Justice Amit Bansal declared in an interim judgment that there is reason to believe that the publisher’s desire to publish certain portions of the book referring to specific players violated the confidentiality provision contained in Hockey India’s Code of Conduct.
Sjoerd Marijne, a former hockey coach, and HarperCollins Publishers India Pvt Ltd. were temporarily forbidden by the Delhi High Court on Tuesday from releasing private information about the players in his book “Will Power: The Inside Story of the Incredible Turnaround in Indian Women’s Hockey.”
Justice Amit Bansal declared in an interim judgment that there is reason to believe that the publisher’s desire to publish certain portions of the book referring to specific players violated the confidentiality provision contained in Hockey India’s Code of Conduct.
Hockey India’s members, volunteers, and employees are prohibited from disclosing any information that has been given to them in confidence per clause (20).
The judge stated that a “prima facie case had been brought out in favor” of Hockey India, noting that the passages in question would cause significant and irreparable harm to the athletes if they became public knowledge.
It forbade publication of the “highlighted portions” of the book, which are private, and set a hearing date for November 18 in order to hear from both the author and the publisher.
The decision was made as a result of a lawsuit India brought against Marijne and HarperCollins Publishers India Private Limited for what they said was the author’s violation of the code of conduct. It has been claimed that the book revealed private information about a number of players.
Regarding the use of specific images for which Hockey India possessed rights, the lawsuit also brought up the subject of a copyright breach.
Prior to this, Gurjit Kaur, a member of the national women’s team, filed a high court complaint against the publisher and the author for releasing private information about her medical condition in the book.
Advocate Sheryl Trehan spoke on behalf of Hockey India and claimed that even though the book has not yet been published, it is replete with player information that shouldn’t be included. She argued that the publisher had violated copyright by utilizing two images that belonged to Hockey India.
The matter was scheduled for hearing on November 18 and the court cited its prior ruling of September 19 awarding relief to Kaur.
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