The Delhi High Court has issued a restraining order against several YouTube channels, websites, and social media accounts to stop them from infringing on the intellectual property of the popular sitcom Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah. Justice Mini Pushkarna passed the order on August 14, covering unauthorised merchandise sales, character imitations and the creation of AI photos, deepfakes, and animated videos. The order also applies to unknown defendants.
“An order of ex parte ad-interim injunction is passed thereby restraining the defendant nos. 1 to 12 and 14 to 21, (including the John Doe parties), their owners, partners, proprietors, officers, servants, employees and all others in capacity of principal or agent, acting for and on their behalf or anyone claiming through by or under it, from in any manner, hosting, streaming, broadcasting, transmitting, exhibiting, making available for viewing and downloading, providing access to and communicating to the public displaying, uploading, modifying, publishing, updating, sharing (including to its subscribers and users), offering for sale on their websites, through the internet, or in any manner or platform whatsoever, any content, goods or services, that in any manner whatsoever, amounts to infringement/passing off, of the plaintiff’s copyrighted material/ registered trademarks, including, but not limited to the title, the Characters, Format and Underlying Materials in the said show or anything else, which otherwise amounts to an infringement of the plaintiff’s Copyright/registered trademarks/passing off of the goods/services offered by the defendants,” the Court order read, as per Bar and Bench.
Neela Film Productions, the producer of Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, told the High Court they own the rights to the show’s title, characters, dialogues, and other intellectual property. They reported that various social media accounts, websites, and channels were infringing on these rights, selling unauthorised products, and even creating videos, animations, deepfakes, and pornographic content using the show’s characters. The Court agreed that Neela Film Productions had a strong case and granted an injunction. The company was represented by Advocates Pravin Anand and others, while Google’s defense team included Advocates Mamta Rani Jha and colleagues.
The show has been at the centre of controversy for a while now. In a latest development, actor Gurucharan Singh, who used to play the role of Roshan Sodhi in the popular sitcom, claimed that he did not leave Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah in 2012, but the makers replaced him. In a recent interview, the actor alleged that the makers of TMKOC replaced him in 2012 without even informing him. He argued that he had no knowledge about his replacement and was shocked to see when a new Sodhi was introduced during an episode.
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