The Delhi High Court has recently issued a directive to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) and the Department of Technology (DoT) to block 22 ‘illicit websites’ engaged in unauthorized streaming of television channels, including cricket matches from the France Ligue and the LaLiga. This order was given in the case of Star India Private Limited & Anr v CricHD SC & Ors.
In an interim ruling on August 2, Justice Prathiba M Singh instructed the Central government to promptly issue blocking orders against these websites. Following this, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are required to disable access to these websites and their mobile applications within 24 hours.
“The DoT and MEITY, as well as the ISPs, are directed to block the Defendant Nos. 1 to 22 websites. These blocking orders shall be issued by the DoT within 24 hours after the service of this order. Subsequent to the issuance of these blocking orders, all ISPs, i.e., Defendant nos. 30 – 38, are mandated to prevent access to the specified URLs and mobile applications within 24 hours. Downloading of these applications or streaming from the illicit websites should not be permitted,” ruled the Court.
This legal action arose from a lawsuit filed by Star India, seeking an injunction against the unauthorized broadcasting and streaming of the upcoming Asia Cup cricket matches and related content. Star argued that it holds the exclusive media rights for the tournament for the period from 2018 to 2023 and expressed concerns about the potential illegal streaming of the Asia Cup events by these rogue websites.
After careful consideration, the Court determined that the implicated websites are indeed rogue and involve pirated content. Consequently, it issued an injunction.
“Given the substantial investment made by the Plaintiffs in securing the rights to these events, any unauthorized broadcasting would significantly impact the financial interests of the Plaintiffs and diminish the value of such sporting events’ rights. Hence, until the next hearing, Defendant Nos. 1 to 22, and all others acting on their behalf, are prohibited from hosting, streaming, broadcasting, rebroadcasting, retransmitting, or in any other manner disseminating cricketing events, excerpts, highlights related to cricket matches associated with the Asia Cup 2022, scheduled from August 31, 2023, to September 17, 2023.”
The Court also directed Domain Name Registrars (DNRs) to block the domain names of these websites and to provide comprehensive details, including names, addresses, IP addresses, and KYC information.
“Details of the payment method and payment particulars used for registering the domain name by the Registrant, i.e., Defendant Nos. 1 to 22 (and any other websites subsequently discovered during the proceedings and identified by the Plaintiffs as infringing their exclusive rights, copyrights, and broadcast reproduction rights).”
Furthermore, the Court instructed the DNRs to provide information about other websites registered by the 22 implicated rogue websites and details of complaints lodged against these sites.
The next hearing for this case is scheduled for December 19.
Advocates Sidharth Chopra, Yatinder Garg, Akshay Maloo, and Rimjhim Tiwari represented Star in the proceedings, while no representation was made on behalf of the defendants.
