The Delhi High Court allowed Jiostar’s suit and granted an ex parte ad-interim injunction restraining defendants and associated entities from unauthorized streaming, broadcasting, or communication of the cricket events “South Africa Tour of India 2025” and “New Zealand Tour of India 2026.”
Jiostar India Pvt Ltd acquired exclusive digital media and television rights for multiple cricket events running from 2023-2028 for broadcasting the specified cricket tours across its JioStar Channels and OTT platform JioHotstar.
Defendants Nos. 1 to 4 managed rogue mobile apps and associated websites that illicitly streamed and communicated the cricket matches free of cost or at minimal subscription without authorization.
The plaintiff sought permanent injunction to prevent this unauthorized reproduction, transmission, or communication of their broadcast content, citing infringement of copyright under Section 37 of the Copyright Act, 1957, and breach of exclusive media rights contracts. Domain Name Registrars, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and telecom providers were impleaded to assist in blocking these illegal transmissions.
The Bench comprising Justice Tejas Karia noted the repeated pattern of unauthorized transmissions by the defendants despite past injunctions, necessitating urgent and comprehensive relief. It emphasized the irreparable financial harm likely to result to the plaintiff and erosion of exclusive rights.
The Court granted an ex parte ad-interim injunction restraining defendants, their officers, partners, and all associated persons from hosting, streaming, reproducing, making available, or communicating the cricket matches and their broadcasts in any form. Online platforms, domains, and websites associated with infringing apps were ordered blocked within 72 hours by Domain Registrars and ISPs.
The Court also issued directions for disclosure of registrant details in sealed affidavits for further proceedings. Owing to the dynamic nature of the injunction, the plaintiff was granted liberty to notify additional infringing apps/websites and have them blocked on a real-time basis during the events.
The matter was listed for next hearing on 3 March 2026
Case relied on:
1. Universal City Studios LLC v. Dotmovies.baby, 2023:DHC:5842
Appearances:
For the Plaintiff: Mr. Siddharth Chopra, Mr. Yatinder Garg, Mr. Priyansh Kohli, Ms. Ishi Singh, Mr. Shudhata Sudhir & Mr. Manish Singh, Advocates.
