Luxury brand Louis Vuitton Malletier granted interim relief in its copyright infringement by Delhi HC

Case: Louis Vuitton Malletier v www.haute24.com & Ors

For unauthorized use of the brand's photographs, the Delhi High Court granted interim relief to luxury brand Louis Vuitton Malletier (LV) in its copyright infringement suit against the shopping website Haute24.com and others.

According to Justice C Hari Shankar, Louis Vuitton Malletier has established a prima facie case of copyright infringement and should be entitled to ex-parte interim relief to prevent further infringement.

It is alleged that the luxury brand maintains a website in which products are displayed for sale. To advertise these products, high-end fashion models and world-renowned photographers are hired. According to the plaint, the photographs used for online advertising qualify as "artistic works" under Section 2(c) of the Copyrights Act, 1957.

LV's legal counsel informed the Court that the defendants had been using the copyrighted photographs of LV to sell their products on the website www.haute24.com since January 2022.

This led to the company's request to the High Court for a permanent injunction against the defendants and their agents from reproducing, copying, and publishing, via the website www.haute24.com or any other medium, the allegedly infringing photographs or any other work which would violate LV's copyright.

In addition to damages and costs, a direction was sought to block the defendant's website.