Delhi High Court: While considering a plea for urgent protection against anticipated online piracy of the plaintiff’s upcoming film “Drishyam: The Conclusion”, the Single Judge Bench of Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, J., granted pre-release anti-piracy protection to “Drishyam: The Conclusion” and restrained rogue websites from hosting, streaming or making the film available online and directed blocking/deactivation of identified infringing domains.
Brief Facts
The plaintiff approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection against unauthorised hosting, streaming and making available for viewing/downloading of its upcoming film “Drishyam: The Conclusion” by defendant websites and unidentified rogue websites.
The plaintiff apprehended imminent piracy as the film was scheduled for release on 2 October 2026. It was asserted that the defendant websites had previously engaged in widespread piracy, including infringement of the plaintiff’s copyrighted film “Jolly LLB 3”. The plaintiff relied upon evidence collected through a third-party investigation agency, which showed that the infringing websites were accessible from Delhi and were communicating copyrighted content to the public without authorisation.
The plaintiff specifically pleaded that the defendant websites were “vehicles of infringement” and that their entire business model was designed to provide members of the public access to copyrighted content without authorisation. The pleadings further alleged systematic, organised and intentional infringement and regular uploading/updating of infringing content.
Analysis and Decision
The Court, on a prima facie perusal of the pleadings and material on record, was satisfied that the plaintiff had made out a case for grant of an ad interim ex parte injunction. The Court held that the “nature of the injury, which the plaintiff may likely to suffer”, might not be capable of being adequately remedied in monetary terms and held that the balance of convenience and prima facie case lay in the plaintiff’s favour.
Accordingly, the Court:
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restrained Defendants 1 to 9 and persons acting on their behalf from communicating, hosting, streaming or otherwise making the film available for viewing or downloading without authorisation through their websites or other platforms.
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directed Defendants 12 to 29 to suspend, block, disable or deactivate the domain names concerned within 72 hours of receiving the plaintiff’s notice/intimation accompanied by supporting evidence.
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directed the government officials to ensure compliance with the order.
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permitted the plaintiff to bring to the notice of the Domain Name Registrars, Internet Service Providers and the Government Department concerned any subsequent piracy by websites or persons not impleaded in the suit, so that appropriate action could be taken.
Also Read: Piracy of the Public Domain: How Technology Reverses Ownership of What We Already Own
[Digital18 Media (P) Ltd. v. SSRMovies.style, CS(COMM) 1083/2026 and I.A. 27399 and 27405/2026, decided on 1-10-2026]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the Plaintiff: Mr. Sidharth Chopra, Mr. Yatinder Garg, Mr. Akshay, Mr. Priyansh, Mr. Manish and Mr. Vinayak, Advs.
For the Defendants 10 and 11: Mr. Satya Ranjan Swain, CGSC with Mr. Naveen Dedha, GP, Mr. Sanskar and Mr. Tushar, Advs.
