Read Time: 06 minutes
The court opined, “the defendants are rogue websites that are actively and knowingly creating, developing, distributing and making available the plaintiff’s show/series on their websites with the common object of exploiting the copyright-protected works of the plaintiff”.
The Delhi High Court, recently, granted a permanent injunction to Applause Entertainment Private Limited (Applause Entertainment) against rogue websites. The injunction was sought for a web series ‘Undekhi’ an Indian Hindi-language crime thriller premiering on the digital platform ‘SonyLIV’.
The bench of Justice Amit Bansal referencing the UTV Software Communications v 1337X.TO [2019 SCC OnLine Del 8002] held, “a dynamic injunction is necessary to be passed in the present case so as to prevent their continued infringement through new domain names”.
The plaintiff, a reputed name in the Indian OTT industry, asserted its ownership of the series as a “cinematograph film” under Section 2(f) of the Copyright Act, 1957. It was contended that the exclusive right to communicate the series to the public vested with the plaintiff in accordance with Section 2(d) read with Section 17 of the Act. To exploit this right, the plaintiff had entered into a licensing agreement with Culver Max Entertainment Private Limited, granting it exclusive worldwide rights to stream all three seasons of the show on SonyLIV.
However, within hours of the official release of the third season, the plaintiff discovered multiple unauthorized websites offering free downloads of the series. The plaintiff’s anti-piracy team investigated the matter and identified certain rogue websites engaged in the illegal distribution of copyrighted content. Despite issuing legal notices to the operators of these websites, the plaintiff received no response, prompting the initiation of this suit.
The court, during previous hearings, granted an ex-parte ad interim injunction directing internet service providers (ISPs) and telecom service providers (TSPs) to block the identified rogue websites. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) were also directed to issue necessary blocking notifications. Subsequent hearings revealed that several defendants had failed to enter an appearance, leading the Court to proceed ex parte against them.
During the present hearing, the court concluded that the defendants were engaged in systemic copyright infringement. Relying on the principles established in UTV Software (supra), the court determined that the rogue websites satisfied the criteria for facilitating large-scale piracy. The court also noted that similar websites had been subject to blocking orders in previous cases, reinforcing the need for a dynamic injunction to counter evolving piracy tactics.
“Based on the averments made in the plaint and material on record, the plaintiff has been able to show that the plaintiff is the rightful owner and author of the plaintiff’s series/show ‘UNDEKHI’ and holds exclusive rights over its distribution”, the court observed.
Thus, the court directed the DoT and MEITY to “issue a notification calling upon the various ISPs and TSPs to block access to the defendants’ no.1,2, and 14 to 19 websites”.
For Plaintiff: Advocates Deepak Singhal and Gaurav DhingraCase Title: Applause Entertainment Pvt Ltd v www.9xmovies.Com.Tw (2025:DHC:1994)
Please Login or Register
