This legal action was initiated in response to a lawsuit filed by Star India Pvt Ltd and Novi Digital Entertainment Pvt Ltd, the operator of the Disney+ Hotstar platform. These plaintiffs claim to hold exclusive global media rights, encompassing both television and digital rights, for various ICC events, including the highly anticipated World Cup scheduled to take place from October 5 to November 19.
Recognizing the immense popularity of the World Cup cricket matches, particularly in the Indian subcontinent, Justice Prathiba M Singh underscored the risk of rogue websites engaging in unauthorized dissemination of World Cup content. Many such websites have a history of piracy, and they are likely to persist in their unauthorized streaming activities.
In response to these concerns, the court has taken a proactive stance. In a recent order, it stated, “Thus, there is a need to restrain any rogue websites from disseminating and communicating to the public any part of the cricket match events without authorization or license from the plaintiffs.”
Consequently, the court has issued an ad-interim order restraining various rogue websites (referred to as defendant Nos. 1 to 9), which primarily host illegal and pirated content, from broadcasting, screening, making available, or disseminating any portion of the ICC World Cup Cricket matches on any electronic or digital platform in any manner whatsoever.
The court emphasized that failing to grant this injunction at this stage would result in irreparable harm to the plaintiffs. Furthermore, it directed the relevant authorities to block and suspend these rogue websites. Additionally, if any other offending websites come to light, the plaintiffs are empowered to provide their details to both the Department of Telecommunications and the Ministry of Electronics and Internet service providers for the issuance of blocking orders. This measure aims to ensure the protection of the exclusive media rights held by the plaintiffs and to maintain the integrity of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 broadcasts.
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