Delhi Court Grants Karl Rock Permanent Injunction Against UK-Based YouTuber, Awards ₹7 Lakh In Copyright Suit

A Delhi commercial court has permanently restrained a UK-based YouTube operator and Google entities from infringing YouTuber Karl Rock's copyrighted videos. The court also awarded him ₹5 lakh in damages, holding that the defendant systematically republished portions of his videos as Shorts without authorisation or transformation.

The judgment dated May 13, 2026 was passed by District Judge Vinod Yadav in a summary judgment suit filed by Karl Edward Rice, popularly known as Karl Rock. The defendants were Adam El-Megrisi, who operated the YouTube channel “VidBrew”, Google LLC, Google LLC's India liaison office; and other unknown defendants.

Rice alleged that El-Megrisi had extracted substantial portions of his original videos and republished them as YouTube Shorts. He said this was done without criticism, commentary, parody, or any other protected purpose.

The plaintiff placed on record three video sets with frame-by-frame comparisons showing direct copying of footage and audio. The allegedly infringing Shorts had collectively drawn over 26 lakh views.

The court found that El-Megrisi's conduct reflected a pattern of repeated infringement. Referring to material on record, it noted that he had publicly stated on TikTok that his model was based on “content curation” of third-party videos.

The court also noted that he had launched a commercial course teaching subscribers how to generate revenue by “repurposing” existing videos. It held that this amounted to wilful inducement of copyright infringement under Section 51(a)(ii) read with Section 114 of the Copyright Act.

The court took note of the plaintiff's claim that after takedown notices were issued in May 2025, El-Megrisi filed counter-notifications to restore content. It also noted that he later created a fresh channel under the handle @VidBrew-g4b8s after ad-interim relief was granted in November 2025.

A linked channel, “KopsnKarens,” allegedly using the same contact email as the original VidBrew account, had amassed 43,600 subscribers and nearly one crore views, the court noted.

Referring to its earlier interim order, the court noted that El-Megrisi's conduct was “a calculated and malafide attempt to evade the due process of law.”

The court also found merit in Karl Rock's grievance against Google and YouTube over compliance with interim directions. Though the injunction had been extended to the international domain on February 6, 2026, the court noted that YouTube's February 20 email reflected India-only compliance.

It further found substance in Karl Rock's submission that Google entities had failed to enforce their own policies on repeat infringers, reused content, and account termination, thereby enabling continued infringement.

Holding that the defendants had no real prospect of defending the claim, the court said “no useful purpose would be served by allowing the proceedings to meander mindlessly in Court and to clog the justice delivery system.”

The court therefore decreed permanent injunctions restraining them from hosting, reproducing, distributing, uploading, sharing, or monetising unauthorised copies or substantial portions of Rice's copyrighted works.

The court awarded ₹5 lakh in compensatory damages and ₹2 lakh towards litigation costs