A Bengaluru court has ordered Meta India to restore a private company’s Instagram account suspended over alleged posts promoting Indian Premier League (IPL) match screenings at its resorts, holding that continued suspension was disproportionate. The court, however, stopped short of declaring the suspension illegal, saying it found no clear-cut intellectual property infringement in the posts.
The court of Vani A Shetty, VIII Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge, Bengaluru, was hearing a suit filed by Qescapades Private Limited against Instagram Inc. and Meta India seeking restoration of its Instagram account, @qexperiences, along with its content, followers, messages and business data.
“The continued suspension of the plaintiff’s account is highly disproportionate to the alleged violation and adversely affects the plaintiff’s rights and business interests…he defendants are hereby directed to restore and re-activate the plaintiff’s Instagram account bearing the username @qexperiences, along with all associated content, followers, messages and business data, subject to the condition that the plaintiff shall not post or upload any content in violation of the terms, conditions, policies or guidelines of the defendants,” the court said on August 22.
The defendants had not appeared despite service of summons and were placed ex parte. Qescapades’ authorised representative was examined on August 17. The company marked its certificate of incorporation, emails and a Section 65(B) certificate as evidence, while no witness or document was marked for the defendants.
The dispute arose after Qescapades published promotional posts about watching IPL matches at its resort properties. The company said the account was used to promote its resort, business activities, events and customer engagement. It approached the court after the account remained suspended despite its representation seeking reconsideration.
Account suspended after IPL-related posts
According to the judgment, Qescapades posted content on April 4, April 11 and April 30 this year, following which it received notifications that the posts had been removed. On May 3, it received another notification alleging trademark infringement, after which the account was suspended.
The posts said “enjoy IPL live screening at your favourite q mango forest” and “catch every IPL moment live at Q Mango Forest”. An April 8 post said- “Experience IPL like never before at Q Nandi Retreat.” The defendants, Instagram Inc. and Meta India alleged that the posts infringed IPL-related trademark rights and promoted live streaming of IPL matches at the resort. Qescapades disputed that it had facilitated unauthorised streaming.
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According to the company, the posts were intended only to inform guests and visitors that IPL matches could be watched at the resort through duly authorised television and broadcasting services. It denied having posted, transmitted, re-transmitted, re-broadcast, uploaded, distributed or facilitated any unauthorised live streaming.
Intention behind posts
The court said Instagram and its operator had the right to suspend an account if its terms and policies were violated or another person’s rights were infringed.
However, it found that while the wording of the posts was not entirely clear and could give rise to an allegation of trademark infringement, the posts, viewed as a whole, appeared intended to promote the resort and inform prospective customers that they could watch IPL matches there.
“Apart from the wording employed in the said posts, nothing therein indicates that the plaintiff
intended to infringe the trademark rights of IPL or of any other authority or to violate any applicable rules,” the court said.
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It added, “The expressions used by the plaintiff may not have been appropriate. However, in the absence of any intention to infringe a trademark right, and when the alleged
infringement appears to have occurred inadvertently or by mistake, it would not be appropriate to treat the same as a serious violation warranting continued suspension of the account..”
Company sought reconsideration
Qescapades approached the defendants through their grievance redressal mechanism on May 9 stating that if the posts were found to have infringed any legal, proprietary or intellectual property rights, they had not been made intentionally but unknowingly and inadvertently.
“Though the expressions used by the plaintiff may not have been appropriate, the intention behind the postings has also to be taken into consideration. Merely on the basis of the words employed, it cannot be concluded that the plaintiff intended to infringe the trademark rights of IPL or any other authority,” it said.
The company also undertook to abide by the defendants’ rules and policies and said no third-party promotional materials, logos or posters had been shared without proper authorisation. It sought restoration, saying the account was important to its business.
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The court noted that the defendants did not respond. It said that even if they were unwilling to restore the account, it would have been appropriate to consider the company’s representation and communicate their decision.
Account restored
The court held that even assuming there had been some violation when the account was suspended on May 3, continued suspension was disproportionate, particularly because the company had undertaken not to repeat the conduct. It also noted that the court would not have interfered if the posts had involved obscene, indecent or offensive content.
Ordering restoration, the court declined to declare the suspension illegal and said, “Even assuming that there was some violation, the continued suspension of the account is wholly disproportionate to the nature of the alleged violation, particularly when the plaintiff has undertaken that such conduct will not be repeated… At this stage, this Court is unable to record a specific finding that there was any clear-cut infringement of any intellectual property right in the postings made by the plaintiff.”
Instagram and Meta India were directed to restore @qexperiences along with its associated content, followers, messages and business data. The restoration is subject to Qescapades not posting or uploading content in violation of the defendants’ terms, conditions, policies or guidelines. The suit was decreed in part and without costs.
