The Delhi High Court has restrained the unauthorised streaming and broadcast of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on a plea by its official broadcaster expressing strong apprehension over illegal dissemination of major sporting events in the past.
Justice Sanjeev Naurla passed the interim order on a lawsuit by Star India Private Limited against several rogue websites which were likely to indulge in the unauthorised dissemination of cricket matches on their platforms.
Star India said it held the media rights in respect of various sporting events, including domestic and international cricket matches organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
It submitted that based on past instances of illegal dissemination of major sporting events, there was a strong apprehension that certain online platforms were likely to indulge in such unauthorised streaming of the T20 World Cup being held from June 2 to June 24 in West Indies and the US.
Stating that it recognised the widespread appeal and significance of ICC events, particularly in the Indian subcontinent, the court observed that unauthorised telecasting of these events poses a significant threat to the revenue streams of the plaintiff which owns several channels and online video-streaming platform Hotstar.
“Therefore, swift action to prevent such infringements is crucial to preserving the plaintiff’s investment in the broadcasting rights and maintaining their copyright protection,” the court said in a recent order.
“Defendants No. 1 to 9, and/or any person acting on their behalf, are restrained from communicating, hosting, streaming, screening, disseminating or making available for viewing/ downloading, without authorisation, any part of the ICC events, specifically the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, on any electronic or digital platform in any manner whatsoever,” the court ordered.
If any further infringing websites are discovered, the plaintiff has the liberty to communicate the details of such sites to the telecom department and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for issuance of blocking orders, the court said.
The court also asked the Internet Service Providers and Telecom Service Providers to block access to such rogue websites.
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