Delhi High Court Seeks Response From Meta And Backgrid On TV Today's Plea To Restore Instagram Page

Delhi High Court Seeks Response From Meta And Backgrid On TV Today's Plea To Restore Instagram Page

On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court sought responses from Meta and the US-based celebrity news agency Backgrid USA regarding a suit filed by TV Today, aiming to restore Harper's Bazaar India's Instagram page.

Justice Anish Dayal issued notice and scheduled the matter for further hearing on July 9th.

However, the Court emphasized that ad hoc directions cannot be issued in this matter.

"We can’t pass an ad hoc order in this matter. We do not want to tread on the legal right in an ad hoc manner," the Court said.

Addressing Harper's Bazaar, the Court pointed out that they cannot deny any wrongdoing.

"You cannot say you have not committed any sin. You can say I did not know it was a sin."

Harper’s Bazaar stated that out of nearly 7,000 posts on their Instagram page, only 3 were found to be infringing, yet the account was suspended. Harper’s Bazaar mentioned that negotiations were attempted with Backgrid to retract their copyright strikes, but Backgrid demanded exorbitant fees for the photographs.

On the other hand, it was argued on behalf of Meta that the actions against Harper’s Bazaar were in accordance with the IT Rules and Meta’s policy. Notices were reportedly issued to Harper’s Bazaar prior to the suspension of their handle.

“There is clear provision in the IT Rules for taking down the handles in case of copyright violation. Rule 3(1) says due diligence by the intermediary, and an intermediary has the right to remove the copyrighted content. I have the right under the Rules to terminate his account, which I have exercised,” he said.

Backgrid initiated three copyright strikes against Harper's Bazaar India for allegedly using fifteen Halloween pictures without authorization.

After Harper's Bazaar India's Instagram page was suspended due to these strikes, TV Today initially filed a plea against Meta (the owner of Instagram) before the High Court.

Upon hearing this plea, the High Court directed TV Today to seek relief from the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC), established under the Information Technology Rules.

Subsequently, the GAC upheld Meta's decision to suspend Harper's Bazaar India's Instagram page.

In response, TV Today filed a case against Backgrid before the Delhi High Court.

During the proceedings on May 21, it was disclosed to the Court that Harper’s Bazaar sourced fifteen photographs from fan pages and posted them on their platform. However, Backgrid issued a copyright strike, leading to the suspension of Harper's Bazaar's page.

TV Today argued that the use of the photographs constituted fair use. Nonetheless, Backgrid demanded nearly US$2,000 for each picture to withdraw their strikes, despite charging significantly less for normal use.