Karnataka HC stays criminal proceedings against Amazon in copyright case

The Karnataka High Court has stayed criminal proceedings against Amazon Seller Services in a copyright infringement case involving the alleged sale of pirated copies of a Kannada book authored by late journalist Ravi Belagere.

The case stems from an FIR registered by the Subramanyapura police in Bengaluru on February 4 based on a complaint filed by Bhavana Belagere on behalf of publisher Bhavana Prakashana under provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957.

A vacation bench of Justice KV Aravind on Tuesday issued notices to the publisher and the state government on Amazon’s petition and posted the matter for hearing in the third week of June.


According to the complaint, the book was first published in September 2003 and its 31st reprint was brought out in April 2005. The complainant said the publisher holds exclusive copyright and the sole legal right to print, sell, and distribute the book.

The publisher alleged that certain individuals and ecommerce platforms, including Amazon, Flipkart, and Meesho, were selling the book for Rs 149, significantly lower than its cover price of Rs 350.

The complaint alleged that the unauthorised sale of the book caused financial losses to the publisher and infringed the proprietary rights of the author, apart from violating provisions of the Copyright Act and the Information Technology Act, 2000.