Go Daddy is going to have to go to court in India regarding a claim by the National Stock Exchange and their online trading platform. It is hard to see how Go Daddy has liability in this case as they are not profiting from the sales of software, but I am not a lawyer and I am not well versed in Indian law.
LiveMint reported:
Mumbai: The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has dragged global domain name registrar GoDaddy and a Hyderabad-based technology firm to the Bombay high court over alleged copyright and trademark infringement of its software.The case relates to NSE’s online trading platform NOW, which allows its subscribers to view and use its database and analysis based on primary data, to execute trades in real time, for a fee. The platform has over 500,000 subscribers.In its plea, NSE, along with its group firm DotEx International Ltd, has alleged that Hyderabad-based Manshi Systems had been allowing customers to access the NSE Now platform and data available on it via its own software at prices far lower than those charged by NSE. This is being done without authorization from the stock exchange, it said. The website of Manshi Systems is hosted by the Indian arm of GoDaddy Operating Co. Llc, making both parties to the case.
Experts said GoDaddy could be liable under the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2008.Pavan Duggal, a cyber law expert, said, “Both the companies (GoDaddy Llc and GoDaddy India) are covered under the IT law as intermediaries. All intermediaries are mandated to exercise due diligence while discharging their obligation under the law. Here the onus will be upon the intermediaries to prove in the court that they had exercised due diligence to safeguard against copyright infringement.”Duggal said had the due diligence been done, the activity (hosting Manshi Systems) would not have taken place. “Both the companies could be liable under the Copyright Act and IT Act,” he added.
This looks to be a different kind of case than what we normally see when someone brings the registrar into the mix. We just saw Go Daddy get out of the TeXXXan.com case under 47 USC 230. This of course is in India and relates to an act that was passed in 2008.
