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The Delhi High Court recently refused to grant an interim injunction to Saregama against Mohalla Tech Private Limited, the holding company of the short video format platforms “Sharechat” and “Moj” alleging infringement of their copyright.

The single judge bench led by Justice Anu Malhotra was hearing an application filed by Saregama seeking an interim injunction restraining Sharechat from using any of the plaintiff’s work since the licensing agreement with Sharechat had expired. 

Senior Advocate Sanjeev Sindhwani for Saregama submitted Sharechat’s library feature was allowing access to the music library of Saregama despite the expiry of the license agreement which was in blatant infringement of Saregama’s copyright. 

It was further submitted that Sharechat was not an intermediary as was being claimed by it.

Senior Advocate Parag P Tripathi appearing for Sharechat on the other hand submitted that Sharechat had removed the content of the music library of Saregama on expiry of the license. Tripathi further argued that the present proceeding was filed pursuant to ShareChat’s decision not to renew the license agreement with Saregama on account of the high license renewal fee being demanded. 

Tripathi also submitted that the allegations put forth by Saregama were baseless since they were being used by the users and not Sharechat which fell under Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000 and Sharechat was merely an intermediary.

Having heard the parties the Court disposed of the petition observing that “To the extent that the contents of the music library as licensed to the defendant which license has expired on 31.03.2021 have been removed by the defendant from its music library as submitted by the defendant the prayer in clause a of IA 7014/2021 stands disposed of”.

ShareChat was represented by Senior Advocate Parag P. Tripathi and was briefed by AP & Partners. While Saregama India Limited was represented by Senior Advocate Sanjeev Sindhwani and was briefed by Khaitan & Co.