The Bombay High Court’s single bench of  Justice Riyaz Chagla granted interim relief to Castrol India Ltd. in a copyright infringement suit and has issued a temporary injunction against the popular YouTuber Gaurav Taneja’s 'Flying Beast' channel, restraining him from infringing Castrol's copyright related to its marketing campaign for a zero-gravity flight experience and also ordering Taneja to take down two videos from his YouTube channel that were infringing Castrol India Ltd.’s copyrights. The videos were shot during Castrol’s promotional campaign in the United States, but Taneja neither credited the company nor promoted the campaign in them.

The dispute originated when Taneja, who took part in the campaign with others, initially posted a video that combined footage from the zero-gravity flight with Castrol promotional material.

He later removed the Castrol-related commercial parts from the video and posted an edited version of it on his social media accounts. Castrol said that because Taneja uploaded the video without authorisation and deleted the original advertising information, his actions amounted to blatant copyright infringement. 

Furthermore, the petition stated that Castrol and the agency made several requests to Taneja to remove the impugned content. It also stated that the agency offered to pay Taneja Rs. 5 lakhs to take down the content.

Castrol thus sought an injunction against Taneja for copyright infringement of its cinematograph films and photographs to further take down the impugned content from his social media accounts.

The bench observed that, prima facie, Castrol appeared to be the producer of the content and the first owner of the copyright. The court noted that Taneja was dishonest because the first video that was provided with the agency promoted Castrol and its goods/campaign, whereas the contested film that was shared did not. 

The Court further observed that Taneja could not claim any equity as his actions amounted to deliberate infringement of Castrol’s valid and subsisting copyrights. It thus stated that the balance of convenience is in favour of Castrol and unless reliefs are granted, Castrol would suffer irreparable injury.

The Court issued a temporary injunction, restraining Taneja and his agents, associates or any person acting under him from infringing Castrol's copyright in the Raw Data and Collaborative Content on any platform. It further directed Taneja to delete the impugned content on his social media channels.

Case title: Castrol India Ltd. vs. Gaurav Taneja & Anr. (Interim Application (L) No.35454 of 2024 in COMM IPR Suit (L) No.35287 of 2024)

Advocates for Petitoner(s): Mr. Hiren Kamod, Mr. Prem Khullar, Ms. Neha Iyer, Mr. Vaibhav Keni and Ms. Proutima Ray i/b. Legasis Partners