Social media influencer Gaurav Taneja, known as “The Flying Beast,” is in the news again, this time facing legal issues at the Bombay High Court. A temporary injunction was issued against him in a copyright infringement case filed by Castrol India Ltd., under the case title Castrol India Ltd. v Gaurav Taneja.

The Court restrained Taneja and his associates from infringing on Castrol’s exclusive copyright over creative materials used in its “Castronomy” marketing campaign. This includes a zero-gravity flight experience designed to promote Castrol’s automotive products. The Court also ordered Taneja to remove a video of the campaign from his social media channels and handles.

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Justice RI Chagla, a single-judge, acknowledged that Castrol holds the rightful copyright to the creative content used in the campaign. The Court found that Taneja, who participated in the campaign, shared an edited version of the video that omitted promotional content related to Castrol. This version was later uploaded to his social media channels, infringing on Castrol’s copyrights.

Dispute Details

The dispute began when Taneja initially shared a video featuring promotional content for Castrol alongside footage from the zero-gravity flight. He later edited the video to remove the promotional segments before posting it online. Castrol argued that these actions amounted to clear copyright infringement, as Taneja shared the video without authorization and altered the original content.

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Justice Chagla ruled in favor of Castrol, stating that Taneja had unauthorizedly uploaded and used the “Impugned Content,” which included substantial parts of Castrol’s copyrighted material. The Court noted that Taneja’s actions were dishonest, and his deliberate removal of the promotional segments indicated an intent to infringe on Castrol’s valid copyrights.

Advocates Hiren Kamod, Prem Khullar, Neha Iyer, Vaibhav Keni, and Proutima Ray, instructed by Legasis Partners, represented Castrol India in the case.

Justice Chagla observed that the balance of convenience was in favor of Castrol, leading to the order for Taneja to remove the content from his social media handles.