Congressional Twitter account banned, court says, copyright infringements

Bengaluru:

A Bengaluru court has ordered a temporary ban on the congressional Twitter handle after a music company filed a copyright lawsuit against the party for playing songs from the KGF-2 movie in the Bharat Gudu Yatra, led by party MP Rahul Gandhi.

M Naveen Kumar, who manages MRT Music, has filed a complaint against three Congress leaders including Mr Gandhi for allegedly using music from the Kannada blockbuster KGF-2, which infringed copyright laws, during the Bharat Jodo (Uniting India) yatra that traveled across the state of Karnataka last month before moving to neighboring Telangana.

The court also ordered a temporary ban of the Bharat Gudu Yatra campaign on Twitter.

The director of the music company claimed that the Bharat Gudu Yatra campaign videos contain songs from KGF-2.

Congress tweeted that it was not aware of the court’s proceedings and had no copy of the order. “We have read on social media about a hostile order from the Bengaluru Court against INC handles and BJY SM. We did not inform or attend court proceedings. No copy of the order was received. We are pursuing all legal remedies at our disposal,” the Congress party tweeted, referring to To the Bharat Gudu Yatra, or BJY, the social media handle.

We have read on social media about a contravention order from the Bengaluru Court against INC & BJY SM handles.

We were not aware of the judicial proceedings and did not attend them. No copy of the application was received.

We pursue all legal remedies available to us.

– Congress (INCIndia) November 7 2022

In its order, the court said the music company offered a CD in which the copyrighted original was compared to the “unlawfully synchronized” version.

The court said the available material showed that the music company would “incur irreparable harm” and that such actions could encourage piracy.

In its first media report, or FIR, presented to police in Yashwanthpur in Bengaluru, the music company said Congress leader Jeram Ramesh tweeted two yatra videos using folk songs from KGF-2 without permission.

The Bharat Gudu Yatra – the Congress campaign to lay the groundwork for its 2024 national election battle – has so far covered six states, namely Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra.