New Delhi : ImagesBazaar, the world’s largest collection of Indian stock photography has filed a copyright infringement suit against BLB Institute of Financial Marketing (BIFM). The suit for Copyright Infringement was filed at the District Court, Delhi and is pending disposal. It is alleged by ImagesBazaar that BIFM used several of ImagesBazaar’s images without permission, license and without paying any license fee for the same. BIFM used the said images in various newspaper advertisements and also on their website. It is pertinent to note that despite being served with legal notice and civil suit being filed against them, BIFM is in continued usage of ImagesBazaar’s images in their advertisements in newspapers and on their website. ImagesBazaar has initiated stern legal proceedings against such actions and filed a civil suit and a criminal complaint against all the concerned parties under Sections 63, 64, 65 66 and 69 of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 and also under Section 417, 420, 468 and 471 of the IPC. 

ImagesBazaar is committed to fight against infringement and is very active towards protecting their IP assets so that the owner/artist get their due reward for the hard work put in their artistic and creative work. ImagesBazaar has got valid licenses for all the photographic images appearing on their website www.imagesbazaar.com, hence has all the rights required to further license, sell, use, reproduce and commercially exploit the photographic images featured on the aforesaid website. It is pertinent to mention herein that none of the photographic images appearing on the aforesaid website can be used without the prior permission, authority or license granted by ImagesBazaar. Accordingly, any reproduction, adaptation, communication to the public, issue of copies and/or any other unlicensed use of the images without paying ImagesBazaar the prescribed license fee in respect of the said images, amounts to infringement of Copyright in the image. As per the Indian law, Copyright infringement is not just a civil but also a criminal offence and the infringer, if proven guilty will get an imprisonment of a minimum of six months to one year.

ImagesBazaar quoted that “All these legal measures taken up by us as well as our company’s robust enforcement program demonstrate the company’s continued commitment to fight against copyright infringement and strengthening intellectual property laws. These measures are to educate the public about the value of IP and consequences of infringement and also to deter the infringers from doing illegal activities.”