Delhi High Court: A suit was filed by Star India Private Limited and Novi Digital Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. (the plaintiffs) seeking an injunction restraining illegal and unauthorised dissemination, and broadcast of matches or parts thereof in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. Prathiba M Singh, J. grants injunction in favour of Star India and restrained the Defendents 1 to 9 restrained by an ad-interim order from communicating, screening, making available or disseminating any part of the ICC World Cup Cricket matches on any electronic or digital platform in any manner whatsoever.
The Plaintiffs own media rights in respect of events relating to cricket, football, badminton, tennis, hockey, domestic and international cricket matches organized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the International Cricket Council (ICC), etc. Plaintiff 2 is an affiliate company of Plaintiff 1 who owns and operates the online video streaming platform/ website ‘www.hotstar.com’, and the mobile application ‘Disney+ Hotstar’, over which all the events for which rights are enjoyed by Plaintiff 1, are also streamed by Plaintiff 2. Defendant 1 to 9 are various rogue websites that are stated to be primarily hosting illegal and pirated content. Defendant 10 to 17 are DNRs of the domain names where the said rogue websites are being hosted. Defendants 18 to 26 are various internet service providers and Defendants 27 and 28 are DoT and MeitY.
In the present suit, the Plaintiffs apprehend that once the cricket matches relating to the World Cup commence, a large number of websites are likely to indulge in unauthorised disseminations and communications of cricket matches and parts thereof. The said event being one of the most popular sporting events in the world, it is apprehended that there would be many rogue websites which would not merely communicate and telecast matches through online platforms, but upon being blocked or taken down may also create further mirror websites continuing the illegal transmission/ communication/broadcast. The case of the Plaintiffs is that in view of the exclusive rights which the Plaintiffs have acquired from ICC, they enjoy broadcast reproduction rights which are contemplated and confirmed in terms of Section 37 of the Copyright Act, 1957.
The Court noted that the World Cup cricket matches are extremely popular, especially in the Indian subcontinent being telecasted on the Plaintiffs’ Star Sports bouquet of Channels as also on the OTT platform ‘Disney+ Hotstar’. The said channels and OTT platform are also accessible on PCs, smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices. The rights of these events have been procured by the Plaintiffs after substantial monetary investment and the illegal dissemination, telecast or broadcast of these sporting events on any websites or platforms would create a severe dent in the revenues of the Plaintiffs. Moreover, there are rights in the footage, commentary and various other elements which are put together to create the broadcast itself which is fully protectable under the Copyright Act, 1957.
The Court further noted that rogue websites, which in the past have indulged in piracy of copyrighted content, are very likely to continue communicating copyrighted works to the public during the currency of World Cup 2023. Thus, there is a need to restrain any rogue websites from disseminating and communicating to the public any part of the cricket match events without authorisation or license from the Plaintiffs.
Thus, the Court held that the Plaintiffs have made out a prima facie case for grant of an injunction. If an injunction is not granted at this stage, irreparable harm would be caused to the Plaintiffs and the balance of conveniences also lies in the favour of the Plaintiffs. The Court directed Defendants 1 to 9 be restrained from communicating, screening, making available or disseminating any part of the ICC World Cup Cricket matches on any electronic or digital platform in any manner whatsoever. Defendants 10 to 17 i.e., the Domain Name Registrars are directed to lock and suspend the said websites within 72 hours after being communicated a copy of this order. Defendants 18 to 26, who are ISPs/Telephone Service Providers are also directed to block the rogue websites immediately upon receiving copies of the orders. Defendants 27 and 28 are directed to issue blocking orders in respect of these websites.
The Court also directed that during the currency of the World Cup matches, if any further websites are discovered that are illegally streaming and communicating content over which the Plaintiffs have rights, the Plaintiffs are given liberty to communicate the details of these websites to both DoT and MeitY for issuance of blocking orders and simultaneously to the ISPs for blocking the said websites so as to ensure that these websites can be blocked on a real-time basis there is no considerable delay.
Lastly, the DoT and MeitY shall also issue blocking orders immediately upon the Plaintiffs communicating the details of the websites which are illegally streaming the ICC World Cup Cricket matches. After communicating the details of the rogue websites, Plaintiffs shall continue to file affidavits with the Court in order to ensure that the Court is fully informed of the websites in respect of which blocking orders are sought. If any website, which is not primarily an infringing website, is blocked in pursuance of the present order, it is permitted to approach the Court by giving an undertaking that it does not intend to do any illegal dissemination of the ICC World Cup of the content over which the Plaintiffs have rights and the Court would consider modifying the injunction accordingly.
[Star India Private Limited v Jio Live.TV, 2023 SCC OnLine Del 6095, decided on 27-09-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Mr. Sidharth Chopra, Advocate with Ms. Sneha Jain, Mr. Yatinder Garg, Mr. Raunak Das Sharma, and Ms. Rimjhim Tiwari, Advocates for plaintiff
Mr Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar CGSC with Mr Srish Kumar Mishra Mr Sagar Mehlawat and Mr Alexander Mathai Paikaday, Advocate for D- 27 and 28.
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