Disclaimer: This has been reported after the availability of the order of the Court and not on media reports so as to give an accurate report to our readers.
Delhi High Court: In an application filed under Order 39, Rules 1 and 2 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908, seeking grant of a permanent injunction restraining Defendants 1 to 47 from infringing upon the copyrighted works of the plaintiff Warner Bros., the Single Judge Bench of Tejas Karia, J, granted a dynamic+ injunction in favour of the plaintiff. The Court also ordered the take down and blocking of websites illegally streaming and distributing several copyrighted works of the Warner Bros including movies and web-series like Friends, Stranger Things, Batman, Suicide Squad etc.
Background
The plaintiffs are global entertainment companies engaged in the business of creation, production and distribution of motion pictures, cinematographic films (‘plaintiffs’ copyrighted works’). The plaintiffs’ copyrighted works are covered under ‘work’ as defined under Section 2(y) of the Copyright Act, 1957 (‘Act’). They are members of the Motion Picture Association Inc. and are the author, first owner and exclusive distributors of the plaintiffs’ copyrighted works in India.
The plaintiffs filed the present suit against Defendants 1 to 47 (‘infringing websites’) which substantially indulge in online piracy by making available for download and otherwise providing access to infringing and illegal content.
The plaintiffs had contended that they had issued take-down notices to the infringing websites despite which Defendants 1 to 47 had continued to infringe the rights in the plaintiffs’ copyrighted works.
Defendants 48 to 70 are Domain Name Registrars (‘DNRs’) that were arrayed for locking and suspending the infringing websites. Defendants 71 to 79 are the Internet Service Providers (‘ISPs’) that were arrayed for the limited purpose of restricting or blocking access to the infringing websites in India. Defendants 80 and 81 are the Department of Telecommunication (‘DoT’) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (‘MeITY’) respectively, which were arrayed for calling upon ISPs to block access to the infringing websites identified in the present suit.
Analysis, Law and Decision
On the basis of a perusal of the documents on record, the Court noted that the plaintiffs are the owners of the plaintiffs’ copyrighted works and that the infringing websites are, on real-time basis, offering for viewing and downloading the plaintiffs’ copyrighted works, without their consent or a valid license, resulting in financial losses to the plaintiffs.
Thus, the Court noted that the plaintiffs had made out a prima facie case for grant of an ex-parte as-interim injunction. Balance of convenience was in favor of the plaintiffs and irreparable injury would be caused to the plaintiffs if an ex-parte ad-interim injunction was not granted.
Accordingly, the Court restrained Defendants 1 to 47 as well as the entities operating under it from streaming, reproducing, distributing, making available to the public, the plaintiffs’ copyrighted works. The Court also directed the DNRs to lock and suspend the infringing websites and ordered the ISPs to block access to the infringing websites.
The Court considered the hydra-headed nature of the infringement actions of the infringing websites and found it fit to grant a ‘Dynamic+ injunction’ to protect the plaintiffs’ copyrighted works as soon as they are created, to ensure that no irreparable loss is caused to the owners of copyrighted works, as there is an imminent possibility of the plaintiffs’ copyrighted works being uploaded on infringing websites or their newer versions immediately thereafter.
The matter was further listed on 20-4-2026.
[Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. v. Animesugez.to, 2025 SCC OnLine Del 10520, decided on 18-12-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the Plaintiffs: Siddharth Chopra, Raghav Goyal, Mehr. Sidhu, A. Moin, Aditya Singh Thakur, Advocates
For the Defendants: Yash Raj, Geetanjali Vishwanathan, Advocates