INDIA. Mumbai: An FIR has been filed against Google CEO Sundar Pichai, based on filmmaker Suneel Darshan’s complaint of an alleged infringement of the copyright of his 2017 directorial venture Hindi feature film ‘Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha’ on YouTube. Darshan is known for films such as Inteqam and Andaaz.
The officer from the MIDC police station confirmed that the FIR was registered on January 25 based on Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate’s order. The persons named in the complaint include Google LLC, YouTube LLC, Google India ltd, Pichai, YouTube MD Gautam Anand, and others. The FIR alleges infringement of Sections 51, 63, and 69 of the Copyright Act of 1957.
Speaking to a group of journalists Darshan claimed that though he did not upload the movie anywhere, nor sold it to anyone, several channels on YouTube were benefitting from it and Google refused to take the movie off those channels.
Talking about this Darshan said, “My entire copyrighted movie, apart from its songs and sequences from it, has been uploaded and monetized, and I have helplessly watched such illegal acts.”
“I respect the technology and the funds that they (Google) bring to India. But the corporation’s reluctance to work with experienced content creators and benefit from their knowledge had led to the mutual loss and denied quality content to the audience,” Darshan said.
“I do not seek to gain publicity out of this. I will move according to the law” he added.
Advocate Aditya Chitale who is representing Darshan in this matter said in a statement that the film ‘Ek Haseena Thi, Ek Deewana Tha’, is being shown on YouTube, despite a 2019 court order, which had directed Google to remove all of Darshan’s movies from its video-streaming platform.
As such Darshan was left with no alternative but to approach the Police. The court before disposing of the matter ordered police to register an FIR and submit their final report.
The Union government had on Tuesday evening released the list of Padma Awards winners for this year, which included Pichai. The Alphabet CEO will be conferred with Padma Bhushan as per the Government procedure. A reply to the email sent to Google LLC, seeking clarification in the matter is awaited.
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