The Delhi High Court dismissed ANI Media’s appeal challenging an order of the Single Judge that had directed the unblocking of Dynamite News’ YouTube channel. The Bench comprising Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla strongly criticised ANI Media for acting in disregard of judicial process and attempting to secure relief indirectly after failing to obtain it from the Court.
The dispute arose when ANI alleged that Dynamite News had uploaded nine infringing videos reproducing ANI’s copyrighted content. In March 2025, the Single Judge directed the respondents to take down those nine videos, which Dynamite News complied with, leading to the unblocking of its YouTube channel. However, ANI later approached YouTube directly without seeking the Court’s permission alleging eight additional infringing URLs. YouTube consequently re-blocked Dynamite News’ channel.
Taking exception to this conduct, the Division Bench observed that ANI “acted unfairly” by bypassing the Court and effectively overturning its previous judicial order through a “backdoor route.” The Court upheld the Single Judge’s subsequent direction allowing Dynamite News’ channel to be unblocked on the condition that it would remove the eight URLs in question.
Emphasising the principle that “commercial litigation may be adversarial, but even adversaries are required to act fairly,” the Court found no merit in ANI’s appeal and dismissed it in limine. The Bench also declined ANI’s request to restrict the applicability of the order to this particular case, holding that future disputes with other parties would be adjudicated independently.
Appearances:
Petitioner: Mr. Jayant Mehta, Senior Advocate with Mr. Sidhant Kumar, Mr. Akshit Mago, Ms. Anshika Saxena, and Ms. Mansvini Jain, Advocates
Respondent: Mr. C M Lall, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Annanya Mehandi, Mr. Kunal
Vajani, Mr. Kunal Mimani and Mr. Prashant Alai, Advocates
Ms. Mamta Rani Jha, Ms. Shruttima Ehersa
Mr. Rohan Ahuja and Ms. Diya Viswanath, Advocates for R2
