Delhi High Court orders takedown of rogue websites illegally streaming Star India's content

The Delhi High Court on Monday granted an interim injunction in favour of Star India Pvt. Ltd., restraining media player, IPTV Smarter Pro and other defendants from illegally streaming copyrighted content owned by it (Star India). .The Court has directed the blocking of several websites allegedly involved in the unauthorised streaming of Star India’s content.Justice Mini Pushkarna, who passed the order, said,“The plaintiff (Star India) has demonstrated a prima facie case for grant of injunction and, in case, no ex-parte ad-interim injunction is granted, the plaintiff will suffer an irreparable loss. Further, balance of convenience also lies in favour of the plaintiff, and against the defendants.”.Star India owns and operates over 100 channels in more than ten languages, including popular networks such as Star Plus, Star Sports, Disney Channel, and National Geographic. The company also runs the OTT platforms Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema, which offer a wide range of content, including live sports, movies, and TV shows.It contended that the defendants, particularly IPTV Smarter Pro, were illegally streaming Star India’s copyrighted content through their platforms. According to Star, the rogue apps and websites allegedly offered unauthorised access to Star India’s channels and programs, diverting viewers from legitimate platforms and causing substantial revenue losses.The defendants were accused of streaming Star India’s exclusive content, including live sports events, movies, and TV shows, without authorisation. According to Star, the illegal streaming undermined its revenue streams and damaged its intellectual property rights.The Court was told that IPTV Smarter Pro, was offering content under categories such as “Indian Sports,” “Disney+ Hotstar,” and “JioCinema Cricket,” which directly infringed on Star India’s rights..IPTV Smarter Pro countered that it was merely a video player and did not directly host or control infringing content. However, the Court noted that the content being streamed on the platform violated Star India’s copyrights. IPTV did not object to the blocking of the infringing websites..The Court concluded that there was a prima facie case in favor of Star India and granted an interim injunction to prevent further infringement. The Court also directed domain name service providers to block access to rogue websites such as starshare.live, xtv.ooo, opplex.live, smart4k.cc. The service providers were further ordered to disclose the registration and payment details of the infringing domains. The Court proceeded to ask the Department of Telecommunications and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to issue notifications to telecom and internet service providers to block access to the infringing domains..Star India was represented by Advocates Siddharth Chopra, Yatinder Garg, Disha Sharma, Rimjhim Tiwari, and Ishi Singh from Saikrishna & Associates. The defendants were represented by Advocates Avish Sharma, Subhashish Kumar, M Himesh Dwivedi, Ishika Jain, Mrinal Ojha, Debarshi Dutta, Arjun Mookerjee and Nikita Rathi..[Read Order]