Bengaluru: The city police have booked founder and co-founder of online cab aggregator Ola for copyright infringement after a Bengaluru-based recording company accused them of streaming pirated film songs through their Ola Play platform in violation with the copyright act.
The music company, Lahari Recording Company, had filed a police complaint case against ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd., the parent company of Ola, and accused Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, founders of Ola. In its complaint they had accused Ola of downloading and streaming songs from popular Kannada and Telugu movies, whose audio rights were purchased by Lahari.
Police said the music company has accused Ola of downloading and playing songs on Ola Play platforms in Karnataka, Delhi, Kolkata and Tamil Nadu, even before their release. Following the complaint, the police raided Ola office and seized equipment used for downloading and storing songs.
While the city police have declared the founders as “absconding”, it is learnt they have secured anticipatory bail from the courts. Launched in November 2016, the in-car entertainment platform Ola Play offers free access to music from Apple Music, Sony Liv, AIB, Audio Compass and Fynd for passengers availing high-end sedans.
