Madras High Court
C.S(COMM DIV)/309/2023 of Swamy Publishers Pvt Ltd Vs Abhay Kumar Rai on 14 October 2026
C.S(COMM DIV) No. 309 of 2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 14-10-2026
CORAM
THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE P.B. BALAJI
C.S(COMM DIV) No. 309 of 2023
& A.No.1887 of 2025
CNR: {HCMA011924322023}
M/s.Swamy Publishers Private Limited,
Represented by its Joint Managing Director Sanjeev Venkataramanan, No.236, Ramakrishna Mutt. Road, Raja Annamalai Puram, Chennai 600 028.
..Plaintiff
Vs
1. Abhay Kumar Rai
2. WhatsApp LLC
Unit B8 and B10, Level 18, DLF Cyber City, Building No.5, Tower A, Phase III, Gurgaon 122 002, India.
3. Telegram FZ-LLC
Business Central Towers, Tower A, Office 2301-2303, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
..Defendants
Prayer: Commercial Civil Suit filed under Order IV Rule 1 of OS Rules r/w Order VII Rule 1 of CPC r/w Section 63 of Copyright Act, 1957 and Section 7
of the Commercial Courts for the Infringement of Copyright Act, for the following reliefs:
a) A permanent injunction restraining the Defendant No.1, by himself his partners, men, servants, agents, representatives or any one claiming through them from in any manner infringing the plaintiffs literary work titled Swamys Handbook by using, selling, or offering to sell, distributing, displaying, printing,
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uploading/downloading, transmitting, communicating or mark available to public the unauthorised copy and to in any manner whatsoever.
b) A permanent injunction restraining the Defendants 2 and 3 from infringing the Book titled Swamys Hand Book with a direction to block all whatsapp pages/whatsapp groups/telegram pages/telegram groups, as case may be either in meta Platform or in other platform including list of groups/channels mentioned in Schedule-A hosting contents that relate to plaintiffs copyright protected book titled Swamys Hand book in any manner, thereby restraining the unauthorised copying, circulation, transmission, communication or make available or display or publish or show or upload or download or exhibit and/or in any manner communicate in and/or through their services in any manner whatsoever.
c) A Mandatory Injunction directing the Defendant No.2 and 3 to disclose, on an affidavit, before this court, the Basic Subscriber information, including IP addresses, user names, registered email IDs, phone numbers and other relevant details of the holder of the phone number 8890971786 as well as the details of the administrator of the whatsapp/ telegram groups identified in schedules A to the application.
d) The Defendant No.1, be ordered and decreed to pay to the plaintiff a sum of Rs. 25,00,000/- as damages for his acts of infringement of plaintiff copyright over the book Swamys Handbook by putting it in illegal/unauthorised circulation in social media and/or for enabling others to do illegal uploading/downloading of plaintiffs copyrighted content by thereby enabling third parties for further infringement
e) for costs of the suit.
For Plaintiff:
Mr.A.K.Rajaraman
For Defendants:
Mrs.S.Suba Shinyfor D1
Mr.Allwin Godwin for D2
Mr.Thriyambak J.Kannan for D3
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JUDGMENT
The plaintiff and the 1st defendant have reached a settlement agreement by way of a joint memorandum of compromise dated 08.10.2026, reduced to writing.
2. Insofar as the 2nd defendant, the learned counsel appearing for the 2nd defendant submits that the 2nd defendant is only a proforma defendant and hence, the 2nd defendant is not a proper and necessary party to the compromise clinched between the plaintiff and the 1st defendant.
3. Insofar as the 3rd defendant, the learned counsel for the 3rd defendant states that pursuant to the orders of this Court, the 3rd defendant has filed an affidavit of compliance and further, as contended by the learned counsel for the 2nd defendant, the learned counsel for the 3rd defendant also states that the 3rd defendant is only a formal party and since the order of this Court has already been complied with, nothing further remains to be done by the 3rd defendant.
4. In view of the above, the suit reliefs sought for in “(b)” has been complied with and no longer required to be addressed. Insofar as the relief “(a)”, the plaintiff and the 1st defendant have reached the settlement agreement
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by way of a joint compromise memo dated 08.10.2026. The same is signed by both the parties and also by their respective counsel. The same has been placed before the Mediation Centre attached to this Court on 09.06.2026 and has been placed before me for approval.
5. The learned counsel for the parties have no objection for the said joint compromise memo dated 08.10.2026 being recorded and the suit being disposed of, in terms of the joint compromise memo. Considering the fact that the agreed amount has already been paid, nothing further remains and hence, the suit is dismissed as settled out of Court. The joint compromise memo shall form part and parcel of the decree. The plaintiff shall be entitled to refund of Court fees. A.No.1887 of 2025 is closed. 14-10-2026 Index: Yes/No Speaking/Non-speaking order Neutral Citation: Yes/No ATA
C.S(COMM DIV) No. 309 of 2023
P.B.BALAJI, J. ATA C.S(COMM DIV) No. 309 of 2023 14-10-2026
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