WhatsApp asked to block users illegally selling Apna College videos

The Delhi High Court has ordered WhatsApp to block users who are illegally selling copyrighted study material and videos created by the digital platform Apna College. The court order came in response to a lawsuit filed by Apna College, which alleged that WhatsApp was enabling copyright infringement by not doing enough to stop users from sharing and selling its videos without permission.

The court order is a significant step in the fight against copyright infringement on WhatsApp. It is the first time that a court in India has ordered WhatsApp to block users for copyright infringement. The order is also a warning to other social media platforms that they need to do more to protect the copyrights of content creators.

Pratibha M. Singh J., opined that if the defendants were not blocked from disseminating the plaintiff’s copyrighted material, the plaintiff would suffer enormous monetary loss including loss of subscribers and goodwill. Thus, the Court opined that a case had been established for grant of an injunction to prevent further distribution of the plaintiff’s copyrighted material and accordingly restrained the defendants from downloading, uploading, storing, sharing, transmitting, selling, offering for sale, storing or utilizing any of the plaintiff’s courses.

In order to comply with the court order, WhatsApp will need to develop a system for identifying and blocking users who are illegally selling Apna College videos. This is likely to be a challenging task, as WhatsApp has over 2 billion users worldwide. However, the company has said that it is committed to complying with the court order and protecting the copyrights of content creators.

Delhi HC also orders blocking of Telegram channels, deactivation of WhatsApp numbers illegally sharing course materials of ‘Apna college’ platform. Further,the court order is also a reminder to consumers that they should not buy or share copyrighted material without permission. Doing so is illegal and could result in legal action.