defendant no. 1 was blocked, they had further created website with different domain name and were again allowing users to download the data of plaintiff's books.
8. Plaintiff's main case is that they were publishers and copy right holders of ten books as per plaint (supra) written by defendant nos. 13 to 23 who had assigned their copyright in favour of the plaintiff. Defendant nos. 13 to 23 have not disputed the plaintiff's claim. Defendant no. 1 was the main defendant who is alleged to be uploading plaintiff's ten books in question in an illegal manner and violating the plaintiff's copyright by creating PDFs of the said ten books on their websites and causing business as well as financial loss to the plaintiff.
CS (COMM.) No.221/22 M/s Taxmann Publications P. Ltd. Vs. ZLIB.Org & Ors. Page No.7 of 9
9. Defendant nos. 2 to 12 are internet service providers and Government Departments against whom no relief except directions for compliance by the court has been sought. None of these defendants have also contested plaintiff's claim.
10.Plaintiff has also filed print outs of the books and physical copies of four books Ex. PW1/5 (Colly). In view of unrebutted testimony of the plaintiff PW1 and documents filed on record, plaintiff is entitled to protection of its copy right which is being violated by the defendant no. 1.
11.Plaintiff has also prayed for damages to the extent of Rs. 5 Lacs for violation of their copyright but no corroborative evidence has been lead to this effect. However, considering the fact that ten books in question are priced for more than Rs. 700/ per book and defendant no. 1 is offering the said books for download for free. As such, reasonable damages based on the aforesaid value of the books a lumpsum amount of Rs. 25,000/ per book i.e. Rs. 2.50 Lac total can be awarded in favour of the plaintiff.
12.Accordingly, suit is allowed and defendant no. 1 is restrained from offering plaintiff's ten books as mentioned in para 12 of the plaint for downloading in PDF format or any other mode on its website in contravention of the plaintiff's copyright. Plaintiff is further allowed damages to the tune of Rs. 2.50 lac from CS (COMM.) No.221/22 M/s Taxmann Publications P. Ltd. Vs. ZLIB.Org & Ors. Page No.8 of 9 defendant no. 1. The suit is decreed with cost. Decree sheet be drawn accordingly.
File be consigned to record room.
Announced in open (Dinesh Bhatt)
Court on 19.04.2023 District Judge (Commercial Court)01
West, Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi
CS (COMM.) No.221/22 M/s Taxmann Publications P. Ltd. Vs. ZLIB.Org & Ors. Page No.9 of 9