From Our Correspondent
Amaravati: Ushodaya Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., the publisher of Eenadu, has lodged a formal complaint with the Andhra Pradesh DGP alleging large-scale copyright infringement through WhatsApp groups. In a letter dated November 8, 2025, the company’s Chief Manager–Legal, Vellanki Ratna Kumar, detailed how individuals have been copying and circulating complete PDF versions of Eenadu’s daily newspaper across multiple WhatsApp groups without authorisation.
The complaint states that these PDFs—categorised as “original literary works” under the Copyright Act, 1957—were shared for several months, causing direct financial losses due to subscription erosion, reduced advertising value and diminished brand goodwill. It also alleges violations under Sections 23(a) and 36(b) of the Information Technology Act, and Sections 63 and 64 of the Copyright Act, noting that the infringer bypassed intellectual property rights and illegally redistributed content.
Ushodaya Enterprises submitted extensive evidence, including screenshots of WhatsApp groups where Eenadu PDFs were posted. Pages 3–6 list at least 30 groups involved—ranging from “epaper”, “TDP/CBN News”, and “Daily News Papers9” to local community and media forums. Contact details of group admins and remarks indicating the frequency of uploads were also provided. Several screenshots across pages 7–16 show repeated circulation of full-page newspaper PDFs, often immediately after publication.
The publisher requested immediate registration of an FIR, action against the identified individuals and groups, and steps to curb widespread digital piracy of news content. Stating that such infringement harms both revenue and the newspaper’s credibility, Eenadu urged authorities to treat the matter as a serious cyber and copyright offence.