NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has issued a restraint order against the unauthorized use of the name, characters, and content from the popular TV show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah.
The show, which has been on air for over 16 years with approximately 4,000 episodes, was found to be subject to misuse by various entities who were using its names, images of characters, and other content for commercial purposes. These included running websites, selling merchandise, and even publishing “sexually explicit and vulgar” videos on YouTube.
In an interim order passed against several known and unknown entities following a lawsuit by the show’s producer, Justice Mini Pushkarna ruled that an ex-parte ad interim injunction was necessary to prevent irreparable loss to the plaintiff.
The plaintiff, Neela Film Productions Pvt Ltd, claimed statutory rights over several registered trademarks related to the show, including ‘Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah’, ‘Ooltah Chashmah’, ‘Taarak Mehta’, ‘Jethaalal’, and ‘Gokuldhaam’.
The court was informed that while the plaintiff holds copyright over various characters and animations from the show, some entities were unlawfully selling merchandise such as T-shirts, posters, and stickers featuring the show’s characters and dialogues through websites and e-commerce platforms.
Additionally, there were claims of content generated using artificial intelligence or deep fakes of characters, as well as video games related to the show.
“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)… from in any manner… publishing… offering for sale on their websites… 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 order reads.
The court further directed that YouTube videos containing characters or material from the show, including pornographic content, must be removed by those who uploaded them. If the infringing videos are not taken down within 48 hours, the IT Ministry and the Department of Telecom will instruct internet service providers/intermediaries to suspend all links or videos, the court said.
The court also granted the plaintiff the liberty to notify YouTube to block or suspend all infringing links and ordered the platform to provide the plaintiff with the necessary details of the offending uploaders.