New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has ordered to block some rogue websites that indulge in online piracy by showing cricket matches, which were broadcast by them without authorization. Noting that the Indian Premier League (IPL) series / Tata IPL 2022 is commencing from March 26, the High Court held that there is a need to protect the investments of the plaintiffs Star India Pvt Ltd and others and also ensure that these Rogue websites do not stream Tata IPL 2022 cricket matches illegally.
Justice Pratibha M Singh, in an order on March 11, said that the court is also prima facie satisfied that an injunction should be granted against any other websites which may show pirated content or illegal and unauthorized streaming of Tata IPL 2022. can start. The court directed several Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block websites – “http://live.flixhub.net” \nlive.flixhub.net; “http:titichsports.com” \nstichsports.com; “http://vipleague.im” \nvipleague.im; maxsport.one, gooal.top; “http://t20wc.nl” \nt20wc.nl; “http://vipstand.se”\nvipstand.se and stream.btolat.online and also asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) to issue orders to block these websites.
It said that as and when further websites that display content of Tata IPL 2022 matches are illegal and unauthorized, an affidavit in this regard can be filed by the plaintiff before the court with evidence. On issuance of notice to the ISP that such affidavit has already been filed before this Court, the said websites shall also be blocked with immediate effect. On receipt of notice and communication from the plaintiff to the DoT and MEITY that the affidavits have been filed before the court, orders to block such more rogue websites shall be passed immediately and in any case, within 24 hours, so that the websites are Said Tata to continue to stream IPL 2022 content in any way possible.
The court passed the interim order while hearing a suit by Star India Pvt Ltd, which sought a permanent injunction on the violation of their broadcast rights and accounts and damages. The plaintiffs submitted in the suit that they have obtained exclusive media rights for a period of 5 years from January 1, 2018 to September 30, 2022, including mobile activation rights for IPL matches and certain ancillary rights.
The plaintiff’s counsel argued that rogue websites have been habitually visited to broadcast pirated content without any license or authorization and have shown some screenshots of footage from past cricket matches, including West India Tour of India 2022 and Sri Lanka Tour of Sri Lanka. India 2022 included. which was broadcast without permission. They submitted that these screenshots would show that the defendant websites do not respect the exclusive rights of the plaintiffs and engage in gross violation of their rights and theft.
The counsel submitted that the broadcast on these websites is usually started during the match and by the time action can be taken and the websites are taken down, the match ends. In this suit, it was submitted that the plaintiffs are harmed heavily by illegal streaming of cricket events to which they have exclusive rights and the manner in which rogue websites spontaneously emerge during the currency of any series, an injunction should be passed in such a manner that it extends to such new rogue websites on an urgent / ‘as and when’ basis.
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