Author Details :-

Anantha mounika
5th year ( 9th semester)
BA LLB
Telangana social welfare residential law college for women, Hyderabad.

Abstract

The John Doe order is a legal order. This order will be issued by the court for protection of Rights of the IP owner or holder by the claim of the plaintiff on the unknown identity of the defendant. This order will be granted not only protection of rights of IP holders, but also grants injunction on the sale of similar products by infringement the rights and if such action is approved will cause harm to the owner. This order takes place exparte and order for limited period of time which will be renewed and extended by authority. The plaintiff should prove to the court for grantation of order are:

• The plaintiff shall disclose all information regarding – how the defendants infringement the rights of the plaintiff, when it was started, how it impacting to the people, negative impression, raise of confusion.
• The plaintiff should show the prima facie case in their favor.
• If defendant action continues to allowed the plaintiff shall prove that it will harm to the plaintiff.
• The plaintiff shall prove the burden of proof which is higher in the action of quiatimet.

Recently, on 8th October 2024 the Delhi High court passed a John Doe order for his protection in the case was filled by the Indian Telugu actor Vishnu manchu on the 10 YouTube channels for infringement of his personality rights.

Introduction

The term John Doe means unknown identity or a person. The court orders on the different ways for the protection of their fundamental rights as well rights which will be protected under the law and for prevailing justice. This john doe term refers to everyone and it may be any unknown person. The court grants on this John Doe term are- John Doe order and John Doe warranty.

A John Doe warrant will be given by the order of the court for the arrest of the accused or suspect in a criminal offence. John Doe order will be granted by the order of the court for the protection of the rights of IP holder of the plaintiff, by grant of injunctions on such action of the unknown identity of the defendant at the time of sued. The John Doe order will be used when there is no alternative method available to the plaintiff for the protection of his IP rights of Creator or artistic works(Movies and songs). This order shall be granted under the order 39, rule 1 & 2 of CPC m for the infringement or unlawful exploitation such that it is practically impossible for a right owner to identify all infringing parties when it is necessary. John Doe order is also known as Anton piller orders, Rolling Anton piller or Ashok Kumar order. This order will be used on anonymous internet users to identify the use of illegal activity by its service.

First the John Doe order was recognised in the case of Taj Television vs Rajan Mandal(2003) FSR 22. The court grants John Doe order for the infringement of his rights by the action of defendant unlawful broadcasting. Which court restrains them from the broadcasting.

John Doe order in India ( Related cases)

• Taj Television vs Rajan Mandal(2003) FSR 22 [1]. This is the first case to introduce the John Doe order in India. This case explains the infringement of rights of the plaintiff by unlawful broadcasting and the court restrains them to broadcast.
• E.S.P.N. Software India Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Tudu Enterprise and Ors.[1] This explains infringement of his IP rights which grants exclusive rights to the ICC cricket world cup by the defendants by broadcasting of cricket matches.

Scope and nature of order

The John Doe order started using from middle age from English law. It utilised in the media industry for work of movies and songs by any actor and director.The use of this order grants not only limited for piracy of cinematography content but also for safeguarding the rights of plaintiff in IP rights, personality rights, grants injunction on sale of similar products by defendant without consent of plaintiff under explained by certain case laws in india. Those case laws are SanDisk corporation v. Ranjeet & ors, luxottica group ltd v. Mr. Mummy and landmark judgement on the case Amitabh bachan v. Rajat negi & ors etc. the use of this order is a complex and controversial issue. This order will be a good subject to debate and legal challenge to know. This order will be given by the court by careful consideration on the claims of plaintiff as well as proceedings of case

Controversy of the order

There is a controversy of this order because the CPC says the Identity of the defendant can only judge fairly of such unlawful actions and intention on the right of freedom to speech and expression. The order imposes on an unknown defendant to pass an injunctions of his actions and block his websites and services will be abuse of discretion by the authority. Some also say that the use of this order only when it is necessary and deemed fit by the court to prevent harm to the plaintiff from the unknown identity of the defendant. There are situations to block the websites even if it is non infringement of rights reference and explained by case laws and in other cases referring to this matter as narrowed the court order made relief to the websites which non infringement rights given under cases – star India v. Sujil jha and ors, Department of electronics and information technology v. Star India Pvt Ltd and Disney enterprises v. Mi ltd, etc. some cases intended to decide there should be a test on it and a qualitative approach for infringement of rights of the plaintiff.

Conclusion

John Doe order is a legal order which is granted for the protection of the rights of the plaintiff under IP and his personality rights from the action of an unknown defendant. This order grants protection of his personality rights on using identity,face,voice, comparison with animals, commercial advertising wrongly with his consent,IP rights of Creator and Artistic work, grants injunctions on the sale of similar products to save from getting harm by the actions of defendant. There is also controversy and criticism on this order for abuse of their rights of authority and bias on this order to use when it is necessary. The court given order to the Internet service provider (IPS) and ministry of electronics for help and block website and channels of unlawful services by any named and unnamed channel and website.

References

• Madhu Gadodia, Sujoy Mukherji, Tarini Kulkarni. Views are personal-Live law.in. – https://www.livelaw.in/law-firms/law-firm-articles-/john-doe-order-fifa-world-cup-quia-timet-civil-procedure-code-delhi-high-court-non-fungible-token-220689 – History and development of John Doe orders in india- (13.4.2023).
• Nupur thapliyal- live law.in. – https://www.livelaw.in/high-court/delhi-high-court/delhi-high-court-passes-john-doe-order-to-protect-personality-rights-of-indian-actor-and-producer-vishnu-manchu-271901 – The Delhi High Court has recently passed a john doe order to protect the personality rights of Indian actor and film producer Vishnu Manchu – (8.10.2024).
• Wikipedia – John Doe – https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Doe#:~:text=%22Ashok%20Kumar%22%20has%20been%20used%20in%20court%20cases%20in%20India.
• Law Bhoomi- brief note on John Doe order – https://lawbhoomi.com/brief-note-on-john-doe-order/

Endnotes

• Madhu Gadodia, Sujoy Mukherji, Tarini Kulkarni. Views are personal-Live law.in.