Delhi High Court Provides Relief to INOX India in Copyright Registration Appeal

The Delhi High Court recently provided relief to INOX India (INOX) by allowing an appeal challenging specific remarks included in the copyright registration certificate issued by the Registrar of Copyrights. Khaitan & Co represented INOX in this matter. The team included Smriti Yadav (Partner), Nirupam Lodha (Partner), Dhiren Karania (Principal Associate), Gautam Wadhwa (Senior Associate) and Vanshika Thapliyal (Associate). Senior Advocate Mr. Chander M. Lall appeared for INOX in this matter.

The appeal addressed INOX’s contention that the Registrar of Copyrights had incorrectly imposed remarks on the certificate, including a statement that copyright in the work would cease if applied to an article more than 50 times. INOX argued that this restriction was inapplicable, as the artistic work in question, consisting of technical drawings, does not qualify for registration as a “design” under the Designs Act, 2000. INOX asserted that these remarks were unfounded and had been added without proper reasoning or rationale.

During the proceedings before Honorable Justice Mini Pushkarna, the Registrar of Copyrights agreed to amend the registration certificate, committing to issue a corrected certificate without the contested remarks within four weeks. Additionally, the Registrar’s counsel informed the Court of ongoing updates to the website portal to prevent similar issues in the future.

The Court took note of these submissions and disposed of the appeal accordingly.