The Single Bench of the Delhi High Court in the case of Star India Private Ltd & Anr. vs T1. MyLiveCricket.Club & Ors. consisting of Justice Navin Chawla restrained 8 rogue websites from illegally broadcasting matches pertaining to the T20 World Cup.
Facts
The Plaintiff no. 1 is a leading broadcaster in India and is the exclusive licensee of media rights to various sporting events. It also has rights in respect of broadcast of various sporting events, including domestic and international cricket matches, that are organized inter-alia by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (‘BCCI’) and the International Cricket Council (‘ICC’). The Plaintiff no. 2 owns and operates the online audio-visual streaming platform and website, www.hotstar.com and the mobile application, 'Disney+ Hotstar', where all the events for which the rights are enjoyed by the Plaintiff No. 1 are also streamed by the Plaintiff No. 2. The Plaintiff No. 2 is the affiliate company of the Plaintiff No. 1. It was asserted that the Plaintiffs owns the exclusive license of the media rights of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 cricket tournament which is to commence from 16.10.2022 and shall conclude on 13.11.2022.
This suit was filed by the Plaintiffs against the Defendants to claim them as “rogue websites” which are likely to illegally stream and telecast the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 scheduled from 16.10.2022 onwards.
Observations of the Court
The Bench noted that the Plaintiffs were able to make out a prima facie case for grant of an ex-parte ad-interim injunction:
“The balance of convenience lies in favour of the Plaintiffs and against the Defendants. Irreparable injury would be caused to the Plaintiffs if the interim injunction is not granted. Disclosure orders are also liable to be passed against the Domain Name Registrars, and further, the MEITY and DoT ought to also issue blocking orders to all the ISPs, to block the said ‘rogue websites’. Considering the investment which the Plaintiffs have made in acquiring the rights of these events, any illegal broadcasting would severely affect the monetary interest of the Plaintiffs, and also diminish the value of the rights of such sporting events.”
Judgment
The Bench concluded that the Defendant Nos. 1 to 8 and all others acting for or on their behalf, shall be restrained from hosting, streaming, broadcasting, rebroadcasting, retransmitting or in any other manner communicating to the public, or disseminating to the public, any cricketing events, extracts, excerpts, highlights in relation to cricket matches relating to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 commencing from 16.10.2022 to 13.11.2022. The DoT and MEITY, as also the ISPs, were also directed to block the Defendant Nos. 1 to 8 websites.
Case: Star India Private Ltd & Anr. vs T1. MyLiveCricket.Club & Ors.
Citation: CRL.M.(BAIL) 1044/2022 in CRL.A. 416/2022
Bench: Justice Navin Chawla
Decided on: 11th October 2022
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