The Delhi High Court has passed a dynamic+ injunction in favour of JioStar India Private Limited and restrained the illegal and unauthorised streaming of India Tour of England 2025.
Justice Saurabh Banerjee passed the dynamic+ injunction order to protect the copyrighted works of JioStar, as soon as they are infringed or created.
While passing ad interim injunction order in favour of JioHotstar, the Court restrained four rogue websites from communicating, streaming or making available for viewing and downloading any part of the India Tour of England 2025 matches on any electronic or digital platform in any manner without authorization.
It further ordered suspension of four websites who were streaming the said Tour and further directed blocking of access to the rogue websites.
“Consequently, during the streaming of the ITE 2025 if, any further websites, such as mirror/ redirect/ alphanumeric variations of therogue websites” are discovered which are illegally streaming and communicating content over which the plaintiff has rights, the plaintiff will be at liberty to communicate the details of these websites to their concerned DNRs, if available, or in the alternative to the defendant nos.8 to 16 being the ISPs for blocking the said websites,” the Court said.
By virtue of an arrangement between JioStar and Sony, it was agreed that the ITE 2025 matches will be made available for digital streaming on the OTT platform ‘JioHotstar’.
The tour is scheduled between June and August, wherein the Indian National Cricket Team will tour England to play a five-match Test series against the England National Cricket Team.
The suit alleged that the rogue websites were unlawfully streaming sporting events in which JioStar had exclusive rights, without its authorisation or the permission of owner of rights of the said sporting events, such as the Indian Premier League, 2025.
JioStar filed the suit apprehending that the websites will once again indulge in illegal streaming of the ITE 2025 and that irreparable damage would be caused to it in such event.
Justice Banerjee said that prima facie, the case was a clear example of copyright infringement by defendant rogue websites who were using modern technology to hide their identities while unlawfully benefiting from JioStar’s copyrighted works.
“Thus, in light of the violations already committed by the “rogue websites” by unauthorized streaming of the plaintiff’s copyrighted works during the ongoing ‘IPL’, this Court sees every likelihood that such “rogue websites” will continue to stream copyrighted works to the public during the ITE 2025 without authorization or license from the plaintiff,” the Court said.
“…. the systematic, organised and intentional nature of the infringement, and the regularity and consistency with which the said content is being updated/ uploaded on the said “rogue websites” shows the extent of the violation of the rights of the plaintiff in real time. The said “rogue websites” are also employing the URL-redirection and identity masking methods as noted above, putting the plaintiff in an even more precarious condition to defend itself against their infringing actions,” it added.
Counsel for Plaintiff: Mr. Sidharth Chopra, Mr. Yatinder Garg and Mr. Priyansh Kohli, Advocates
Counsel for Defendants: None
Title: JIOSTAR INDIA PVT. LTD. FORMERLY KNOWN AS STAR INDIA PVT. LTD v. HTTPS//CRICLK.COM & ORS
Click here to read order
